Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell

Part 2 of my interview with Steve Alexander, who lost his autopilot on the way to the Azores from Bermuda. He also had failing backstays on the way, and a lost swing-keel. We talk about all this, as well as getting weather reports while offshore, Irridium, Starlink, Garmin InReach, approaching islands safely, provisioning, the danger of deferring responsibility, the importance of emotional support during a crisis, and much more

Steve was recently sailing from Bermuda to the Azores when he had a series of misfortunes, including losing the swing keel, backstay failure, and autopilot failure, leaving him undercanvassed and forced to steer when awake, and hove-to when sleeping, for about three weeks. We also talk about his boat, a Brewer 12.8, his previous boat, a Hallberg Rassy Rasmus, designing a windsheild for his boat, losing the swing keel between the Bahamas and Bermuda, safety, perseverance, Starlink, PredictWind, sailing solo vs with crew, and more.

Bob Bitchin is a sailor, a biker, an author of 11 books, and publisher of Latitudes and Attitudes magazine. We talk about sailing on other people's boats, anchoring on the Pacific side of Panama, fin-keel boats vs full-keel boats, eating rattlesnakes, working as a bodyguard for Evel Knievel, motorcycle clubs, similarities between biking and sailing, the brotherhood of sailors, ketches and sloops, sailing with Greenpeace on a suare-rigger, in-boom furling, Share the Sail charters, and much more.

Simon is the sales manager for North America for Victron Energy. We talk about lithium vs AGM batteries, alternator charging, DC/DC chargers, designing a solar array, starter batteries, the value of finding good information and asking questions, questions from Patreon patrons, high-output alternators, remote monitioring of your electrical system, expanding a solar array, sizing and inverter, and more.

Ambre was training for the 2023 Mini Transat and completing her qualifying 1000nm sail when she ran aground in an inlet in France and had to abandon ship. We talk about sailing a mini, lines and sail trim, safety, foul-weather gear, the wreck, future plans, and much more.

Jon is the founder of PredictWind, and a very accomplished sailor. We talk about sailing foiling boats, sailing in the Olympics, the Americas Cup, losing the mast in the Transpac, PredictWind, the data hub, weather routing, departure planning, and more.

Jerry spent the last two years exploring the Caribbean, visiting many islands in his Bristol 32. We talk about his refit, why he wanted a full-keel boat, stopping leaks, windvanes, weather, Dominica, Puerto Rico, St Croix, Mona Island, san Salvador, storm anchors, anchoring in currents,

Morgan Cole sails a Saltram Saga 36, was a boatbuilder, and was involved in Susie Goodall's refit of her 2018 GGR Boat. We talk about sailing full-keel boats, heavy weather, docking, Susie's refit, sailplans, tacking, downwind sail combinations, and much more. 

Alan is a sailor that I met here in Bocas del Toro, Panama. We talk about his catamaran, sailing in the Western Caribbean, catamarans vs monohulls, rock climbing and its similarities to sailing, and much more.

I answer questions from my patrons (those who support through Patreon) including my experiences on different boats, how much money I spend, my tool collection, what gear I would have if I could afford it, calculating a power budget, where I get ideas for fictional stories and books, singlehanding, and reefing.