The Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast

This episode we have a grand old chat with Author and Sailor Richard J. King, whose new book “Sailing Alone: A Surprising History of Isolation and Survival at Sea,” which has recently been released.

The book is a mix of his personal story of voyaging across the Atlantic by himself, aboard a Pearson Triton 28 back in 2007, and a fairly comprehensive history of men and women throughout history that have sailed alone all over the world, for varying reasons and with varying levels of comfort and success.

He delves into the reasons why they go in the first place, and what they see when they get “Out there.”

His reason to go is both simplistic and complex at the same time, depending on how you look at it. He isn’t, by his own admission, any sort of Master Yachtsman, nor would he win any races by his skill or drive to win, he isn’t even really an extreme adventurer looking for the thrill, yet his appetite for sailing was whet during teaching English to wayward college students on tall ships in far flung locales, where he delved into the history books on sailing, including the ones who went against the norms by going it alone.

Intrigued, he began to ponder why someone would go about doing such a thing, and came down to a handful of common reasons for them leaving the dock initially, but more interestingly, how they each dealt with what they saw and how it transformed their lives in a mix of Spirituality, Oneness with Nature, Reflecting upon and interpreting the world around us from an entirely different perspective, in the way an artist would look at the world, while doing something that tests the mettle and determination of accomplishing a goal.

Thus his own voyage Sailing Alone was born as he contemplated crossing the Atlantic Ocean back in 2007. He didn’t make a fuss about it, barley even told anyone he was doing it beyond the few he cared to share it with, wasn’t even sure he was going to go through with it until he was “Out There” after his shakedown cruise with friends up to Maine. He was prepared, his ship was ready, he just wasn’t sure he was. He decided to go for it, and now he’s got a great story to tell, but after sitting on it for 15 years, he decided to compare his experience with those throughout history, some of whom you may never have heard about.

You can listen to Episode 181 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
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Welcome to The Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast (STBSP) Ep, 180, a porch chat with Mahlon and Linda Stauffer, who have been cruising the ICW to Florida and the Bahamas, from the Chesapeake Bay, for the past 5 seasons, aboard their Island Packet 35 “Just Ducky.”

Having met them years ago on a Hot night in the mooring field at Hances Point Yacht Club, we’ve been sailing and hanging out swapping stories for a good long time, and it has been way past due that we sit down for a chat on the podcast. This will be the second Hometown Lancaster, PA cruising couples I’ve had on the Podcast, Maris and Linda aboard S/V Amekaya were the other ones on episode 71.

Nothing to sell, no blogs or YouTube channels to promote, just great stories and tips for venturing up and down the east coast in and out of the ICW. I love that they made the plans to go cruising in retirement and they are out there living the dreams year after year. Inspiring stuff for the rest of us workaday grunts.

If you see Just Ducky out and about, wave a greeting and exchange boat cards!

You can listen to Episode 180 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
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Welcome to episode 179 of the Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast with our guest Olympic Sailor Lara Dallman-Weiss who is representing the US Sailing Team in the 470 class with sailing partner Stuart McNay.

I was honored to be considered to interview Lara on our little Sailing Podcast. I must say I had a little bit of imposter syndrome beforehand as I thought about the questions I might ask a world class athlete and sailor. I am fascinated by the level of dedication you must have to reach this level and how to physically and mentally prepare to compete in such an environment, with all the hurdles you have to manage along the way. I was also very interested in whether she considered herself an Athlete first or Sailor first and what plans she may have after her Olympic campaign is over.

A big part of the journey is finding the support along the way, so if you are so inclined you can donate to the team over at Lara’s Website, www.larasails.com where you can find updated information, buy some merch and support the team. You can also find her on Instagram. US Sailing is the umbrella organization under which the Olympic sailing teams operate and who gives support to the teams at this level.

The Olympics start in late July with Lara starting sailing on August 2nd. Not sure on the Television schedule in the US, but NBC Sports will be covering the summer olympics.

You can listen to Episode 179 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
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Welcome to this episode of The Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast (STBSP) in which we spend a rainy Saturday in Annapolis at Bacon Sails with Stevie Reeves, in his podcast studio, with alcohol, and Captain Boomies and the Bear crash the Party. This is part two of what ended up being almost a three hour tour. If you want to watch it on Stevie’s YouTube Channel, the link is here. It gets kinda crazy, but it was a fun time and there’s some good stuff in here. Check out Unfurled with Stevie Reeves on Insta and Youtube.

This is Part 2, if you missed part 1, go back and check out episode 177.

Started Cleaning the boat up a bit, got some bottom paint, waiting on some good weather next few weekends to get the boat ready for the season!

You can listen to Episode 178 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
Support the Podcast on,

Welcome to this episode of The Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast (STBSP) in which we spend a rainy Saturday in Annapolis at Bacon Sails with Stevie Reeves, in his podcast studio, with alcohol, and Captain Boomies and the Bear crash the Party. This is part one of what ended up being almost a three hour tour. It gets kinda crazy, but it was a fun time and there’s some good stuff in here. Check out Unfurled with Stevie Reeves on Insta and Youtube.

This is also a terrible time in the Chesapeake Bay/Baltimore area as the day before I recorded the intro for this, the Frances Scott Key Bridge collapsed due to being struck by a large container ship. Some details have emerged since then that maybe differ from my take on it, but it is a catastrophic situation for this area, and we hope for a speedy resolution to the situation and feel for the families of the victims.

Looking forward to the start of the season in these parts, hope to get the boat ready in April, and launch sometime before middle of May!

You can listen to Episode 177 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
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Welcome to Episode 176 of The Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast (STBSP)! This episode we chat with Photographer and Portrait Artist Kristin Rutkowski about her Chesapeake Bay Based project called Her Helm.

The Her Helm project got started during the Summer of Covid, and culminated last year with the release of the book, Her Helm Chesapeake Bay. In it, Rutkowski, showcases 51 women that make their own way on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay as captains of their own ships, whether licensed or not, large and small, sail or power. The book also contains art, poetry, and stories from invited guests.

We talk about how she came to the project, how she went out and found all those amazing women, how you set up the shots and subjects to be able to tell their story in one photographic snapshot, what it takes to wrangle everything together into a cohesive, tangible object such as a book. We also talk about how this goes on to affect the folks involved, the artist, and the culture as a whole.

You can find out more about the Her Helm project with the following links:

Her Helm: https://www.herhelm.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HerHelmPortrait/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herhelm/

Kristin’s portrait business: https://www.kristinrutkowskiphotography.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristinrutkowskiphotography/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinrutkowskiphotography/

This month, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum will host a forum of women from the Her Helm project. Thursday, Feb. 29, 5:30pm Register at: (virtual and in person)
https://cbmm.org/event/her-helm-a-panel-discussion-about-women-making-their-own-way-on-the-water/

The Her Helm project is in a special exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum https://cbmm.org/her-helm-portraits-of-women-on-the-chesapeake/

The book is available from the Her Helm website (https://www.herhelm.com/book-2023)
and in local stores on the Eastern Shore: Local-ISH Art in Cape Charles, VA (https://www.livelocal-ish.com/about-the-gallery)

The Book Bin in Onley, VA (http://bookbinva.com/)

Kristin’s next event will be a talk about Her Helm at Ker Place in Onancock, VA https://visitesva.com/events/listings/her-helm-chesapeake-bay-book-signing-lecture-with-kristin-rutkowski/

You can listen to Episode 176 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
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This episode, representing our 10th Anniversary of the start of the Podcast, we sit down and chat with Josh Davidson of Sailboatparts Dot Com on the Interwebs and Anchors and Oars, a Nautical gift shop and Sailboat parts outlet physically located on the Eastern Shore of the Bay, in Graysonville, MD.

Josh had sort of become a Mythic or Legendary character in my online sailingverse. I started hearing about this great reuse-it shop that had almost anything you ever needed to outfit your good old boat. I started seeing photo’s of his Barn covered in Halyards, Piles of Block and Tackle, Oars stacked to the gills, with all sorts of Knick Knacks and Paddywhacks in between. I knew I had to check it out, and finally did back in the spring of last year, eventually buying a new to me Spinnaker Halyard, after spending a few hours wandering the premises, including the bard, the gift shop, and a few out buildings, not to mention the sprawl towards the parking lot.

Not having much to do with Messing About with Boats until meeting his wife about 10 years ago, Josh is now steeped in the business of turning others peoples discarded and abandoned Sailboats into a full time career. He and his wife actually have a few businesses in the Marine Space. He does boat photography and drone work, while she, after working as an event specialist for the Annapolis Sailboat Show for many years, has started her own boat show in Washington D.C. while still working at other boat shows.

You can listen to Episode 175 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
Support the Podcast on,

Welcome to Episode 174 of The Shooting the Breeze Sailing Podcast (STBSP) with our guest, Annapolis based Sail Racer John Schafer, who with a bunch of military buddies started ministryofsailing.com and also runs a Sailing Rescue Swimmer training program for offshore sailors.

When you sit down to watch a big time sailing race on the interwebs or on television, say The Americas Cup, The Ocean Race, SailGP, the Caribbean 600, or Sydney/Hobart, you don’t generally first think of the Annapolis area sailing scene as a part of things, but it is. There are folks local to the Chesapeake Bay like John that are out there on some of these race crews, whether it be actually manning a spot on the boats or shore teams, or in the wings helping these sailors prepare for safe competition.

John spent his youth lake sailing in the midwest, spent time in Hawaii in the military doing lots of sailing, found himself in the middle of some high end race crews, then ended up in the Washington, D.C. area, and the Chesapeake Bay. His job found him traveling all around the world, and doing lots of sailing in the process.

When the Pandemic hit, the sailing world came to a screeching halt, and he and some friends started Ministry of Sailing, and through that process began running a Sailing Rescue Swimmer training program.

Now he spends his time still sailing and training and having an all around good time preaching the good word of sailing through the following links.

Www.ministryofsailing.com

Insta https://instagram.com/ministryofsailing?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
And https://instagram.com/445velocity?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
You tube https://youtube.com/@ministryofsailing?si=nae-nQreRtFbBQwe

Sailing Chesapeake and Racers Facebook Group.

You can listen to Episode 174 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
Support the Podcast on,

Welcome to this episode of The Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast (STBSP), which is part 2 of our 2023 Annapolis Sailboat Show Wrap up. In this episode we have 6 interviews with vendors and friends at the Sailboat show. The interviews and time stamps are as follows

Marcus Asante and Alex Caslow from Redbeard Sailing – 16:37

Brian from Sperry Boat Shoes – 25:24

Alex from Tremate Boat Maintenance App – 30:28

Craig from Dakota Lithium Batteries – 33:59

Chris Kreitlein, Author of Simple Celestial at the Celestaire Booth – 37:20

Stevie Reeves from Bacon Sails – 46:29

In addition to those links, during the intro I speak about Mary Haverstick and her new book, Woman I Know, which I encourage you to check out. It has nothing to do with sailing, but she IRL has been checking out sailing opportunities in the local area the past couple of years. It is a spy story with ties to the Kennedy assassination.

You can listen to Episode 173 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
Support the Podcast on,

Welcome to Episode 172 of The Shooting The Breeze Sailing Podcast (STBSP) whereby we attend the 2023 edition of the Annapolis Sailboat Show, hang out with friends, old and new, check out some great vendors, look at a boat or two, and be as much social butterfly’s as we can muster. Three Days, Two parties, some interesting vendors, a new tradition beginning, some great weather, some crappy weather, and a few boats to boot.

Nora joins me for the intro, where we try to recap the experience, which honestly was such a blur at times, it is hard to remember all that we experienced. In many ways three days is not nearly enough time to get to do all the things I’d love to do when the sailboat show is in town, but in other ways, it gets to be too much and the possibility of burning out on the whole thing becomes very real.

Last year I was pretty jaded on the whole “Sailebrity” thing, with Delos, Parley, and La Vagabond and others in town, chasing them around the show seemed utterly pointless, and found solace in the fact that I could meet up with Sailors and Youtubers that I had interacted with in the Online Universe or in person previously, like Beau and Brandy. This year was a bit lower key in general, the weather on Saturday kept the crowds down a bit, and a bit of preplanning and…. Frankly, an invite to one of the YouTube Parties offered by someone who is already a friend offline, and by buying tickets to the awards show made it such a better experience. I guess it’s nice to be included, especially when you put yourself out there and you want to mingle to grow your endeavor.

We did catch up with and meet new folks like Chris and Kell from Sailing Adrift, Chase from Below Deck and Chasing Grace, Mads and Ava from Sail Life, and Cole from the Adventure Crews.

Sadly we missed out on the Ocean Research project/59 North gathering on Friday night, but we can’t be in two places at the same time, and I had already booked our Friday night activities at the Parley Revival Patron Party/International Cruisers Awards. We also missed the Latitudes and Attitudes party on Saturday night, but we had been there last year. We missed out on Sunday at the show as well, but we had responsibilities to attend to.

We did get some great interviews with vendors at the show, and we were able to do some impromptu podcasting on the dock near the YouTube Tend with fellow podcasters, Scott Titus of the Splice the Main Brace Podcast and Chris Smith of the Bonnie Boat Podcast.

The time stamps are as follows.

Corinthians Yacht Club – 44:44

Made + – 49:16

Tartan Yachts – 53:01

Airhead Composting Toilets – 58:40

Scott Titus and Chris Smith – 1:11:53

You can listen to Episode 172 of the STBSP, by right clicking and downloading here,

You can find it on all your favorite Podcast Apps and Aggregators

or push play on the embedded link below.

Intro Music by yours truly and Greg Young, of The Incoherents, a band I managed in college. The song is called Never Tell and is available via email. Find the other songs they did at The Incoherents. The Lean Years Volume 2, on Itunes.

Break music, “Wild Winds of Misfortune” by Leo Disanto of The Vinegar Creek Constituency, and “The Wild Rover” as performed by The Ogham Stones
Support the Podcast on,