New Brunswicker sets sail with new reality TV series

(Source: YouTube / Sailing Scallywag)

Growing up in French Lake, N.B., Danica Smith always had a sense of adventure.

Now, the 24 year old and her boyfriend are shooting a pilot episode for a reality TV show, called Sail away, about their life on the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"So we've filmed a sizzle and we've also filmed a pilot episode," Smith said.

"When I first did this, I think a lot of people thought I was out of my mind. I had just spent four years in university getting my degrees and becoming a teacher just to like quit and do something completely different that I know nothing about. I'm not a sailor, I'm terrified of fish and I don't know how to build a boat," she said.

They've documented the process of working on Scallywag, a sailboat, on YouTube.

"In reality a lot of the times we're just like grubby, sanding and painting and breaking things and fixing things and googling things," Smith said.

Happenstance brought a film writer and producer into Smith and her partner's life and he saw potential for a show.

"Marcus (Smith's partner) is a really chill Caribbean guy. He's raised on Saint Lucia, his parents are UN diplomats, so he's been raised all over the world," said Joel Silverman, producer and director of Sail Away from Hermosa Beach, California.

"I just didn't realize how fantastic Danica would be in front of the camera. She's just an artistic person, she has great flare, charisma, she's a disarming presence so I realized immediately that Danica has this like star quality."

Smith says the goal is to showcase what their life is like living on a 33-foot sailboat, which is currently not sail ready, and showing the process behind the boat becoming a vessel they can travel the Caribbean with.

"So every episode the goal is to be on a different island or in a different country so you're seeing the food, the culture, the people, the landscape," Smith said.

Now, the pair is hoping Sail Away will get picked up by a network.

"I know obviously we're doing something that's not normal, but I didn't really think our life was interesting enough for people all around the world on TV to want to watch every day so that's really cool," she said.

The TV crew meets with Smith in the Virgin Islands Wednesday, and she hopes to soon sail her life onto the small screen.