Ocean Sailing Podcast

James and Patti Hunt are Australians who truly have the traveller's spirit, having extensively backpacked as young Australians throughout Europe in the early 1980's. They were introduced to sailing in the chilly conditions off the south coast of England and purchased their first yacht 'Wanderlust' a Hurley 24 in 1987. By 1995 they made the decision to find the ideal cruising yacht to become their...

Andy Schell produces the sailing podcast: 'On the Wind'. With more than 250 episodes under his belt, along with a sailing calendar that sees him tick off more than 10,000 sea miles each year, Andy eats, sleeps and breathes 'all things sailing'. Andy shares his love of sailing and podcasting in a rare and candid interview, where he's on the other end of the microphone for a change. Andy and his wif...

Deborah Dalziel is both sailor and sailing technology entrepreneur. We explore the story behind the business idea, to find out what drove Deborah, as the Founder of www. MySail. Team to create a Web and App platform, designed to make race crew management easier for boat owners and skippers, while making it simpler for race crew to access and find crew positions on new yachts for races and regattas...

Vernon Deck is a great example of jumping head first into sailing and just figuring it out as you go along. He learned by watching sailing videos and doing local racing as crew, then purchased a yacht, spent 3 weeks on preparation, then untied and departed. His first 3 seasons were spent sailing the 780nm passage between Brisbane and Cairn on the Australian East Coast on a S&S 34 before buying a m...

Paul Trammel has a passion for surfing, sailing and free-diving. Paul shares his plans to sell up and head off for a life of solo sailing adventure, funded in part by his solo-sailing book writing. With plans to live on the ocean permanently, Paul talks about how has made his dreams a reality, along with tips on the content distribution platforms that budding new sailing writers can now use to mon...

Dennis Webster built his 37-foot plywood catamaran 'Catalyst' for just $27,000 and then set off with his family to sail from New Zealand to the Pacific Islands, Guam, Japan and Alaska before sailing down the west coast of Canada and the USA and westward across the Pacific on a 3 year journey packed full of adventures and crazy stories. From frozen fuel, to working on fishing trawlers out of Dutch...

The inside passage to Alaska has been paddled by native canoes since time immemorial. It's in the spirit of tradition, exploration, and the lawless self-reliance of the gold rush that the Race to Alaska was born. R2AK is the first of its kind and North America's longest human and wind powered race, and currently the largest cash prize for a race of its kind. It's like the Iditarod, on a boat, with...

An episode with the Ocean Gem crew, who recount their epic 1,000nm trip from Southport to Pittwater via Middleton Reef, Elizabeth Reef, Lord Howe Island and Balls Pyramid. These unique reefs and islands are 300nm off Australia's Coast and are steeped in a history of untouched reefs, shipwrecks, incredible sea and bird life and the chance to stand knee deep in water, in the southern most coral reef...

A fascinating interview with New Zealand scientist and sailor; Josh Scarrow, who has spent time on the ice in Antartica on three different occasions, taking him to 85 degrees south, 2,800 metres high and temperatures below -20 degrees C. Josh is with the Antarctica NZ organisation and shares his sailing experience from Hobart to Antarctica on the 95m icebreaker Aurora Australis and his flying adve...

Nick has packed a lot into his 30-year sailing career including an around-the-globe non-stop world sailing speed record in 2002, where he and his team captured the Trophée Jules Verne. That same year, he also achieved a 1st place in the largest solo transatlantic yacht race, La Route du Rhum. With 2 Americas Cups, 15 world sailing speed records and Volvo Ocean Races under his belt, Nick possesses...

After competing in the Solo Tasman Yacht Challenge 1974, Christchurch man Tony Allan was sailing back to New Zealand from Mooloolaba, Australia, when his boat, ​Rebel II​, capsized two days into the journey, leaving him adrift in his life raft for 20 days. As Tony wasn't expected back to Lyttelton for another 12 days, had no form of radio contact and, suddenly, after a life-time spent on water, wa...

Sytske du Crocq is a Netherlands based sailing entrepreneur who has turned her passion for racing in exotic destinations, into a global business. I met Sytske by chance at Hamilton Island in Australia when she was here to compete in the Sydney to Gold Coast Race and unearthed a great story, about what you can create if you have passion and determination. Sail Race Crew offer both grand prix yacht...

Mark Gallick joins me onboard Ocean Gem for a 600nm ocean passage from Hamilton Island to Southport in Queensland. Its a challenging passage that takes in islands, reefs, whales, commercial and military traffic and a number of navigational challenges including the shallow 70nm passage down the western side of Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. Mark shares the personal goals he wa...

Guest host Joe Richardson interviews Jason Ker, founder of Ker Yacht Design onboard his very own 'Ker designed' 19.2m (63 feet) racer/cruiser yacht "Dark Horse of England". Jason Ker launched Ker Yacht Design than 20 years ago and he talks about how he got started in yacht design, his ocean racing experiences with both the Fastnet and Sydney Hobart Races under his belt. He lives by the design phil...

Guest host Paul Trammell is back and interviews David Young who lives in Jacksonville Florida on his Endeavour 35 yacht, built in 1984. He shares his experience on Pacific voyaging, using parachute anchors and drogues, 4 decades of ocean sailing; starting with pilot charts, radio direction finders and sextants and talks about evolution to GPS, the risks of GPS navigating and the explosive growth i...

David Hows set out from Hobart in Tasmania and sailed 1,300nm solo across the notorious Tasman Sea to New Plymouth in New Zealand in preparation for the 4-yearly 1,400nm Solo Tasman Yacht Race back to Mooloolaba on Australia's Sunshine Coast. David talks about race stratgey, sleep patterns, nutrition and sail performance management. He also shares his challenges and set backs which include; batter...

Paul Trammel is one of the most down-to-earth, consummate sailors you will meet. With a passion for surfing, sailing and free-diving, the ocean is a big part of Paul's life. From cruising the Bahamas, to free diving into under water caves in Florida, to sleeping with alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp and surfing big waves in Puerto Rico. Paul's tales of his free spirited adventures and his outloo...

In this episode, we'll hear from guest host Caroline Ballard from a fellow podcast called HumaNature, which tells stories where humans and our habitat meet. After passing Sable Island (a small island situated 190 nm southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia) on their first Atlantic crossing, this is a short story of a family who traded life on land for a 25,000nm sea adventure. They share the tale of enco...

Guest host Paul Trammell talks with Jim den Hartog and Helen den Dekker on board Gaia, a steel Colvin Gazelle designed yacht, that they spent a decade building from plans. Paul interviewed Jim and Helen at Conception Island in the Bahamas and they share tales of their lessons from sailing all over the world, including 22 years at sea and never experiencing a storm, along with sailing the intra-coa...

We catch up with Lena Padukova in Gothenburg, Sweden for finish of the penultimate leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Lena is an experienced ocean sailor, mountaineer and leader of multiple ocean adventures and land expeditions. Lena shares stories from her years of sailing all over the planet from the Pacific to the Arctic and her lessons learned from leading teams and crews to high latitudes and high...

David Hows, producer of the Ocean Sailing Podcast; shares his thoughts on his first 7 years of keel boat cruising, racing and ocean passages in his Beneteau 445 'Ocean Gem'. After 25,000nm and 400+ races, with the most recent adventure being a double solo Tasman Sea crossing of 2,800nm in total and lots of 'thinking time" David shares his plans to turn his passion for sailing into something bigger...

An absolutely fascinating chat with Sonny Natanielu, about the revival of traditional Polynesian voyaging methods using waka (canoes) that go back several hundred years. It was a tremendous insight into the importance of the ocean and significance of waka (canoes). Maori has its roots in times past, when voyaging waka forged the links between the ancestral homeland of Hawaiki and New Zealand and w...

In this episode I spent a session with Rod West, owner/skipper of Another Painkiller (a Beneteau First 44.7) and Philip Bell, owner/skipper of She (an Olsen 40) and we reflected on our preparation and race experience and did a post mortem of our entries in the 2017 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, our race results and the things we all did differently. 2017 was the first year that the Southport Yacht Clu...

Andy Lamont interviews Mike Sabin about his lifetime of adventures on the water. Mikes a boat builder, sail maker, has been a coastal patrol pilot and has sailed every part of the Australian coastline. At age 40 Mike sold everything and headed off in his new yacht 'Sly Fox' for 5 years of sailing and adventure all over the world, including sailing to Europe, where he removed his mast and spent 2 m...

I caught up with my favourite maritime author - Rob Mundle in late 2017, on 'all things Jimmy Spithill' and his recent project writing Jimmy's biography 'Chasing the Cup - My Americas Cup Journey'. Jimmy Spithill is arguably one of the world's greatest skippers: the youngest and a double winner of the America's Cup, winner of the Sydney Hobart; multiple world champion in match and fleet racing. Wh...