Ocean Sailing Podcast

David Hows and Phil Jarvis join the crew of Coastguard Nelson for a post-rescue debrief session, followed by a recorded podcast interview to discuss how yachties can learn lessons from previous Coastguard rescue case studies and tips on getting found and staying alive at sea. It's easy to assume when sailing in calm weather, that it will never happen to you, but the chat with the crew of Coastguar...

Jana McGeachy and Mick O'Keefe (Beef) are not your typical semi-retired cruising sailors. As young sailors, they've worked hard, saved up and sold up. I first found out about their ambitious cruising plans in Episode 73. Now 14-months later, I catch up with them at home in Australia to find out all about their sailing adventures through the Caribbean including; The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Dominic...

I have yet to meet anyone more inspirational than Dustin Reynolds when it comes to turning personal tragedy and financial ruin into a completely new path in life. Hit by a drunk driver and left for dead on the side of the road with his arm ripped from his body and life multiple threatening injuries, Dustin survived but the mounting health bills buried him financially. He made the decision to sell...

Geoff's Wilson's life changed forever on Boxing Day 2004. Within days of the Banda Aceh earthquake and tsunami, he was working on the ground as a relief team translator. The death and destruction was a huge wake-up call for Geoff and what he has achieved since is nothing short of inspiring. From near death escapes and grand desert journeys to extreme Antarctic expeditions, Geoff now holds six worl...

Involved in ocean racing as a teenager and competing regularly as crew in all the Australian Blue Water Classics, Mark first became part of the wooden boat community 25 years ago with the purchase of the 1964 Sparkman and Stevens designed 'Cotton Blossom'. His romance with classic boats established, it was the purchase of his second boat, the 1956 Philip Rhodes designed 'Fair Winds' in Auckland th...

An inspirational interview with Dylan Magaster who flew to South America at the age of 21 with only $1,000 in the bank and his camera gear and decided to go traveling. He backpacked for 6 months, converted a van into his home and began creating influential short documentaries showcasing 'Alternative Living'. After nearly two years living in a van, Dylan decided to move to the Mediterranean in purs...

This episode is about sharing the lessons from an initial mechanical failure that occurred in the middle of the Tasman Sea, that set off a chain of events over the course of 520nm, resulting in the Coastguard rescue of a 45-foot Beneteau yacht and its crew of 6. As a sequel to episode 88, skipper David Hows conducts a full post mortem with the crew, who share their thoughts on what they would do d...

Parlay Revival is a story about a young man from New Zealand, Colin, who spend's his life savings from a 10 year career as a Super yacht engineer, to buy a Lagoon catamaran that was badly damaged and partially sunk during Hurricane Irma and repair it in Guatemala.  With friends from all over the world they spent months fixing her up, to get her to sail around the world. The next mission was to sai...

4 days after departing Hobart Australia to sail 1,250nm across the Tasman Sea to Picton, New Zealand the crew of the Ocean Gem had to face a steering cable failure in the early morning hours, followed by two crash gybes that snapped the boom preventer and broke the boom in half. What followed 500nm later was the failure of the steel emergency tiller and then the autopilot, causing total steering l...

This is the inspirational story of Amanda and Darren who decided to, give up great jobs and sell up and go sailing while in their early thirties. Whats amazing is they did not grow up around boats, they new nothing about sailing and they had not even stepped aboard a sail boat until they took their Amel Sharki "SV Panda" for a test sail. We catch-up with Amanda and Darren in Puerto Rico about the...

On the eve of the 4 year anniversary of the Ocean Sailing Podcast and the 500,000 download milestone achieved this month, producer David Hows shares a big update on whats next for him. With exciting new plans for his Ocean Gem Sailing adventures he has just released in the Ocean Sailing Podcast sailing calendar, this is a bumper update from David. It also includes personal reflections on the chang...

Guest host Paul Trammell interviews Andrew Bishop of the World Cruising Club just prior to the 2019 Caribbean 600. Andrew completed his first Fastnet Race at age 15 and was later knocked unconscious in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers in 1989, without a lifejacket on. Fortunately he survived and went on to meet Jimmy Cornell shortly after, offering to get involved in newly created World Rally for C...

The inspirational tale of Dave and Gabes who act on their dreams, throw in their jobs and spend 7 months sailing 5,000nm up the east coast of Australia from their home port in Hobart, Tasmania to the Whitsundays in Queensland and home again. Its a great example of whats possible if you cut out the spending on unnecessary lifestyle costs, save hard, buy a boat that fits your budget and then invest...

In March 2019 David Hows sailed 1,250 miles from Southport, Australia across the Tasman Sea to Auckland, New Zealand via Opua in the Bay of Islands with his crew of 4 onboard a Beneteau 45 named Ocean Gem. A fantastic 7-day reaching / running passage was enhanced by a series of unexpected events, starting with a cast alloy anchor stem bow fitting that broke in two, a broken steering cable 400nm of...

Behan and Jamie left great careers in the USA 12 years ago to sail the globe with 3 young children in tow. They share some of the highlights, challenges and lessons from offshore cruising with kids, their roles as a sailing couple and what its meant for their relationship. Behan and Jamie have developed the ability to earn income as they sail and they devote a lot of time to helping others start t...

James & Kimmi have sailed and free dived together since shortly after James purchased the 38 catamaran; SV Zingaro in 2016 before they met in Mexico. They share the story of their Catamaran's structural failure 60nm off the coast of Hawaii and their desperate efforts to stay afloat for several long hours while awaiting the US Coastguard's arrival. They also highlight their earlier adventures from...

David Hows shares his race experience from the inaugural 530nm yacht race from Brisbane to Hamilton Island up Australia's east coast. This unlikely tale of a 27 year old Beneteau 45 foot yacht named Ocean Gem and a rookie crew is an example of preparation, determination and seat of the pants sailing to take out the 1st place on both IRC and PHS in Division 2 and finish 7th overall in a fleet of 16...

Andy Lamont interviews Matt Andrews who started sailing on Moreton Bay with his dad as an 8 year old in the 1970's on a Mirror dinghy followed by a 125, before moving to Balmain in Sydney and buying a Sabot before making the jump, as a 15 year old, to 16 foot skiffs. He then left school and started sail making in Sydney before moving to Denmark and talking his way into a job with North Sails and e...

I catch up with David Hanton from Bradford Marine and get deep and technical about protecting whats under your waterline. We dive into the typical issues with hull maintenance, osmosis in fibreglass and what causes it, how to know if it's a big vs small problem, how to prevent and repair it and we talk about how significant the damage and repair bill can be.  David shares examples of shortsighted...

With a father who went to 5 olympics as Flying Dutchman competitor initially and then as coach, Jon Bilger spent his early years around sailing. He bought is first boat after saving $250 and asking his dad to build him an optimist. In a P Class he then won New Zealand's Tauranga Cup twice amongst a fleet of 120 dinghies that included young sailors such as Craig Monk. Then the move to the 470 and t...

We join Troy and Pascale who are cruising remote Australia in their 30' Clansman yacht called Mirrool. They left Perth in March 2017 and so far, have made it halfway around the continent traveling through the Kimberley, Arnhem Land, Torres Straits and Far North Queensland documenting their adventures along the way on their YouTube channel "Free Range Sailing" to over 59,000 subscribers.   They sha...

A unique and personal insight into the reasons some of us are drawn to the sea. Taylor Grieger is a Navy Veteran that returned from 6.5 years of active service and resigned from the military, only to suffer the tragedy of his fellow veterans and buddies dying from suicide. Research shows military veterans commit suicide at a frequency of 20 per day in the USA. Taylor is a young veteran who decided...

Paul Willison spent his early days as an outdoor education teacher and quickly migrated to working on a square rig sailing ship teaching high school kids to sail. He then set off to travel around the world and sailed on lots of different boats in unusual locations. On his return to Australia he bought the hull and decks for an Imp 33 catamaran and spent the next 3 years fitting it out in his spare...

Jana and Mick are not your typical semi-retired Australian offshore sailors. Surviving a head on crash in the outback at 100 km/hr at a young age, made them think differently about turning their sailing dreams into reality sooner. They worked and saved hard for the next 2 years and I catch up with them onboard their dream yacht in Florida, waiting to sail to the Bahamas. Their yacht search led to...

From the moment Glenn Ashby won his first A-Class Cat World Title in Spain at age 18, he demonstrated an innate ability to understand the physics in play on the water and interpret them better than anyone else in his chosen class. As the winning 2017 Americas Cup skipper and wing trimmer for Emirates Team New Zealand and now Cup Defender for the next edition on Auckland Harbour, Glenn shares insig...