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

196: Andy's Dad! // Dennis Schell

196: Andy's Dad! // Dennis Schell

#196. Dennis Schell is affectionately & jokingly known to all my sailing friends as simply ‘Andy’s Dad’. I have him to thank for my sailing career, and for inspiring me to start my own business. Dad raised me as a sailor & taught me everything I know. We recorded this chat aboard Isbjorn in Trellis Bay, BVI, shortly before we both sailed - he on Sojourner, us on Isbjorn - north to Bermuda. We covered the gamut of my dad’s sailing career, from his days sailing sunfish on Blue Marsh Lake, to his working at a Ft. Lauderdale boatyard, building and marketing his own sailboat, the ‘Salt 19,’ his first ocean passage in a 50-knot gale off Cape Hatteras and tons more!

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195: Jon Amtrup // Explore North

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195: Jon Amtrup // Explore North

#195. Jon Amtrup is a Norwegian sailor who spends a large portion of his time above the Arctic Circle. In fact, when I spoke to him back in January at the Oslo Central Train Station, he had just returned from Tromso after a winter sailing expedition with a group of Russians who wanted to see the northern lights! So Jon’s pretty hard-core to say the least. He’s also an avid single-handed sailor, and is helping another Norwegian sailor put together a campaign for next year’s Golden Globe Race. Jon & I spoke at length about his career and his & our future Arctic plans.

Contact Jon at explorenorth.no.

194: Dr Andrew Merrie // Radical Ocean Futures

194: Dr Andrew Merrie // Radical Ocean Futures

194. Dr. Andrew Merrie is not a sailor, per se, but is indeed a vocal advocate for the world’s ocean’s. An expat Kiwi living in Stockholm, he works for the Stockholm Resilience Center, a non-profit, independent research institute specializing in sustainable development and environmental issues. We’re releasing this week’s show early because Andrew is launching his latest research project ‘Radical Ocean Futures’ this weekend at the UN Ocean’s Conference in New York City, June 5-9. Andrew & I talk about his background, growing up in New Zealand, his move to Sweden and his ocean’s project, which is part art, part science and part science fiction. You can see his work at radicaloceanfutures.earth.

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193: Webb Chiles RECYCLED

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193: Webb Chiles RECYCLED

193. Greetings from Bermuda, where we recently made landfall on Isbjorn! This week’s recycled episode features Webb Chiles, certainly one of the most adventurous small boat sailors in recent memory, if not one of the greatest. He’s been around the world several times, cross the Pacific in an open boat, nearly drowned when he fell overboard off Florida and on and on. He’s written several books about his adventures over the years, and indeed continues to make new adventures. I spoke to him a few years back about his exploits, why he pursues them, how he handles fear, what motivates him towards his sailing goals and more. 

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192: Susie Goodall // Golden Globe 2018

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192: Susie Goodall // Golden Globe 2018

Susie Goodall is a badass. Mia & I met her in Antigua in February after she’d just completed a solo trans-Atlantic crossing in her Rustler 36. At just 26, she is the first woman to enter next year’s Gold Globe Race, essentially a reenactment of the famous race that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston won in 1968, establishing nonstop solo ocean racing. Susie was prepping for the return voyage to England when we spoke, which will fulfill the races qualifying passage requirement. Despite her youth, she’s an accomplished sailor, having worked as a skipper with Rubicon 3 in the Arctic and has sailed thousands of offshore miles. Follow Susie’s adventures at susiegoodall.com. 

191: Kristoffer Appelquist

191: Kristoffer Appelquist

Kristoffer Applequist is kind of a big deal in Sweden. One of the countries premier comedians, Kristoffer is also a sailor, and a longtime fan of the podcast. He reached out to me a while back, and we’ve since become friends. Mia & I visited his beautiful house in the Sunne, in central Sweden, to talk to Kristoffer about his comedy background & his sailing ambitions. Since this conversation, his sailing goals have seriously ratcheted up - he recently bought a Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31, and has even bigger cruising plans. Follow him on Instagram @appelstoffe.

190: How to Sail Across the Atlantic

190: How to Sail Across the Atlantic

Crossing the Atlantic is at the top of my mind at the moment - by the time you hear this, we’ll be at-sea, en route to Bermuda, the first leg of what will be my 3rd, Mia’s 4th trans-Atlantic passage. I recorded this seminar about our two previous trans-Atlantic experiences the Toronto Boat Show in 2016. Mia & I discuss weather routing, seasonal route options and best practices, and call on our friends David & Isabelle, who completed an Atlantic Circle on their Hunter 42 ‘Morning Haze’. To follow along with the slides, go to the show notes page at 59-north.com/podcast.

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189: Clint Wells RECYCLED

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189: Clint Wells RECYCLED

Clint Wells is one of my best friends, and Isbjorn’s first mate when Mia can’t make a passage. He was there when I first met Mia in New Zealand, and he sailed across the Atlantic with us on Arcturus back in 2011. Clint is NOT a sailor - or at least wasn’t, until joining us. I spoke to him a few years back about our Atlantic crossing together and the challenges he faced - both physically, and even more so mentally - as a new-to-sailing crew member stuck on a 35-foot boat for 23 days in the North Atlantic. For those of you new to ocean sailing, Clint has some words of wisdom. 

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188: Hammarberg Family Circumnavigation

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188: Hammarberg Family Circumnavigation

#188: Linda Hammarberg & her husband Ludvig recently returned to Sweden after a multi-year circumnavigation with their two young kids, Otto & Lovis, onboard ‘Mary af Roverhamn,’ their Joshua-type steel ketch. During parts of the voyage they were followed by a film crew from Swedish television for the show ‘Familjar pa Aventyr’ - which basically translates to ‘Families on Adventure.’ The Hammarberg’s are typically Swedish, in that they're very humble, and yet very accomplished sailors. Mia & I spoke to them in their shoreside home in Marstrand in January about their adventures sailing around the world and the struggles they had on returning home. Follow their continuing adventures on symary.com.

187: Matt Rutherford Charts Greenland

187: Matt Rutherford Charts Greenland

#187. Matt Rutherford is a longtime friend of the podcast and founder of the Ocean Research Project. Matt became famous, of course, for his legendary Solo the America’s voyage, during which he sailed a 27’ Albin Vega around both American continents. In our latest chat, recorded in Sweden back in January, Matt recalls the summer of 2016 in Greenland, where he & his partner Nicole piloted their research schooner Ault into the uncharted waters of the far north, nearly coming to grief in a wild Arctic storm and subsequently being rescued by the Danish Navy. Matt is one of the best storytellers we’ve had on the show, so I just let him go to town again in this one, and he doesn’t disappoint. Follow Matt’s ongoing adventures at oceanresearchproject.org.

186: Heavy Weather Sailing w/Andy Schell

186: Heavy Weather Sailing w/Andy Schell

Today’s episode is a recording I made of my seminar on Heavy Weather Sailing I gave at last weekends Ocean Sailing Seminar, hosted by World Cruising Club in Annapolis. While I’m lucky not to have too many gnarly heavy-weather sea stories of my own, I’ve studied the subject for years and enjoying talking about it theoretically. What follows is a discussion on what I feel are the ‘best practices’ for handling heavy weather, of course brought to life by a few of my own sea stories. Follow along with slides from the presentation at 59-north.com/heavyweather. 

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185: Tom Harkin RECYCLED

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185: Tom Harkin RECYCLED

Retired Senator Tom Harkin & I recorded this ‘recycled’ episode at his house in Hope Town, in the Bahamas, almost two years ago now. Tom was a career senator, but this episode is nothing about politics. Rather, it’s about Tom’s incredible, unbelievable life story. He was a fighter pilot during Vietnam and became one of the few people ever to eject from a jet and survive to tell the tale. He also tells his insane story about building a wooden trimaran in Japan and having it’s Westerbeke engine shipped over on an aircraft carrier. Sailing has been the ‘red thread’ that has tied together Tom’s life story. This is my all-time favorite interview, so even if you’ve heard it before, it’s worth another listen. 

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184: Olly Cotterell // Clipper Race

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184: Olly Cotterell // Clipper Race

Olly Cotterell is one of the youngest Clipper Race skippers ever, sailing to a podium position in the 2013-2014 edition of the RTW race onboard OneDLL. He currently skipper’s the prototype, foiling racing yacht ‘Maverick,’ which recently won her class in the RORC Trans-Atlantic Race. Olly & I have a connection in that we’ve both worked for Broadreach. We met up to record this episode in person in Antigua, ahead of the Caribbean 600. Olly has an amazing story that includes growing up on a sailboat in Bermuda, working up the ranks as an RYA instructor, surfing at 35 knots in the Southern Ocean in the Clipper Race and much more.

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183: Chris Museler Returns

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183: Chris Museler Returns

Chris Museler, NY Times journalist & sailor extraordinaire, has been a longtime friend of the podcast since the early days, and he’s back yet again for another catch-up. Chris has a remarkable journalism career and is one of the few people who get to write about sailing for the NY Times. He crossed the Atlantic onboard Hugo Boss as an onboard journalist with recent podcast guest Ryan Breymaier, sails in most of the major ocean races, and cruises his own cold-molded schooner Magic out of New England. Chris & I chatted in January about his new boat, composting toilets, the Cruising Club of America, inspiring young people to go sailing, and more.

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182: Alan Block // Sailing Anarchy

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182: Alan Block // Sailing Anarchy

Alan Block, aka Mr. Clean, is one of the driving forces behind the hugely popular - and sometimes controversial - Sailing Anarchy website. He’s a staple on the racing scene, traveling far and wide to cover events from the Volvo to the Vendee and lots in between. Alan’s story is a fascinating and circuitous one, and during our 90-minute conversation, we covered the whole thing, from his early days as a lawyer, to his dreams to set off sailing, and ultimately to his serendipitous opportunity to work with Sailing Anarchy. Alan is also the founder and host of the Sailing Anarchy podcast, free on iTunes.

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181: Yves Gelinas RECYCLED

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181: Yves Gelinas RECYCLED

RECYCLED: Yves Gelinas is a French-Canadian single-handed sailor and inventor of the Cape Horn wind vane, the simplest, most robust, and most elegant solution for self-steering on an offshore cruising boat. Yves invented and perfected the gear while circumnavigating nonstop via the Great Capes in his beloved Alberg 30 Jean du Sud in the 80s. During that voyage, he filmed Around the World with Jean du Sud, which quickly came to be considered the greatest sailing movie ever made. Yves still builds the Cape Horn units himself from his workshop in Quebec & still sails Jean du Sud, most recently voyaging to Martinique in 2015.

180: Magnus Ormestad // Husky Podcast

180: Magnus Ormestad // Husky Podcast

Today’s episode is slightly different. Magnus Ormestad is the host of my favorite Swedish podcast, called ‘Husky,’ where he interviews folks into outdoor sports & adventure. Magnus & I met a few years ago over coffee in a bike shop in Stockholm and became quick friends. We recorded in Sweden in January - it was a back-and-forth talk between two people used to ‘hosting’, with him interviewing me a bit and vice versa. But this episode is really more about what ties together outdoor adventure pursuits - how people find the passion and motivation to pursue their dreams, in any environment. Be sure to check out Husky’s English-language episodes on iTunes.

179: Martin Hasselov

179: Martin Hasselov

Presented by Weems & Plath. Martin Hasselov is a sailor and PHD scientist based on the beautiful West Coast - which the locals call the ‘best coast’ - of Sweden. Martin has a lifelong love for the sea which started as a small boy fishing in his families rowboats. After college he built a steel ketch from a bare hull to explore further afield. Now armed with a PHD in marine science, Martin recently bought an ex-BT Challenge yacht - a steel 67-footer designed for a southern ocean circumnavigation the ‘wrong way round’ - and uses it as an educational platform for promoting marine science locally, and exploring the world’s oceans further afield.

178: Rick Tomlinson

178: Rick Tomlinson

#178. Presented by Weems & Plath. Rick Tomlinson is one of yachting’s most accomplished photographers. What I didn’t know before we met, was how accomplished he is as a sailor. Rick was a crew member on four consecutive Whitbread Races, and literally invented the modern concept of onboard reporter. Back in his day, Rick was an integral member of the sailing crew - he took photos onboard as a hobby, on his off-watches, and even developed film in the galley sink offshore! Mia and I traveled to Rick’s beautiful studio in Cowes on the Isle of Wight last September to chat about his career.