On the Wind Sailing

#97. At about 0200 in the morning last Wednesday, after we’d tied the dock lines up in Little Creek VA, I got out the recorder and we debriefed the passage north on Sojourner from Marsh Harbor to Annapolis. The crew were myself, my dad, and Les and Jim, two podcast fans who’d signed up for the expedition online! The trip was ideal sailing - broad reaching under a full moon for most of the way, and warm, dry and comfortable (at least until we got back into colder water on the Bay). Aside from one night, that is. Early Easter Sunday morning we experienced a violent frontal passage, with 50-knot initial gusts and sustained winds overnight in the 30-40 knot range. Easily the strongest weather I’d encountered in my offshore career, and a hell of an experience for Les and Jim who’d never been offshore before. So we talked about it. Here's the tape.

#96. Live from World Cruising Club's Ocean Sailing Seminar weekend in Annapolis. Andy spends 90 minutes discussing boat types and how to prioritize outfitting your boat for deep ocean sailing. He emphasizes that basically ANY boat can complete an ocean passage when properly outfitted and with a properly trained crew. But sometimes it's nice to have a few luxuries, and Andy talks about how to prioritize adding equipment. To follow along with the slides from this episode, go to 59-north.com/sailingpodcast and click on this episode.   This episode was sponsored by Forbes Horton Yacht Sales in Annapolis. Need a bluewater boat? Have one to sell? Talk to Forbes - Andy's new Swan 48 came through Forbes' office. Visit forbesyachts.com. This episode was also supported by World Cruising Club, the world's most popular offshore sailing rallies.    Want to go ocean sailing with Andy? Book a berth on Isbjorn, our S&S Swan 48, at 59-north.com/offshore.

#95. Despite the intro, this is not the first Thursday episode…but it is another business-oriented episode, kind of a hybrid actually. Andy sat down with Forbes Horton of his namesake Yacht Sales brokerage in his office in Annapolis. Forbes’ firm, thanks to Lloyd Cooper, put together the deal to buy Isbjorn, the Swan 48 we talked about previously. Andy has known Forbes for a while - they talk about how they met, how he got into sailing and his own adventures in a Tartan 34c, the brokerage business in general, and how the deal came together with Isbjorn!    Need a good bluewater sailboat? Go to forbesyachts.com and get in touch with Forbes and Lloyd. They’re the best in the business.    Want to go on an ocean sailing expedition? Head on over to 59-north.com/sailingpassages to book a berth on the Swan 48 ‘Isbjorn.’ We’re heading to the Caribbean for 2016, Europe in the spring!

#94. Paul Exner talks to single-handed sailor Victor Hempel aboard Paul's boat 'Solstice' in Tortola. Paul and Andy also announce their partnership between 59º North & Modern Geographic to offer sailing expeditions aboard the Swan 48 'Isbjorn' and Paul's 'Solstice.' Paul will be regularly co-hosting '59º North' during the normal Tuesday releases. What do you think of the new co-host? Want to go ocean sailing with Andy or Paul? Book a berth on the Swan 48 'Isbjorn' or the Cape George 31 'Solstice' at 59-north.com and moderngeographic.com.

#93. You know that intro music you love from the podcast? It's Blaggards! Andy spoke with lead singer and co-founder of the band, Patrick Devlin just in time for St. Paddy's Day. Patrick's story is a classic one of following your passion into a passable career, and he's had remarkable success with it. Patrick talks about not drinking, starting a band, U2, growing up in Ireland, sadness in his family, touring and playing all-day shows on St. Paddy's Day! Check out Blaggards music at blaggards.com or on Facebook.com/blaggards.

#92. Buying a bigger boat and using it to take people across oceans has long been a dream of mine. I can’t pinpoint when exactly this happened, but it was probably in the mid-2000s when I was working on the schooner Woodwind in Annapolis. That was the first time I realized that it might be possible to have a career not in sailing, but as a sailor.  So at Christmastime I did a yachtworld.com search, just for fun. I typed in ‘Swan’, set the length to 40-50 feet, and capped the price at $150,000.00. Mia and I had been able to save a fair amount of money over the past couple of years, to the tune of about $35,000.00, and this was a number I thought we might be able to afford. --- This is the beginning of the story of how Mia and I came to own a 1972 Swan 48, hull no. 2, which we've named Isbjorn. I'll follow this up with regular podcast and blog updates on how the business is developing and how the refit is going, in real time, as we embark on the next stage of our sailing careers. Wish me luck! Read on for the transcribed audio below, or click the player above to hear it. Want to go ocean sailing on our new Swan!? Sign up at 59-north.com!

#91. Andy's seminar about sailing to Europe and back from the 2015 Toronto Boat Show in January. Recorded in front of a live audience! Episode includes Q&A at the end, tips on weather routing, northern versus southern routes to Europe, and how to get back! Want to go ocean sailing with Andy? Book a berth on at 59-north.com/events.

#90. This week's episode features another LIVE lecture from the Toronto International Boat Show about sailing offshore to the Bahamas! The tried and true route is down the ICW from the Chesapeake. But that takes weeks! Which ic great if you have the time to meander and enjoy the nice towns along the way. But if you're really keen to get to the islands and enjoy that time there, there's a much faster way, and it's in the ocean. In five days from Norfolk or Beaufort, you can be sipping rum and laying back in the Abacos! The focus of today's episode is getting over the fear and trepidation of going offshore in general, and then planning specifically for a Bahamas-bound passage. What weather to expect, where to make landfall, etc. Want to go ocean sailing with Andy? Book a berth at 59-north.com.

#89. This one is for the sailors who are also skiers - Drew Hardesty is a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center. How does he relate to sailing? Drew is the definition of an outdoorsman, and the wilderness envrionment that is the backcountry in the mountains of Utah is strikingly similar, philosophically, to the wilderness that is the high seas, and both are blessed and cursed with the same adventure and the same problems. Drew and Andy discuss his career as a rescue-climber and backcountry avalanche forecaster, as well as Drew's ideas on how to manage the influx of people into the backcountry, how those same problems plague the ocean sailing community, his hopes and fears to the future of backcountry use, and what he thinks we can do about it. Reach out to Drew to join his backcountry outreach program on drew [at] utahavalanchecenter [dot] org, or check out avalanche.org for more information.  Want to go ocean sailing with Andy? Book a berth on 59-north.com/events.

#88. Franz Amussen, host of the 'Sailing the Med' podcast, joins Andy to discuss his namesake podcast. They recorded over Skype, Andy in Toronto for the boat show there, Franz in his home in Salt Lake City.  This is the first part of a two-part episode, and is mostly Franz interviewing Andy about his own sailing career, cruising in the Baltic, Swedish customs and other fun stuff. Towards the end the tables are turned and Franz is the one answering questions, but they ran out of time before getting too far into it. Stay tuned for a Part 2 coming up soon! Want to go ocean sailing with Andy? Book a berth on at 59-north.com.