#282. Liz Wardley has never NOT been a professional racing skipper. Getting her first taste of sailing at age 13 on a Hobie Cat, she was instantly hooked. At 15, she convinced her parents to let her drop out of school, and by 18 she was racing in the Sydney-Hobart race. Since then she’s done 3 Volvo Ocean Race’s and is aiming for another in next year’s event. Currently, she’s skippering the famous Whitbread yacht MAIDEN, and working closely with founder Tracy Edwards to fulfill the goals of The MAIDEN Factor as they sail around the world with an all-girl crew.

#280. Back in 2018, the crew of SV DELOS joined Mia, James & I onboard ISBJORN for a 3-week adventure in the High Arctic. Needless to say, it was life-changing. Earlier this fall, we got to relive the adventure with Brian & Brady, who flew out to the Annapolis Sailboat Show to give a presentation on our trip, and show the first-ever screening of their '80 NORTH' film project to a USA audience. What follows is the audio of that presentation, which I hope you'll enjoy.

#278. Kass Schmitt is a solo sailor who has had a dream of completing the OSTAR Race, the original single-handed trans-Atlantic race, which back in the 1960's, began the solo racing scene we know today. Kass, unassuming and thoughtful, set out to make that dream a reality in 2017 on her cold-molded sloop ZEST, but was thwarted halfway across the Atlantic by an unusually strong early summer storm that swept through the fleet, forcing the abandonment of three boats and forcing her to retire. Kass & I sat down in London where she told me the tale.

Sierra Groth & Billy Swezey are the inspiring couple behind Tula's Endless Summer. Their adventure started when Billy bought a dilapidated boat that had been abandoned in a New York boatyard and set about restoring her and meandering his way single-handed down the US East Coast. Billy met Sierra in Florida, and since then they, with their dog Jetty, have been inseparable, cruising the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean in a variety of boats from the original TULA to a motor trawler named NEVERLAND, and now their ex-racing catamaran ADRENALINE. We spoke to Billy & Sierra onboard ICEBEAR at the recent Annapolis Sailboat Show.

#276. Pip Hare is a lifelong professional sailor and a wonderfully inspiring person. Mia & I traveled to the south coast of England to meet Pip aboard her IMOCA 60 SUPER BIGOU, a 'recycled' Open 60 she is gearing up to campaign in the 2020 Vendee Globe Race. While we talked, her friends - including sailing speed record holder Paul Larsen - were on deck prepping the boat for upcoming Transat Jacque Vibre. Pip shared her life's sailing story, from growing up in small cruising boats to sailing a 'desk' with the RNLI, that ultimately led her back into a career on the ocean.

#275. The legendary Lin Pardey is back on ON THE WIND! Way back in 2013 when I first started the show, Lin & Larry Pardey were episode #2. Six years and 273 episodes later, and Lin is back, live in person this time, to give us an update on her life and cruising plans. Sadly, Larry is no longer able to travel. Lin recently published the 3rd edition of her beloved 'Self Sufficient Sailor' book, and she explains today why that classic sailing tome got a modern update.

#274. Max Campbell left England shortly after his 20th birthday in a rebuilt 22-foot wooden sloop, bound for adventure. He set out, as many Europeans do, traveling for his gap year with no real plans and not a lot of money. When he friend jumped ship in Lisbon to follow his girlfriend, Max set his sights on a solo trans-Atlantic passage, aiming west for Grenada. When his diesel stove exploded, literally setting Max on fire, his passage changed dramatically, as did his outlook on the future. Max told us his story in London last week.

#273. Lars Ström is known as 'The Professor' of Nautor's Swan. Now 80 years old and retired, Lars worked at the famed Nautor boatyard in Finland for nearly his entire career, and indeed during the period in the 1970s when ISBJORN, our S&S Swan 48, was built, AND also in the 1990s when ICEBEAR, oru Frers Swan 59 was built. Over the years since we first bought ISBJORN Lars has been a wonderful help to us in learning the boat, as he is to almost any Swan owner who reaches out to him. Mia & I talked to him in Finland about his long and satisfying career.

#272. Jeremy Davis, weather guru, comes on the show to debrief his passage from Lunenburg-Newfoundland on ICEBEAR. He shares what he learned as a forecaster, getting offshore for the first time.

#271. 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 3 on the podcast in Lunenburg harbor aboard Ice Bear.

#270. Ben Shaw & Lauren Keane were recent crewmembers on ICEBEAR for the Annapolis to Lunenburg passage. Mia & I first met Ben's parents, Sid & Rebecca, in 2011 in St. Pierre, as we were getting ready to sail ARCTURUS trans-Atlantic. Inspired by us, and with a career in radio production Ben recently started the 'Out the Gate' sailing podcast. I talked to him and Lauren about their goals to take their kids long-distance cruising and how they're making that dream into reality.

#268. The one and only Matt Rutherford is back on the show yet again! Matt & I sat down to chat aboard ICEBEAR in Annapolis as he was getting ready to take ISBJORN north to Newport. As is normally the case when Matt comes on the show, we didn't really know what we were going to talk about, yet we easily filled a very entertaining hour, talking about him skippering ISBJORN, his own podcast 'Single-Handed', his challenges with the Ocean Research Project and more.

#267. Meg and Morgen are the couple behind Ocean Racers, sailing a Pogo 12.50 (think cruising 'Class 40') on the Atlantic racing circuit and taking paying crew along for the adventure. They earned their chops - and met each other - as young 20-something's sailing as crew on the Clipper Round the World race, the same year that friend of the podcast Ollie Cotterell was skipper. That adventure inspired them to start their own racing team, which evolved into the Ocean Racers business. Mia & I spoke to them in person onboard their boat HERMES in Bermuda. What follows is one of the most inspiring episodes yet, so get ready to enjoy the ride!

#266 Ben Doerr is the owner of Sail Bainbridge, which operate charters is the region Bainbridge Island Region. He is also a husband, father of two, and professional musician with the indie-folk band, St. Paul de Vence. Andy and Ben sit down to discuss the recent passage from Key West to Bermuda. On the Wind is presented by Costa Sunglasses And also supported by Buldano Towels, and Offshore Passage Opportunities

#265. Chris Stanmore-Major returns to the podcast for another super-inspiring chat about ocean sailing. Chris is hugely accomplished, having sailed over 300,000 miles offshore, mostly racing. In the last episode with Chris, # 227, we discussed his sailing history and philosophy; this time, we talk about his latest ambition to try and break the east to west solo circumnavigation record, sailing nonstop round-the-world AGAINST the wind & seas, and his plan to launch a Canadian team in the next edition of The Ocean Race. Learn more about Chris at spartanoceanracing.com.

#264. Vendee Globe sailor Bruce Schwab returns to the podcast with guest hosts (and now Isbjorn skippers!) Ben Doerr & Simon Borjeson, to discuss the power management refit options for ICEBEAR, our Swan 59. Bruce runs Ocean Planet Energy in Maine and specializes in power generation, and we discussed diesel versus electric propulsion, lithium batteries, gensets, AC/DC power and lots more.

#263. Øyvind Vedvik is the Sailing Category Managing Director at Helly Hansen, who have been a longtime supporter of 59 North. Øyvind grew up sailing in the fjords of Norway and along the Scandinavian coastlines and has had a passion for the sport since his early days. He invited Mia & I to sail ISBJORN up to their annual sales meeting last April and we had a chance to talk to him about his personal sailing career and his time developing sailing gear at Helly Hansen.