On the Wind Sailing

#155 is…me. Back in January, Teddy J of the Sail Loot podcast and I had a marathon recording session, banging out two-and-a-half hours of material while Mia and I were up there for the Toronto Boat Show. I had a bit of a cold, hence my voice sounding a bit off. The first hour-and-a-half was Teddy interviewing me for his show. Sail Loot focuses on folks in sailing who have figured out a way to make money by doing what they love (like in my case), or make some kind of passive income so they are free to actually go sailing. Teddy's working on that himself.

Anyway, Teddy's half of the interview, where I turned the tables and interviewed him, appeared on my show earlier this year. Simultaneously, my portion released on his show on the same day. I know there will be some of you guys who tuned in to Sail Loot to hear me on Teddy's show, but for those of you who haven't what follows is a fresh look at my entire sailing history, going way back to when my parents had just gotten married and went on their first captained charter on their honeymoon from Florida to the Bahamas. I talk about how my dad's dad, 'Pappap' as I know him, started a restaurant in 1952 so he could own and train his own race horses, how that same restaurant is now run by my dad and my uncle (and which affords my dad the income and the flexibility that allows him to sail as much as he does), how I grew up on the Chesapeake with my parents, where I went to college and what for, my first job on the Woodwind and on and on. I don't think Teddy left too many stones unturned here, and there are a lot of little practical nuggets in here of just how I positioned my career to end up at the point we are at today. This stuff didn't just happen by accident (well, some of it maybe).

Anyway, enjoy the conversation between me and Teddy, and let me know in an email what else you'd like to know about me!

As per usual, thanks to all of you for listening, and for all the great support I got this week after my surgery! Enjoy episode 155 with yours truly.

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I just got in to Lunenburg earlier this afternoon. It's Saturday, July 9 as I record this intro. Isbjorn is due in sometime tonight, but they've been beating against a 20-25 knot northeasterly, so it's been challenging, and slow going. I, you might recall, am on day 4 of recovering from my appendectomy. Today is the best day yet, and I'm confident that I'll be ready to head back to sea in another two days and very much looking forward to Newfoundland. Don't forget, anybody with last minute vacation time, we've still got a couple spots left for Leg 9, the return from Lunenburg to Annapolis. If you even remotely have the inclination to do it, come! Lunenburg is such a cool town, as I was reminded yet again on my arrival today. If you can't make a sailing trip with us but still want to support the podcast and the business, head over to 59-north.com/shop and buy a bag of 'Oh-Dark-Thirty' coffee, an Isbjorn sailing t-shirt, or one of our new isbjorn sailing winter beanies, which are pretty sweet.

#154. About 48 hours has passed since my appendectomy. I'm sitting at my cousin Dan's kitchen table in North Andover, about 20 miles from Boston, writing this while I spend a few days here recovering. Isbjorn is back at sea, having departed Newport yesterday morning around 0800, about the same time I jumped in the car to drive the two hours north to here.

I'm stiff. I'm sore. I haven't had a good poop since Sunday morning. I'm bored. I've watched more TV than I have in years. On the plus side, Wimbledon and the Tour de France is on in the mornings, and Germany is about to play France this afternoon in the Euro football championships to see who gets to play Portugal in the Finals. This whole thing feels surreal.

The thing is, I never get sick. Ever. At least not the kind of sick that requires a visit to the doctor, let alone to the hospital. In an ambulance! The occasional cold, sure. The flu? I had it once in the past ten years. I was due for this, in a pessimistic way I guess. And almost fitting that it happened not only on the boat, but also while we were offshore at sea, and with paying crew to boot! And to me! Anyway. Here's what happened.

#153. John Franta of Colligo Marine has been on the podcast before of course, in episode 45, where we discuss his career and some of the technical aspects of Colligo 'Dux,' the synthetic, dyneema-based standing rigging that we put on Arcturus before crossing the Atlantic. John's back this week to discuss some more technical aspects of his job at Colligo.

We start the discussion by focusing on one of John's most recent inventions, the so-called 'ELHF' furling system, and I use that as a sort of primer for discussing in general how he comes up with new ideas and what the design and production life cycle is like. John is as pure an engineer as there is, and LOVES the technical aspects of running a synthetic yacht rigging company, and it's a joy to hear him talk about his passions so, well, passionately! He gets to play with CAD and 3D printers all day long, so what's not to like (if you're an engineer!).

John's also been a dear friend of mine since we first met in 2009, and you can kind of see that in the way we talk throughout the episode, it's definitely a lot less formal than some of my other interviews. I think you'll dig it.

Crew arrives this afternoon for our next trip up to Lunenburg. By the time you hear this we'll be offshore, bound for Nova Scotia - check out our passage logs and follow the trip on 59-north.com/tracking.

We've also got a few spots left for the return passage, August 6-14 from Halifax to Annapolis. It's not too late to join! Go to 59-north.com/offshore for details - I hope by the time we get to Lunenburg, one of you faithful listeners out there has decided to sign up an join us!

Finally, we've got some new swag! In time for our passage to colder climes, we've ordered #isbjornsailing beanies. They come in any color, so long as it's black! Go to 59-north.com/shop to check them out and get yours now. $25, plus shipping.

Okay, enough about us. Enjoy episode 153 with John Franta!

#152. Jeremy Davis from Weather Routing Inc. talks with Andy Schell about climate change, pilot charts, hurricane season, Bahamian 'doratios' (i.e. wicked and sustained thunderstorms), how to become a meteorologist, the difference between weather routing & weather forecasting & much much more in a very informative and technical episode 152 on weather.

#151. I feel like the business is 'on the brink' - either we finally get to enjoy all we've worked for over the past ten years, living out what I'd only dreamed about. Or, it doesn't work out, we don't sell enough bunks to make a living, and we do something else. A few things here or there could tip the scales either way. Here's how.

#150. is my good friend, sailmaker Chuck O'Malley. I've worked with Chuck and his business at Chesapeake Sailmakers since first moving to Annapolis after college in 2006, and he's been my sailmaker ever since. Back then, I was living on my dad's boat Sojourner, and Chuck repaired a spinnaker we had onboard. He'd eventually build all three new sails for Arcturus before our Atlantic crossing, build my dad a new mainsail before his first Caribbean 1500 on Sojourner, and is currently finishing up the two new genoas that will complement the new Hydranet mainsail on Isbjorn.

In this episode, recorded at the WCC Ocean Sailing Seminar weekend in March, Chuck discusses the technical aspects of building and maintaining ocean-going cruising sails. It's the second or third time he's spoken at our events, and his talk is yearly surveyed as a favorite among seminar attendees. Chuck talks about design and construction characteristics; downwind sail choices; three-reef versus storm trysail setups; storm jibs; gennakers and Code 0 sails; and much more.

Before we get to this week's show, a quick little update on Isbjorn. We've changed our schedule for the remainder of the summer, and will return to Annapolis from Newfoundland in August, instead of crossing the Atlantic as planned. Mia and I are realizing that delivering the passages to the high-level that we strive towards is a lot more stressful than we'd anticipated. Having to cross the Atlantic twice to get to the Caribbean in time for our 2017 program was just biting off more than we can chew. We're learning the hard way that with ocean sailing, stuff doesn't always go to plan, so we're changing the plan. You can read the full backstory about the changes, why they happened, how the new plans affect our crew, and what's in the future on our most recent newsletter at 59-north.com/news.

With the changes, we've got some new opportunities to sail with us. July 25-August 4th we'll be sailing south from St. John's, Newfoundland to Chester, Nova Scotia, just outside Halifax. It'll be a combination of cruising and exploring ashore on the fjords of Newfoundland, with some offshore, overnight sailing down to Nova Scotia. It's new grounds for us, so will be a real adventure. Then, August 4-11, we'll depart the Halifax area bound 600 miles nonstop for Annapolis. We'll also be sailing south again with the Caribbean 1500 in November, and have added 2 Caribbean passages to the calendar in early 2017. Go to 59-north.com/offshore for the updated calendar and to register.

Also due in part to our schedule changes, we've added a few events to the schedule. We get lots of emails from friends and fans in the places we'll be sailing - if you're in the Lunenburg or St. John's area this summer, give us a shout and we'd love to show you around Isbjorn between trips! If you can make it to Annapolis in the fall, we're hosting another Open House aboard the boat on the Friday of Boat Show, October 7. Finally, on the weekend of October 21-23, I'm hosting another Celestial Navigation workshop in Annapolis. It'll be $500 and limited to the first 12 people to register. Go to 59-north.com/seminars to sign up!

#149. Chris Museler and I talk sailing to Cuba. He describes the fear and excitement he experienced in Haiti, the 'two sides' of Jamaica, the emotional roller coaster on sailing between vastly different cultures in a relatively short period of time, what Cuba is really like, how he ran out of cash getting to Havana and much more. Throughout our conversation, I chime in a describe what our experience was like on the north shore of the island where we left Isbjorn in Marina Hemingway and stayed ashore in Havana for five days. Chris and I go back several years and it's always fun to catch up with each other and hear about our latest projects. Don't miss Chris' recent coverage of the America's Cup in New York City in last week's New York Times.

You'll most likely know of course that Mia and I just visited Havana aboard Isbjorn last month, sailing over from Fajardo, Puerto Rico on what was truly the adventure of a lifetime, both for us and for our crew.

Chris sailed to Cuba by another means back in January of 2015, aboard the wooden schooner Charlotte, a custom boat built by Gannon & Benjamin on Martha's Vineyard. On that voyage, they took a more circuitous route - Chris actually flew in to Haiti, where he met the boat (only after a frightening and exciting four-hour journey from Port au Prince to get there). They continued on to Port Antonio in Jamaica before making their Cuban landfall in Cienfuegos on Cuba's south coast. — As for Isbjorn, by the time you hear this we'll be back offshore, bringing the boat home to Annapolis from Ft. Lauderdale. If you got our recent newsletter you'll know we're all but sold out for 2016 - just one space remains on the Ireland-Portugal passage in September - but our 2017 calendar is open and we encourage you to join us on the high seas! If you DON'T get our newsletter, go to 59-north.com/news to register. We only send updates once in a while so won't flood your inbox.

And finally, please head over to iTunes and review the podcast. It truly helps in getting the word out, and I just love doing this week to week. Thanks for all the support!

#148. Paul & Sheryl Shard talk to us live from Toronto about their start in sailing, how they got into movie-making, combining their passion for movies, travel and sailing, Paul's career as a boat-builder, Sheryl's theatre background and lots more! Audience Q&A included throughout.

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I wanted to post my episode about Cuba this week, but being at the rally has left me with little time to finish it up. It's a very cool story, but I think I can make it even cooler, so I'm putting it off a week.

Instead, episode 148 is another interview with Paul & Sheryl Shard of the Distant Shores sailing tv show. I've been hanging on to this one for a while now - we recorded it live in Toronto back in January - and it's a really cool deep dive into their sailing history, the popularity of their show, some of their favorite stories from over the years and all their traveling and lots more. Paul & Sheryl are professional media people, so they do a really nice job of storytelling. We mixed in a few audience questions throughout as well.

Mia and I have gotten to know the Shard's quite well over the past several years. They're some of our favorite people in sailing, and we love catching up with them at boat shows and on the water. In fact, while we were racing Isbjorn in the Caribbean 600, we saw them sailing north, and downwind, as we sailed south and around Montserrat, beating our brains out upwind in the race!

As for Isbjorn, she remains on the canal next to Pam Wall's house in Ft. Lauderdale. Mia and I head back down on May 15th ahead of our next leg north to Annapolis. We have some very cool projects in the works with Pam that I'll just tease now, but which won't release for a while, so stay tuned for news on that. Our passages are sold out for the rest of 2016, but we've got a lot of cool stuff happening in 2017, including two Atlantic crossings and some sailing in the Azores and Scotland, so check out the calendar and register at 59-north.com/offshore to come sailing with us! And just today I got the maps for our 2018 passage routes to the Arctic and Iceland from our graphics guy Steve Olson, which is VERY exciting! I'll be opening those trips and publishing the full schedule soon, for what will truly be the adventure of a lifetime!

Finally, if you enjoy the podcast, please do me a favor and review it on iTunes. I appreciate all the great feedback - if you've emailed me at some point and I haven't replied, send a gentle reminder and I promise I will! I genuinely try to get to all of them, and really enjoy hearing from our fans.

Okay, with that, please enjoy my latest conversation, live from Toronto, with Paul & Sheryl Shard!

#147. is a fun one. Back in March, I had planned to do another podcast with Matt Rutherford to get an update on what he's doing with his Ocean Research Project. As it were, Paul Exner was also in town to speak at a seminar Mia and I hosted in Annapolis. AND, ship's pilot Mark Baummer was around, and had asked me for some advice to help him plan a passage to Bermuda on his Gemini catamaran. So, the inklings of an idea sprang to life - why not get the three of these guys together, all former podcasts guests, and have a little roundtable chat?

So that's exactly what we did. Matt invited us over to the house he's taking care of in Eastport, and we sat around the coffee table in the living room. I got things going with Matt, and the hope was that everyone would kind of just jump in at points and start talking on their own. I was not let down. After a while, Matt, Paul & Mark just kinda started needing out on each other, and MAN was it fun to see! The longer the episode goes, the less you'll hear my voice, as I just sat back and smiled and watched!

We covered an array of topics, from Matt's latest adventures, to Mark's new boat, thoughts on electronics and radar, why Mark as a ship captain thinks required AIS might actually be a bad thing on the Chesapeake and much much more! This is a long and meandering episode, but I think you'll agree it's definitely worth your time! — A quick update on Isbjorn before we get to the show. Thanks to our good friend Pam Wall, she's safely docked on a canal in Ft. Lauderdale until our trip north which starts May 18. The Cuba passage was a highlight of my sailing and traveling career - and I promise I'll have an entire episode dedicated to that very soon - and it was great fun to share it with our awesome crew.

We have one spot left on the Annapolis-Lunenburg passage from July 1-8, so check out the details on that at 59-north.com/offshore. We also just opened another spot for the Caribbean 600 race next February, so if you want to 'level up' and do some serious ocean racing, check out 59-north.com/oceanracing for details on that.

Alright, with that, enjoy an awesome roundtable chat with me, Matt Rutherford, Mark Baummer & Paul Exner!

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This episode is sponsored by Broadreach, my former employer and one of the coolest sailing jobs I've ever had. Aside from being an amazing place to send your kids for an adventurer summer (listen up parents!), they're on the lookout for skippers and mates to work the upcoming summer season out of St. Martin. Contract length varies from two to three months starting in early June through early to late August. Go to broadreachstaff.com to complete the initial job application!

Broadreach - The World is Yours to Discover!

Greetings from Ft. Lauderdale! Welcome back to a special bonus episode of 59º North, the podcast about sailing. I’m recording this from legendary sailor and podcast guest Pam Wall’s kitchen table! Pam helped Mia and I find a slip for Isbjorn here in busy - and expensive - south Florida. The boat is docked in a canal across the street from Pam’s house for the next month, and she’s been kind enough to let me use her kitchen as my temporary office. Sweet!

Episode 146 is actually Episode #1 of the new ‘Ocean Sailing Podcast,’ produced by longtime fan of 59º North, David Hows and released on April 1. David and I have been communicating for some time now about his new show - which comes to us from Down Under in Australia - and I’ve been excited to help him launch it. He’s been inspired to start his own podcast for a while now, and has put in a ton of effort to make it happen.

David already has three episodes released, and will continue on a bi-weekly basis. Search for ‘Ocean Sailing Podcast’ on iTunes to subscribe for free, and read more about David and the show on oceansailingpodcast.com.

With that, I’ll let David tell the rest of the story in his short intro to episode one, which is a long conversation he had with Australian yachting writer and legend Rob Mundle. David will be joining me soon as a guest on 59º North, so look for that. Enjoy episode 1 of the Ocean Sailing Podcast, with host David Hows!