On the Wind Sailing

#44. Another 'Essay Friday' for you to think about! Andy's ideas on how to outfit the ocean sailing yacht based on the principles found within Nassim Taleb's classic book 'The Black Swan.' Andy talks about not the chances of a piece of gear failing onboard, but rather the consequences of that failure and how that should influence what you decide to fit, or not fit, on an oceangoing boat. What do you think?

#43. Cary St. Onge took an ex-America's Cup training boat - an 80-foot maxi racer called 'Falcon', used for the 'Young America' team leading up to the 2000 AC - and converted it into his ideal notion of a fast cruising boat! Andy chatted with him on Skype from his home in Boulder, Colorado. He's outfitting the boat to sail in the Caribbean 1500 this coming fall, and is offering 10 crew berths onboard for what should be the sail of a lifetime! Check out Falcon in detail on force10sailing.com

#42. This week's essay Friday is an excerpt from the Log of Arcturus, which I keep onboard the boat. Written by hand, as it's happening, the log is a diary of sorts about our travels. This was written in August of 2012, almost exactly two years ago, during the 3-day passage from Malmo on Sweden's southwest coast to Visby, on the island of Gotland. It's good timing, as starting after work today, we'll be on vacation for the next three weeks, heading this time out of the Baltic and essentially retracing our steps from this here trip. It's fun to read what I've written and see what goes on in my head on those late, solo night watches. Hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed reliving it!

#41. Mario Vittone is a Navy vet and retired USCG rescue swimmer with a resume that will blow your mind. Andy got in touch with him via a mutual friend, and had an interesting chat about his experience in helo rescues at sea, cold water immersion, safety offshore and more. They discussed the recent Cheeki Rafiki search, the sinking of the Bounty and how Mario's career has recently transitioned from on-the-scene rescue ops to consultancy work and a successful writing career. Mario writes regularly on gCaptain.com and for various industry magazines and publications. Check out his own website at mariovittone.com. Enjoy episode 41!

#40. Essay Friday - What I learned in two Atlantic crossings. The first, of course was in 2011 aboard Arcturus, which I  discussed at length with Clint Wells in Tuesday's episode. The second, which I haven't written much about, was the following year, on Kinship, a Saga 43 that Mia and I skippered in ARC Europe, crossing the Atlantic via Bermuda-Azores-Portugal. Both were very different experiences and taught me valuable lessons. This is what I wrote following the second crossing in July 2012. Enjoy!

#39. Andy sits down in person with one of his best friends in Oslo, Norway to reminisce about sailing across the North Atlantic. Clint, a non-sailor, joined Andy & Mia in Halifax for the cruise up the Canadian Maritimes and across the pond to Ireland, a 23-day passage, and the first time Clint was at sea. In between jokes and fun memories, Clint comes up with some great pearls of wisdom for anybody looking to cross an ocean, but might not know what to expect. He's honest, funny and sincere about how the experience changed his life for the better.

#37. Regular guest & sailing legend Matt Rutherford is back on the podcast to discuss his recent landfall in Japan, climbing Mt. Fuji, making his own saki, what it's like to complete a 7,000-mile nonstop ocean crossing in a 30-foot daysailor, and why he's so determined to do what he says he's going to do! Matt & Nicole Trenholm were in Japan when they recorded this, their last day there before returning to the USA, and Andy Skyped them from Sweden, so another international interview. Check out Matt & Nicole's latest expedition on oceanresearchproject.org.

#Bonus. This one is a bit more serious than last week, and looks at some of the 'rules' of ocean sailing from the perspective of two events from last fall - the Caribbean 1500 rally, and the Salty Dawgs. You'll recall that six Salty Dawg boats issued distress calls last year, two of which were later rescued by the Coast Guard. The incident made national news, and was a hot button issue among the offshore sailing community. I wrote down my own thoughts immediately afterwards, but didn't publish them until now, after lots of time to think it over and make a fair assessment of what happened. There's a lot of opinions in here, so buckle up! What did you think about the incident and what lessons did you take from it?

#36. To anybody that's been near a sailboat, today's guest needs no introduction. John Rousmaniere is a legendary sailor/writer whose been in the thick of the sport for over 40 years. He's logged over 40,000 sailing miles, mostly offshore, raced at the highest levels of the sport, and written 15 books and counting on the subject. Andy met John at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club following the Newport-Bermuda Race a few weeks ago. John has been in charge of media for the past three editions of the race, and reprised his role in 2014. Then he jumped aboard the McCurdy & Rhodes designed 'Selkie' and sailed back to Newport! John and Andy Skyped, Andy in Sweden, John in NYC, and they chatted for almost an hour about John's career as a writer, what it was like to sail in the '72 Bermuda Race and infamous '79 Fastnet Race, his motivations for writing about sailing and specifically safety at sea, and what he fears offshore. Enjoy!

#35. Welcome! New concept this week borrowed from Tim Ferriss and his podcast, which I'm a huge fan of (check it out). Every Friday I'll be recording an essay of sorts - stories, opinions, ideas, Q&A if we can get some folks involved, that sort of thing. It'll be a nice compliment to the interviews I do with guests, which will be out earlier in the week. So enjoy this story of my first experience being naked in Scandinavian-style with my wife Mia, her best friend Johanna, and my best friend Clint in the sauna in Finland.