On the Wind Sailing

#158 Isbjorn sailed to Cuba in April. Finally, my full-length essay on the experience in Havana. This one is for the dreamers, filled with descriptions of what it’s like at marina Hemingway, chasing signs of Che, Fidel and the Cuban revolution, drinking daquaries at La Floridita, sipping Havana Club rum, smoking cigars, driving around in old cars and everything else that defines the Cuban experience. Don't miss the music too, recorded locally.

#157. is John Harries, the founder of morganscloud.com, AKA ‘Attainable Adventure Cruising,’ and in my opinion the foremost authority on safe and simple ocean sailing boats & equipment. He’s an accomplished high latitudes sailor with over 150,000 miles under his keel. Mia and I met him for a round 2 on the podcast in Lunenburg, where he dinghied out to Isbjorn for an in-person chat. We discussed sailing in the Arctic, Isbjorn's original owner Warren Browne, who John sailed with, Skip Novak, batteries for offshore cruising boats, the Adventure 40 project, podcasting and media in general and much, much more. We’re joined in this episode by some of Isbjorn’s crew for the leg 9, south from Lunenburg to Annapolis. They chime in later in the chat with their own comments and questions, and are my good friend Tom Herrington, the guy with the Richmond accent; crew member Dan Levine; my producer, Liz Karamavros; and Mia. -- Thanks for listening to ‘On the Wind,’ the podcast about sailing. If you’ve enjoyed the show, do us a big favor and help spread the word. Review us on iTunes, or better yet, share the podcast with your friends who you think might dig it. We really appreciate it. On the Wind is produced by me and Liz Karamavros. Cameron Deyell composed and performs the new intro music for the show. Blaggards are behind the outro music. Steve Olson is the graphic designer for all of 59 North’s projects, including the podcast artwork. Subscribe to ‘On the Wind’ on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever else you get your podcasts. If you haven’t done so yet, please head over to iTunes and leave a review for the show, it really & truly helps. And finally, huge thanks to all of our awesome listeners! Keep sending in your feedback and suggestions to andy@59-north.com. See you next week!

#156 is another World Cruising Club ‘Ocean Sailing Forum,’ this one recorded back in January at the Toronto International Boat Show. In the Forum, I moderated a panel of experienced ocean sailors including Les Suter, who you’ll recall from episode 97, Toronto native Colin Kilgour, Sheryl Shard of the Distant Shores TV show, Caribbean 1500 and ARC Europe vets Joy & Ian Winterborn, and finally, drumroll please, Mia Karlsson! I give a thorough introduction to who all of the panelists are in the actual episode. Towards the last third, there is also a guest appearance by author & circumnavigator Liza Copeland! These panel discussions, which we try and do at all of the boat shows - the next one, by the way, is coming up in Annapolis this fall…go to 59-north.com/events to register - touch on all aspects of ocean voyaging, from boat selection and outfitting, to sailing routes, crew selection, weather routing & forecasting and much more. This is a long one, running at close to 2 hours, so get comfy and enjoy the chat! While I’ve posted two previous Forums on the podcast, they’ve all had different panelists, so you can always learn something new. Finally, big thanks to the Toronto Show staff, specifically Rich, the sound engineering, for facilitating me recording our seminars there! -- Join me and my friends at Chesapeake Sailmakers in Annapolis for a weekend of traditional navigation and good old storytelling. Go to 59-north.com/celestial for details and to signup! Course is limited to the first twelve people to register. Hope to see you there! -- This episode is sponsored by Marine Electric Systems in Annapolis, MD. Patrick Tewes and his crew are gurus in electrical systems and design, from the ‘guts’ of the system like batteries and alternators, to the electronic nav aids like radar and autopilots. Patrick’s mentor, Bob Campbell, used to be affectionately known around town as the ‘Yoda’ of boat electrical systems. Which must make Patrick the ‘Luke Skywalker’ I suppose!? Patrick redid the entire electrical system on my dad’s Sojourner prior to his first Caribbean trip in 2013, and recently installed a Watt & Sea Hydrogenerator aboard Isbjorn prior to our Canadian Maritimes passage. The unit, when sailing over 6 knots and with the larger, 280mm prop, puts out up to 40 amps of clean power, making us entirely sustainable offshore. It’s my favorite new addition to the boat. Marine Electric Systems - specializing in custom electrical & electronic system design, installation, consulting, service, repair and education. Visit marineelectricsystems.net to contact Patrick and get started designing your dream system.    

#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. ---   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!