In this episode we explore D is for Damage and as always it's me shooting right from the hip discussing this crucial subject as we would sat on the deck of your boat with a cup of tea.  I am unapologetic for tangents and spurious information but the deal here is to plumb what exactly a 'pro' sailor is meant to know should things go sideways.

I discuss, use of 'Mayday', grounding, keel damage, losing the rig & cutting it away, fire, collision, bilge-pumping and lots more! So, grab a cup of tea, sit yourself down and lets explore D is for Damage.

Just before you go....

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

If you have any questions please send them to: [email protected] 

Cheers,

CSM

As always Questions & Tangents 5 hovers close to the optimal track suggested by this week's listener questions before tacking off onto a flyer to 'knock the corners' with whatever happens to be floating through my head!

Topics include (but are not limited to!): Hydrogen Fuel for boats, Synthetic rigging on cruising boats, anchoring, setting the depth sounder correctly and delivering Longobarda home to Nova Scotia this summer.

Just before you go....

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

If you have any questions please send them to: [email protected] 

Cheers,

Chris

In this episode I discuss the strange story of Dr. John Rae, a man struck from history by the wife of the famous/infamous Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin.

Rae's brilliant cartography expeditions to the far North of Canada in the mid 1800's not only identified the last part of the puzzle of transiting the Northwest passage but also revealed the final fate of Franklin's Arctic expedition that had been lost 10 years before.  However, it was a terrible truth that no one wanted to hear about and a macabre reality that Franklin's estate strove hard to obfuscate- to the point that 170 years later  very few people even know of the exploits of one of the most successful Arctic explorers of that age.

Just before you go....

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

If you have any questions please send them to: [email protected] 

Cheers,

Chris

The episode we explore the third subject of our on-going 'ABC of Boating' with C is for Cooking. Food, food preparation and its effect on crew morale, decision making ability, accident avoidance, emotional rationality and overall performance (whether cruising or racing)cannot be under estimated.

Cooking can be the make or break element on a an offshore passage and is something I take extremely seriously as a skipper. In this episode I discuss all the aspects that come to my mind 'off the cuff' when it comes to food from the perspective of someone who has eaten and prepared literally thousands of meals afloat.

Just before you go....

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

If you have any questions please send them to: [email protected] 

Cheers,

Chris

This episode I discuss the early origins of waterproof clothing and the designs that have developed over the centuries to a point were, now- we at least 'expect' to be dry when it rains!

To bring things right up to date, I also review Helly Hansen's 'Aegir' Ocean Waterproofs -which are at the cutting edge of heavy duty offshore sailing gear and have been kindly supplied by Helly Hansen as part of their sponsorship of my Westabout Circumnavigation.

But don't worry- 'Sponsored' does not mean 'perfect' :)

Just before you go....

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

If you have any questions please send them to: [email protected] 

Cheers,

Chris

In this episode I continue reading Capt. Joshua Slocum's excellent narrative of his solo circumnavigation of the world in 1895.

In chapters 11 & 12 Slocum starts out first in Juan Fernandez ,where he visits the cave the Alexander Selkirk lived in for four years and four months, a story that became the inspiration for 'Robinson Crusoe'  Next Slocum sails 72 days non-stop to Apia in Samoa where he meets the Fanny Van de Graf Louis Stevenson (!) the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Just before you go....

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

If you have any questions please send them to: [email protected] 

Cheers,

CSM

This episode I read listener's questions and then proceed to talk abut whatever comes into my head working on the basis that if it is somewhat related to sailing we will all enjoy the process!! Sometimes, amid the tangents I even end up answering the question! Miracle of miracles !:)

If you have any questions you would like answering please send them to [email protected] 

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $2 per month option.

If you are looking to develop your seamanship skills and take your sailing knowledge & safety to a more advanced level I run an On-Line Seamanship Training Program which gives you access to four 30 minute videos each month that deep-dive into a broad range of subjects from Ropework to Naval Architecture, Electronic Navigation, Sail Trim, Composite Repair. The lessons come out once a week and the minimum commitment to have access to all of them is $20 per month.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book any number of trips in the Caribbean, American North East, Europe and even Transatlantic trips; year round with Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

Cheers,

CSM

This episode I cover the recent updates concerning the proposed Olympic Offshore Racing event, The Global Ocean Race and the plan we are developing to campaign two boats for Veterans. I also talk about Covid and how that is affecting sailing this year and introduce a few more details about our new boat Longobarda.

If you have any questions you would like answering please send them to [email protected] 

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $2 per month option.

If you are looking to develop your seamanship skills and take your sailing knowledge & safety to a more advanced level I run an On-Line Seamanship Training Program which gives you access to four 30 minute videos each month that deep-dive into a broad range of subjects from Ropework to Naval Architecture, Electronic Navigation, Sail Trim, Composite Repair. The lessons come out once a week and the minimum commitment to have access to all of them is $20 per month.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book any number of trips in the Caribbean, American North East, Europe and even Transatlantic trips; year round with Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

Cheers,

CSM

In this episode we continue the Alphabet of Boating and I have selected the most basic of terms to cover at this early stage in an effort to lay a wide foundation for the more specific and technical elements of sailing that will no doubt come later on. 

This episode- B is for Boat and with the guidance of the Wikipedia entry on 'Boat'- I describe what is known about the early development of humans going out onto the water and how things have moved along since then- a history of some 900,000 years!

If you have any questions you would like answering please send them to [email protected] 

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $2 per month option.

If you are looking to develop your seamanship skills and take your sailing knowledge & safety to a more advanced level I run an On-Line Seamanship Training Program which gives you access to four 30 minute videos each month that deep-dive into a broad range of subjects from Ropework to Naval Architecture, Electronic Navigation, Sail Trim, Composite Repair. The lessons come out once a week and the minimum commitment to have access to all of them is $20 per month.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book any number of trips in the Caribbean, American North East, Europe and even Transatlantic trips; year round with Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

Cheers,

CSM

In this episode I continue reading Capt. Joshua Slocum's excellent narrative of his solo circumnavigation of the world in 1895.

In this episode- pushed back into the Magellen Strait, Slocum must guard against Fuegain pirates, load a cargo of tallow and work the Spray back into position to once again head out into the open ocean.

If you have any questions you would like answering please send them to [email protected] 

If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $2 per month option.

If you are looking to develop your seamanship skills and take your sailing knowledge & safety to a more advanced level I run an On-Line Seamanship Training Program which gives you access to four 30 minute videos each month that deep-dive into a broad range of subjects from Ropework to Naval Architecture, Electronic Navigation, Sail Trim, Composite Repair. The lessons come out once a week and the minimum commitment to have access to all of them is $20 per month.

If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book any number of trips in the Caribbean, American North East, Europe and even Transatlantic trips; year round with Spartan Ocean Racing & Training

Cheers,

CSM