Boat Radio

Long before he founded Ocean Research Project, Captain Matt Rutherford taught himself to sail by trial and error. He bought a cheap sailboat, crossed the Chesapeake Bay and headed south down the Intra-Coastal Waterway, running aground, bumping into pilings and making a mess of docking as he went. But, as he readily points out, mistakes are all part of the process, and the ICW is a relatively sheltered place in which to make them. Plus, it’s a great place to learn about navigation and treacherous currents too. He makes the return journey on the open ocean, where he gets seasick for the first and only time and has an unusual encounter with a pair of French Canadian sailors, two hundred miles offshore.

Scraping bottom paint? Sanding planks? Re-caulking? Boat jobs can be dirty jobs and it pays to be prepared. The Boat Galley’s Carolyn Shearlock takes you through her pre-project checklist, compiled after many years of live-aboard cruising.

Guests galore in this latest edition of the number one radio show about recreational boating.

Hip-hop DJ turned superstar chef, Piers Dawson, moved to the Sóller valley just two years ago, and very quickly became a sensation. The demand for his private services is stratospheric while tickets for his regular tasting events sell out before they’re even advertised.

Three years ago, John Herlig bought a tatty, sun-bleached old sailboat called Ave del Mar. Slowly and with great attention to detail, John has revived Ave and now they have embarked on a voyage together. There’s no real plan; no particular destination in mind. All we know is that John would like to see the whole world and that someday he might turn up at Boat Radio headquarters in Mallorca.

Do not forget these essential and potentially life-saving items when you head out in your dinghy.

The amazing tale of a family saving seventeen people from a sinking boat. Guests include Sarah Orlando, who’ll be chatting about the Ohio clean marinas program, Merritt Alves from the Association of Marina Industries, Ron Duggan with news of changes to the GLOC Shootout 2017, and Tim Jacobson from Funlake.com

Businessman-turned-artist Martyn Daniels is a fairly recent arrival to Sóller. He insists he’s retired but, as you’ll hear, his definition of retirement is rather different from the norm. He chatted to Shirley about his various projects over a café con leche at Café Sóller in Plaça Constitució.

Committed environmentalist Jason Kovacs and his partner, Jolene Burr, quit the rat race, bought a trimaran and now make films with remote communities in southeast Asia. They call themselves Team Labyrinth and they are a self-financing outfit dedicated to bringing the struggles faced by indigenous people to a wider audience. Their latest film, Nico and the Turtle, is particularly special. You’ll find it, along with their other work and details of forthcoming projects, at www.teamlabyrinth.com

How Matt Rutherford – record-breaking sailor and executive director of Ocean Research Project – learned to sail the hard way. After buying his first boat over the internet, unseen, he runs aground in the Chesapeake Bay within minutes of setting sail. Later that same day, he drags his anchor and comes within a few yards of being dashed on a rocky shoreline. On the return trip, along the Intra-Coastal Waterway, the boat is struck by lightning, knocking both Matt and his girlfriend to the deck.