Interview
Laura Parent
Nikki Henderson // Winning The Race To Alaska

Nikki Henderson is no stranger to the 59N family. She’s a skipper, a podcaster, master of the Quarterdeck and a dear friend in the community. But when she signs off from these watches, she doesn’t quit. You likely know that she’s been on heaps of other seafaring adventures, including skippering the famed Whitbread machine, Maiden; the Clipper Round the World Race; and her first attempt at the Race To Alaska with Team Sail Like a Girl. I sat down to talk with Nikki about her second, most recent attempt at the R2AK, its challenges, and what made this one such a successful campaign in what I think is one of the greatest adventure races on earth. Guest-Hosted by Ben Doerr.

Nikki Henderson // Winning The Race To Alaska
Interview
Laura Parent
#404: How to be a Sailing Parent w/ Andy, ...

Navigating the challenges of parenthood whilst also maintaining an atypical lifestyle — be that of a sailor, adventurer, or anything that doesn’t involve a 9-5 desk job — has been a consistent theme of this podcast. Now the tables have turned. Andy, Mia and August are raising their two boys whilst running a business and working as professional sailors themselves. Hoping to be a parent myself one day, I took the opportunity to put them on the spot to discuss what has surprised them about parenthood, what they wish they had known before taking the plunge, and what advice they have for anyone else dreaming of a similar future.

#404: How to be a Sailing Parent w/ Andy, August and Mia
Interview
Laura Parent
#403: Pam Wall // Reminiscing on a Life at Sea

Pam Wall returns to the podcast, live from her living room in Ft. Lauderdale. Andy sat down to talk to Pam about the treasure trove of memories in her house, how she stays happy and inspirational despite the tragedy of losing her husband and daughter too soon, the relationship she has with her son, how she stays fit at nearly 80, and lots lots more.

#403: Pam Wall // Reminiscing on a Life at Sea
Interview
Laura Parent
#402: Celeste Pomerantz // To Svalbard in ...

Celeste Pomerantz wasn't a sailor until she signed up for a sail & ski trip out of Tromsø, Norway, that was headed north in search of un-skied peaks in Svalbard. The boat was called SOFIE, and was owned and skippered by friend of 59º North, Mats Grimsaeth. I discovered Celeste in the ski film Wavy 2 about the adventure and immediately reached out to her. We talked about sailing in the Arctic, her upbringing in the mountains of western British Columbia, similarities between big mountain skiing and offshore sailing, managing fear, 'imposter syndrome' and her studies in renewable energy.

#402: Celeste Pomerantz // To Svalbard in Search of Un-skied Couloirs
Interview
Laura Parent
#401: Terje Andre Pedersen // Sailing in the ...

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole and the North Pole, but his greatest achievement may have been leading the first successful crossing of the Northwest Passage in 1906. Terje Andre Pedersen grew up inspired by Amundsen's great stories of exploration. He has followed his own dreams, and is soon to set sail towards the Northwest Passage in Amundsen's wake with a ship made of wood and a crew made of iron.

#401: Terje Andre Pedersen // Sailing in the Wake of Amundsen
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145: Tory Salvia

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Episode 145 is Tory Salvia, founder and executive producer of The Sailing Channel. Tory and I sat down in person in Annapolis a few weeks ago and had a fascinating conversation. We talked about Tory’s sailing career in general and how he got started, his love of good old boats, how he’s been influenced over the years, and more recently, his starting thesailingchannel.tv. 

Tory made his career in media production, making videos for the Navy for a long while as both producer and director on many of his projects. He has a love for film, which has shaped his career all along, but eventually he wanted to combine that with his love of sailing, and so The Sailing Channel was born.

Today, thesailingchannel.tv is a mix of curation - Tory hosts many popular sailing movies from now and from the past - and original production. If you’ve seen ‘Red Dot on the Ocean,’ the Matt Rutherford story, that was one of Tory’s prouder moments as producer, as he brought it to life. We delve into how he made the business happen, some of his favorite sailing films, some technical aspects of how filmmaking has changed in the digital age, and much more.

I’m recording this intro a little bit ahead of schedule - we’re currently anchored in Grand Case, on the French side of St. Martin. As I talk, Liz is sitting at the galley table making the show notes for this episode - one of the perks of doing that for us is she gets to hear the episodes before they release! As a reminder, you can find all the links and notes on these episodes on their blog page at 59northpodcast.com. Mia, meanwhile, just had the Sailrite sewing machine out to make some leather chafe guards for the anchor rode. The three of us are about to sail for Puerto Rico to meet the crew for the Havana passage. The big Cuba adventure is about to begin! But, of course, by the time this releases, we should already be back in Key West, or on our way. I hope it goes well!

Thanks again to everyone who continues to email in. Keep them coming! And don’t forget to check out the calendar for 2017 if you want to come sailing on Isbjorn - that’s at 59-north.com/offshore. And finally, if you haven’t tried it yet, I encourage you to buy a bag of freshly roasted ‘Oh-Dark-Thirty’ coffee! We just got a new batch in for the boat, and it’s great!

TheSailingChannel.TV is delighted to sponsor Andy Schell’s 59 North Podcast. TheSailingChannel.TV offers a large online library of professionally produced sailing documentaries and how-to videos. They’re available as digital downloads, streaming rentals, and DVD and Blu-rays. To launch our sponsorship of 59 North, we're giving listeners a one-time, 10% off discount coupon good for any titles you add to your shopping cart. This includes individual shows AND series, so the more titles you buy, the more you save. Just enter 59north (that’s all one word, no space) at check out. The coupon is valid through March 2017.

To get a coupon for our Vimeo Sailflix option, email store@thesailingchannel.tv. Include 59north in the subject and the title(s) of the shows you wish to purchase in the body of your message. We'll email you a 10% off Vimeo coupon for each show you want to buy. A Vimeo purchase let’s you download the video for offline viewing and get immediate online streaming free - everywhere there’s a Vimeo App: computers, tablets, smart phones, set top boxes, and smart TVs. Build your Sailflix library in the Vimeo Cloud. Also check out groupon.com and search for Vimeo. You’ll find a Vimeo coupon good for 10% off any Vimeo VOD title (including all our Sailflix titles). 

144: Behind the Ad Music with Cameron Deyell BONUS

144: Behind the Ad Music with Cameron Deyell BONUS

Hey hey hey, welcome back to 59º North! This is a bonus episode this week, a little look behind the scenes at how some of this stuff is produced. If you listen to the podcast to get your sailing fix for the week, this is definitely not the episode for you. BUT, if you’re a real fan of the show itself, and interested in podcasting - or musical production - in general, this is an incredible look behind the scenes with me and Cameron Deyell, on how the ad music was produced.

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143: Emma Louise Wyn Jones

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143: Emma Louise Wyn Jones

Episode 143 is Emma Louise Wyn Jones, a very charming and inspiring 22-year-old sailor and yachting photographer from the UK. I met Emma during the recent Caribbean 600 Race. I was interested in talking to Emma about how she decided to go into yachting photography, her sailing history in general, and about what it’s like starting from scratch and trying to move up in the sailing world. I get a lot of emails from college students and twenty-somethings looking for advice, so this episode is particularly interesting if you’re one of those people wondering how to get your start.

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142: Morning Haze Crew LIVE

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142: Morning Haze Crew LIVE

Episode #142 is David Hayes & Isabelle Tremblay and their beautiful girls Rebecca & Demi. The ‘Morning Haze’ family, as we know they - by their boat name of course! - are veterans of the podcast, having been on the show, way back in episode #53. When we spoke then, their boat ‘Morning Haze’ was still on the other side of the Atlantic. Since then, they’ve sailed another several thousand miles together as a family, completing an Atlantic Circle and returning to their shoreside home in Quebec.

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141: Sailing the Baltic LIVE

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141: Sailing the Baltic LIVE

It’s only been a week since our last episode, but when we went bi-weekly, I promised an interview every two weeks. Episode 140 is a live seminar I recorded from Toronto on Sailing the Baltic. Not an interview, of course, so sort of a bonus episode this week. I highly recommend going to 59-north.com/baltic to follow along with the slides from this talk. You’ll also find a load of show notes and links that will be useful if you ever plan to sail in the Baltic yourself. 

In this episode, Mia and I discuss sailing in the Baltic from our own perspective. We spent three summers in the Baltic on Arcturus, mainly sailing the Swedish coast, but also covering the Baltic islands of Aland and Gotland. This talk is full of practical notes and inspirational stories from our experiences there.

Before we get to it, a few notes from us. Many of you have requested lists of books I talk about, and I finally got around to building a books page on the website. Go to 59-north.com/books to see all my favorites, sorted by category - some technical, some inspirational, and some having nothing at all to do with sailing! There’s also a form there if you have any you want to recommend yourself!

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139: Racing the Caribbean 600

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This episode is sponsored by Forbes Yachts. Visit forbesyachts.com to find your dream bluewater boat.

Episode #139, if not THE BEST one yet, it's certainly the one I'm most proud of, for a number of reasons. It's the highly-produced, onboard audio, musically-enhanced storytelling podcast of Isbjorn's crew racing in the RORC Caribbean 600, only last week. Behind skipper Paul Exner, the crew of Dan, Charly, Vanessa, Keith, Ken & Michael and I charged around this most grueling of racecourses. We were in third place until I noticed a structural failure in the rudder bearings, forcing us to retire.

This is the story, narrated by Andy and interspersed with live audio from onboard the boat during the race and music by Blaggards throughout. What do you think of this style of podcast? It's my first, and I hope you dig it! The full text of the story was published as a blog post on Saturday (but without the cool production!).

Show Notes

Topics covered in the podcast including links


Boats and people talked about in the podcast

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138: John & Amanda Neal LIVE

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138: John & Amanda Neal LIVE

In episode 138 I sat down with John & Amanda Neal of Mahina Expeditions, two of my favorite people in sailing and a huge inspiration both philosophically and practically in building my own offshore passage business with Isbjorn. This is the first of several podcasts I recorded in front of a live audience at the Toronto Boat Show in January, so you’ll hear some questions pop in from the handful of people we had in attendance.

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133: Pam Wall

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133: Pam Wall

Episode 133 is Pam Wall, circumnavigator and another of my sailing heroes. Pam is a staple in most of the sailing magazines and seminar circuits, and made a career in sailing working for and with West Marine after sailing round the world in her beloved Freya 39 Kandarik. I spoke to Pam during her lunch break one day at Cruiser’s University in Annapolis this fall, where we were both on the speaking schedule.

Bonus: Money!

Bonus: Money!

Bonus Episode! Andy spends 25 minutes or so discussing the evolution of the isbjorn Sailing business, and in the bigger picture, the evolution of he and Mia's sailing 'career' in general over the past 8 years. This one is full of practical advice, so grab a pencil and take some notes! Or better yet, head over to 59-north.com/sailingpodcast and find this episode's show notes for the full transcript plus links. Enjoy!

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132: Jennifer & Ken Kaye

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132: Jennifer & Ken Kaye

Episode 132 is Ken & Jen Kaye, the father-daughter duo who, alongside Jen’s mom Ellen Kaye, run the Schooner Woodwind out of Annapolis, MD. This is a very special episode for me, as crewing on the Woodwind was my first stint as a paid sailor, and I worked a whole lot alongside Jen and Ken, who usually were out on the water skippering the boats.

131: Tucker Thompson

131: Tucker Thompson

Episode 131 is Tucker Thompson, media host of the America’s Cup, former America’s Cup sailor himself and Annapolis, Maryland native. I met Tucker at the Annapolis Boat Show launch party in early October when we were introduced by a mutual friend. For the first time in Annapolis show history, the Auld Mug was on display, and was a highlight of the launch party, where guests were invited to pose for photos with it. Mia and I were the very last people that night to get a photo with the cup before the Secret Service agents in charge of guarding it (yes, you heard that right), packed it up for the evening in it’s Loius Vitton trunk. I was politely reprimanded for leaning my elbow on the table the cup stood on during the photo. 

 

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130: John Kretschmer

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130: John Kretschmer

Episode 130 is John Kretschmer, one of my all-time heroes and a mentor of mine. John’s motto is ‘never lost, just hard to find,’ and it’s a pretty good summation of how it was tracking him down for the podcast. I finally got in touch with him over Skype, me in Annapolis and he at home in Ft Lauderdale getting ready for another passage on his boat Quetzal. John and I talked a bit about how he’s inspired me to follow this career, how he got into it in the first place, about rounding Cape Horn in a 32’ boat going to wrong way, his career as a delivery skipper, Hurricane Lenny and much, much more. Find John, online at least, at yayablues.com.

129: Mark Baummer

129: Mark Baummer

Episode #129 is Mark Baummer, a Chesapeake Bay Pilot, one of the guys who will go out and take command of commercial ships when they enter the Bay from an ocean voyage. In this episode Mark and I talk about our trip together (Mia and I did a ride-along with Mark on a 750-foot coal ship), about how he got into the merchant marine in the first place, what it is a pilot actually does, how he became a pilot and much, much more. This is a fascinating look at a professional maritime career, and a real treat to have Mark on the show. Enjoy!

127: Ocean Sailing Forum, Pt. 2

127: Ocean Sailing Forum, Pt. 2

Episodes 126 & 127 are parts one and two of World Cruising Club's 2015 Ocean Sailing Forum. It’s a panel discussion of all things ocean sailing. I moderated it, and our guests included Lee & Rachel Cumberland of Satori, their Tayana 37; Rick & Julie Palm of Archer, their Outremer 51 catamaran; and Sheryl & Paul Shard of Distant Shores, their Southerly 49. Paul & Sheryl also have been making the popular TV series of the same name now for over 25 years.

126: Ocean Sailing Forum, Pt. 1

126: Ocean Sailing Forum, Pt. 1

Episodes 126 & 127 are parts one and two of World Cruising Club's 2015 Ocean Sailing Forum. It’s a panel discussion of all things ocean sailing. I moderated it, and our guests included Lee & Rachel Cumberland of Satori, their Tayana 37; Rick & Julie Palm of Archer, their Outremer 51 catamaran; and Sheryl & Paul Shard of Distant Shores, their Southerly 49. Paul & Sheryl also have been making the popular TV series of the same name now for over 25 years.

Thanks to Sailrite for sponsoring this week's episode.