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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“As soon as your crew feel that you are frightened or that you are out of your comfort zone, that’s where things go downhill quickly. My major concern was a wave hitting us on the beam. The seas were certainly more than ten meters, and if a wave hit us on the beam, it could definitely do damage or roll the boat.” -John Neal.
Brian Porter was on the build team for the record-breaking supermaxi ‘Comanche,’ and continues to work on owner’s Jim & Kristy Clark’s shore crew. He came on the podcast to talk about his boat-building beginnings, getting a dream job building Comanche, working alongside pro sailors Ken Red, Stan Honey & Jimmy Spithill, Comanche’s recent trans-Atlantic record, the America’s Cup and much more.
Today I can finally announce one of them. The episode that follows is the audio version of this week’s ‘On the Wind,’ which in its original form is actually a film, directed by Thierry Humeau and shot in Pam Wall’s backyard in Ft. Lauderdale back in April. This is the first of what will become a sort of special addition to the podcast when Thierry and I have time to film & produce it.
Episode 157 is 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 2 on the podcast in Lunenburg, where he dinghied out to Isbjorn for an in-person chat.
We discussed sailing in the Arctic, Isbjorn's original owner Warren Browne, who John sailed with, Skip Novak, batteries for offshore cruising boats, the Adventure 40 project, podcasting and media in general and much, much more.
We start the discussion by focusing on one of John’s most recent inventions, the so-called ‘ELHF’ furling system, and I use that as a sort of primer for discussing in general how he comes up with new ideas and what the design and production life cycle is like. John is as pure an engineer as there is, and LOVES the technical aspects of running a synthetic yacht rigging company, and it’s a joy to hear him talk about his passions so, well, passionately! He gets to play with CAD and 3D printers all day long, so what’s not to like (if you’re an engineer!).
“We’ve talked to clients that have been in those Category 3 Hurricanes coming across the Yucatan and, you know, we’re constantly calling them, making sure they’re okay. It does get tough emotionally. A lot of these clients have used us for years. Of course we want them safe, we know them, sometimes on a personal level. You’ve got to take the emotion out of it, try to not get too caught up.” -Jeremy Davis, WRI Weather Forecaster & episode #152's guest!
Chris describes the fear and excitement he experienced in Haiti, the ‘two sides’ of Jamaica, the emotional roller coaster on sailing between vastly different cultures in a relatively short period of time, what Cuba is really like, how he ran out of cash getting to Havana and much more. Throughout our conversation, I chime in a describe what our experience was like on the north shore of the island where we left Isbjorn in Marina Hemingway and stayed ashore in Havana for five days. Chris and I go back several years and it’s always fun to catch up with each other and hear about our latest projects. Don’t miss Chris’ recent coverage of the America’s Cup in New York City in last week’s New York Times.
Episode 147 is a fun one. Back in March, I had planned to do another podcast with Matt Rutherford to get an update on what he’s doing with his Ocean Research Project. As it were, Paul Exner was also in town to speak at a seminar Mia and I hosted in Annapolis. AND, ship’s pilot Mark Baummer was around, and had asked me for some advice to help him plan a passage to Bermuda on his Gemini catamaran. So, the inklings of an idea sprang to life - why not get the three of these guys together, all former podcasts guests, and have a little roundtable chat?
Episode 146 is actually Episode #1 of the new ‘Ocean Sailing Podcast,’ produced by longtime fan of 59º North, David Hows and released on April 1. David and I have been communicating for some time now about his new show - which comes to us from Down Under in Australia - and I’ve been excited to help him launch it. He’s been inspired to start his own podcast for a while now, and has put in a ton of effort to make it happen.
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).
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.
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.
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.
In this episode Rick, Julie and I talk to a Cruiser’s University class about making the transition from monohull to catamaran, delving into Rick & Julie’s cruising history and what it’s like sailing over 20 knots in their new cat! If you’re in the Caribbean or Maine, look for the Ferrari red cat called Archer and say hi.
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.
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.
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.
