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

Interview

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115: Sara Hastreiter

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115: Sara Hastreiter

Episode 115 is Sara Hastreiter, crewmember aboard Team SCA in the most recent Volvo Ocean Race. Sara's been featured in the NY Times, on NPR, in the Wall Street Journal and other places as her star has risen in the sailing world. She only got started in 2008 after moving from Wyoming to St. Croix, and getting work on charter boats and racing yachts in the Caribbean. It had always been a goal to reach the pinnacle of the sport, and she did that with Team SCA. Sara and Andy discussed her career and what it's like ocean racing on a VO65 for over an hour, Sara speaking on Skype from her new home base in the UK.

111: Miles Poor

111: Miles Poor

Episode #111 is Miles Poor. Miles and his wife Anne run MRP Refits, both here in Annapolis and at their winter base in Nanny Cay, BVI. MRP specializes in project management on pretty fancy sailboats. Miles’ main career was as a facial surgeon. We sat down on Miles’ Tayana 55 in Annapolis, a boat he uses for MRP as his ‘showroom’ and discussed his very interesting history – he was born in Stockholm and went  to boarding school in Switzerland, learning to sail on Lake Geneva – and then delve into some ocean sailing stuff. 

110: Duncan Hood

110: Duncan Hood

Episode #110 is Duncan Hood, a long-time sailor and technically an Annapolis resident for more than two decades, but who’s traveled the world teaching instructors how to teach sailing.

Duncan works ASA and years ago got asked to travel to China to help start a sailing school in the south, near the border with North Korea, and his story of that misadventure makes up a good chunk of the middle of this episode. It’s a riveting tale

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109: Sigurdur Jonsson

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109: Sigurdur Jonsson

Episode #109 is guest-hosted by Magnus Ormestad, of the hugely popular Swedish outdoor sports podcast ‘Husky.’ I met Magnus in Stockholm in May. He had a chance to go to Iceland and stay aboard the Aurora Arktika, a 60-foot former Clipper RTW race boat. His interview with skipper ‘Siggi’ Jonsson had me spellbound – they spent a week sailing in the fjords of Iceland and skiing the surrounding mountain peaks. Magnus agreed to let me air his chat with Siggi on my show, so here it is! Be sure to check out the Husky Podcast at huskypodcast.com.

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104: Tania Aebi

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104: Tania Aebi

Tania Aebi spoke at the ARC Europe Rally in Bermuda last Sunday, and Andy recorded it. Tania was skippering Jojo Maria, a Beneteau on it's way back to New York from the Caribbean. During the Bermuda stopover she regaled the packed house of crew with her tales of circumnavigating in her 26-foot Contessa in the 1980's at age 18. She was the youngest woman to ever do so single-handed. Her book 'Maiden Voyage' remains in print and is an all-time sailing classic. The fleet was based at the St. George's Dinghy & Sports Club. 

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99: Gary Jobson

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99: Gary Jobson

Episode #99 is legendary America’s Cup sailor and local Annapolitan Gary Jobson. Gary told stories of growing up in New Jersey sailing dinghies, sailing with Ted Turner and winning the 1977 America’s Cup, commentating for ESPN, winning two Emmy wards, watching the foiling catamaran’s at AC34, his thoughts on AC35 in Bermuda and lots more!

Want to go ocean sailing? Book a berth on Isbjorn, our Swan 48, on 59-north.com/offshore.

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86: Liza Copeland

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86: Liza Copeland

Andy sat down in person with Liza Copeland at the Toronto Boat Show not too long ago. In fact, they shared a booth alongside Paul & Sheryl Shard, who were all part of the seminar program at the show. Liza has sold an astounding number of her books, all about the cruising lifestyle, which has made her a household name in the sailing world. She first circumnavigated with her young family aboard a production Beneteau, and has since sailed over 100,000 miles in that boat, called 'Bagheera.'

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85: Eric Forsyth

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85: Eric Forsyth

Eric Forsyth, legendary ocean voyager with over 300,000 sea miles and whose visited both Antarctica & Spitsbergen on his Westsail 42, joins the podcast! Andy and Eric chat about his days in the 1950s flying the first fighter jets with the Royal Air Force, how Eric got into sailing, navigating on Celestial only in the Newport-Bermuda Race in the 1970s and what it's like to endure a 75-knot gale in the Southern Ocean.

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84: Webb Chiles

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84: Webb Chiles

You may not have heard too much about Webb, and that's kind of by design. Webb is an artist as much as he is a sailor (read his work at inthepresentsea.com), and he's about as pure as they come in the sailing world. He's been around the world a full five times, and set a myriad of records, including first American to sail solo around Cape Horn, and fastest aorund the world alone, beating Sir Francis Chichester's record in the 1970s (which has of course since been demolished). 

82: Kamau Iandiataiyero

82: Kamau Iandiataiyero

Listen now. Kamau is not your average sailor. He's not average anything - at 6'7", he found production boats literally don't fit him. But they don't fit his personality either, which you'll soon discover in this very cool episode with a very inspiring dude. We talked about Kamau's project, how he got into sailing, how he took the leap to desing his own boat and more.

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74: Frank & Patty Fabian

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74: Frank & Patty Fabian

Frank & Patty Fabian are the philosophical opposites of last week's guests, Ted & Claudia Reshetiloff. But their story is no less inspiring. Where Ted & Claudia packed up their working lives, yanked their young kids out of school and set off for new lives in the Caribbean, Frank & Patty took a more deliberate route. Learning the ropes for 17 years on their Catalina 30, they taught themselves ocean sailing, worked hard and saved harder, and finally bought a Leopard 48 catamaran - for cash - to set off with the Caribbean 1500 rally and realize a nearly lifelong dream.

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72: Ted & Claudia Reshetiloff & Kids!

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72: Ted & Claudia Reshetiloff & Kids!

Welcome to the best episode yet...no joke. If you ever dreamed of leaving the corporate life and sailing off, on a tight bugdet and with a young family, listen to this episode. These are my friends Ted & Claudia Reshetiloff and their two kids, Max and Anya, 11 and 9. Mia and I joined them on ther boat, Demeter, a Wauquiez Amphitrite ketch in Nanny Cay Marina in Tortola to hear the story of how they left it all behind and headed out for adventure on the high seas and an entirely new lifestyle. 

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56: Brion Toss, Part 1

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56: Brion Toss, Part 1

Master Rigger Brion Toss is on the show today for Part 1 of a very long and enlightening conversation with one of Andy's heroes. Andy met Brion in 2009 at the Annapolis Sailboat Show, and their conversation was the deciding factor in outfitting Arcturus with synthetic rigging. Brion comes on the podcast to discuss his own history as a rigger and sailor. In Part 2, they discuss the more technical aspects of rigging.

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53: David Hayes & Isabelle Tremblay

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53: David Hayes & Isabelle Tremblay

David & Isabelle share their classic story of a ten-year dream-turned-reality to take their kids cruising. A French-Canadian couple from Quebec, David & Isabelle describe how after a bad ATV accident, David had an epiphany in his hospital bed, and their dream began. Ten years, two daughters, and three boats later, and their realizing it, halfway through an Atlantic circuit that took them to the Bahamas, down the Thorny Path to the BVI, across the Atlantic to Morocco and the Saraha desert, and now to Las Palmas where they're staging for the return. Get inspired!