In this episode, we'll hear from guest host Caroline Ballard from a fellow podcast called HumaNature, which tells stories where humans and our habitat meet. After passing Sable Island (a small island situated 190 nm southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia) on their first Atlantic crossing, this is a short story of a family who traded life on land for a 25,000nm sea adventure.

They share the tale of encountering strange noises in the middle of the night and how they were terrified at first, but eventually discovered the source, which turned into a unique, once-in-a-lifetime wildlife experience.

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Guest host Paul Trammell talks with Jim den Hartog and Helen den Dekker on board Gaia, a steel Colvin Gazelle designed yacht, that they spent a decade building from plans. Paul interviewed Jim and Helen at Conception Island in the Bahamas and they share tales of their lessons from sailing all over the world, including 22 years at sea and never experiencing a storm, along with sailing the intra-coastal waterway from Maine to Florida in the USA. Jim and Helen have circumnavigated the globe and draw on their many adventures in this episode.

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We catch up with Lena Padukova in Gothenburg, Sweden for finish of the penultimate leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Lena is an experienced ocean sailor, mountaineer and leader of multiple ocean adventures and land expeditions. Lena shares stories from her years of sailing all over the planet from the Pacific to the Arctic and her lessons learned from leading teams and crews to high latitudes and high altitude destinations. In this candid chat we discuss leadership styles and the risks that come with taking people on adventures in extreme conditions.

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David Hows, producer of the Ocean Sailing Podcast; shares his thoughts on his first 7 years of keel boat cruising, racing and ocean passages in his Beneteau 445 'Ocean Gem'. After 25,000nm and 400+ races, with the most recent adventure being a double solo Tasman Sea crossing of 2,800nm in total and lots of 'thinking time" David shares his plans to turn his passion for sailing into something bigger than a part-time pastime.

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An absolutely fascinating chat with Sonny Natanielu, about the revival of traditional Polynesian voyaging methods using waka (canoes) that go back several hundred years. It was a tremendous insight into the importance of the ocean and significance of waka (canoes). Maori has its roots in times past, when voyaging waka forged the links between the ancestral homeland of Hawaiki and New Zealand and waka also linked together all of the peoples of Polynesia. The skills these pacific ancestors required to build and navigate these vessels across the Pacific using only natural materials were beyond imagination.

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In this episode I spent a session with Rod West, owner/skipper of Another Painkiller (a Beneteau First 44.7) and Philip Bell, owner/skipper of She (an Olsen 40) and we reflected on our preparation and race experience and did a post mortem of our entries in the 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, our race results and the things we all did differently.

2017 was the first year that the Southport Yacht Club had seen 3 of its members enter this iconic ocean race and the conditions were amongst the best in the 73 year history, with the line honours record tumbling by several hours for the second year in a row.

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Andy Lamont interviews Mike Sabin about his lifetime of adventures on the water. Mikes a boat builder, sail maker, has been a coastal patrol pilot and has sailed every part of the Australian coastline. At age 40 Mike sold everything and headed off in his new yacht 'Sly Fox' for 5 years of sailing and adventure all over the world, including sailing to Europe, where he removed his mast and spent 2 months cruising the French canals. Mike also shares tips on how to look after your sails and maximise their life expectancy.

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I caught up with my favourite maritime author - Rob Mundle in late 2017, on 'all things Jimmy Spithill' and his recent project writing Jimmy's biography 'Chasing the Cup - My Americas Cup Journey'.

Jimmy Spithill is arguably one of the world's greatest skippers: the youngest and a double winner of the America's Cup, winner of the Sydney Hobart; multiple world champion in match and fleet racing. What goes on inside the head of this extremely focused man, who is a true pioneer in the game called sailing? Rob shares some insights into this rags-to-riches story of fierce determination, court cases, seasickness, crashed boats and cars, the greatest comeback ever in sporting history and the dramatic 2017 America's Cup defence. Rob also shares a preview of the 2017 Race Sydney Hobart and reflects on his 50th year of involvement in the race (3 as crew and 47 as commentator). Visit Ocean Sailing Podcast for offshore sailing opportunities and podcast extras and follow us on Facebook.

After preparing my Beneteau yacht 'Ocean Gem' for our first ever Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, I decided to interview our crew 4 weeks after we completed the race and gather their thoughts on the project and their experience. It started in September 2017 when we assembled a crew of 10 and a prepared a long project list that grew to more than 200 items. In early December we departed the Gold Coast in Queensland for Sydney via Lord Howe Island (300nm off Australia's east coast). The 800nm delivery journey qualified our crew and yacht for the 630nm race of a lifetime.

This is a great episode for those thinking of pushing their local club racing and blue water sailing to the next level. It demonstrates that with good preparation, anything is possible.

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I check in with Andy Lamont after he successfully completed his solo circumnavigation in his S&S 34 named Impulse in August 2017. Andy reflects on life after his 250+ day voyage, some of the highs and lows, how he handled storms and big seas and whats next on his bucket list.

Its a bumper two and a half hour chat with Andy in which he shares advice on sail configuration for solo sailing, handling storms, what its really like being alone in big weather and how his time away from his family and business has changed how he looks at life.

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