Ocean Sailing Podcast

After preparing my Beneteau yacht 'Ocean Gem' for our first ever Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, I decided to interview our crew 4 weeks after we completed the race and gather their thoughts on the project and their experience. It started in September 2017 when we assembled a crew of 10 and a prepared a long project list that grew to more than 200 items. In early December we departed the Gold Coast in Q...

I check in with Andy Lamont after he successfully completed his solo circumnavigation in his S&S 34 named Impulse in August 2017. Andy reflects on life after his 250+ day voyage, some of the highs and lows, how he handled storms and big seas and whats next on his bucket list. Its a bumper two and a half hour chat with Andy in which he shares advice on sail configuration for solo sailing, handling...

Ocean Sailing Podcast producer David Hows shares his thoughts and tips on PHS club racing, solo sailing and planning a successful regatta. David races his 1992 Beneteau 445 'Ocean Gem' and discusses how to succeed at a club racing level when you are racing under the PHS system. In preparation for the 1,300nm Solo Tasman race in 2018, David undertakes his first solo passage with a 580nm solo delive...

Guest Host; Dr Linus Wilson interviews a family living, traveling, learning and enjoying the world aboard the 38-foot catamaran Fata Morgana. Their names are Ivo, Mira and Maya. For them it's a voyage into a new and unknown way of life. They left behind work, school, home and all those things that give us a false sense of security and comfort, in order to find alternative ways of learning and expe...

Guest host Andy Lamont talks to Paul Ridley - rower turned sailor. He took up rowing in 2005 and within 4 years rowed 3,000nm across the Atlantic Ocean. Facing the worst nature had to offer, he was blown backwards 200 miles after a bad storm. Next came the Arctic Ocean, the only ocean that had never been rowed across. In August 2012, a team of four young explorers completed an unsupported, non-sto...

In this episode my guest host Andy Lamont talks with Chris Barnes on his Panama stopover about his 17 years of cruising adventures at sea. Chris's story is riveting from start to finish with tales of meteorites, bushfires, hurricanes and an adventure filled life on the ocean  Chris started dinghy sailing when he was young on the Portsmouth Harbour in England and then crossed the Atlantic in 34 day...

Cruising Pittwater (15nm north of Sydney) has got to be one of the top 10 cruising spots in Australia. With deepwater anchorages right up to the shoreline, free moorings, white sand beaches, private secluded bays and the 150 square kilometre Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park littered with hiking tracks, cruising the Pittwater, Cowan Creek and lower Hawkesbury River area is simply spectacular. This e...

In this episode my guest host Andy Lamont talks with Stuart Morton about his sailing adventures on his Panama stopover. After leaving England 11 years ago on his 39 foot sailing yacht Matador, Stuart and his wife Steph have cruised the Mediterranean, Lebanon, the Black Sea, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Gibraltar, USA, Cuba, Bahamas and the Caribbean. Then while sitting in his cockpit anchored in Shelter...

Its just 36 hours out from the start of the 35th Americas Cup and Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand pick up where they left off 4 years ago in San Francisco. In this episode we explore what ETNZ has to do to upset a very dominant and confident defender in Jimmy Spithill's Oracle Team USA. Will Oracles comeback from 8-1 down in 2013 come back to haunt ETNZ again or have they closed the...

On the eve of day one of the challenger semi-finals, we talk again with Cup Experience Founder; Jack Griffin on location in Bermuda about his take on the racing so far in the challenger qualifiers and 'all things' Americas Cup 2017. We dive into the sailing differences between the teams to date, the surprises we have seen and what we have learned about the importance of 'the start' and the quality...

On the eve of the 35th edition, we talk with Cup Experience Founder and Americas cup sailing commentator; Jack Griffin from his home in Geneva, Switzerland about 'all things' Americas Cup. From the venue differences between San Francisco and Bermuda, to which teams are most likely to make the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals, to Jack's pick for the Americas Cup 2017 winner. This episode recaps the final m...

Nick Williams is an unassuming, but naturally talented 14 year old sailor who sets out from New Zealand and heads to California to compete in the William Koch International Sea Scout Cup and achieves a result he and his sailing partner Nick Gardiner could only have dreamed of.  Bill Koch's relationship with the Sea Scout program pre-dates his career as a successful international businessman and wi...

We track Andy Lamont down in St. Lucia in the Caribbean during his unplanned stopover for repairs to his self-steering and electrical systems. Andy left the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia in October 2016 for his non-stop westward bound solo circumnavigation and world record attempt sailing his S&S 34 yacht 'Impulse'. We find out all about his sailing voyage so far, the set backs and forced chan...

We catch-up with Lisa Blair 65 days into her world record attempt to circumnavigate Antarctica solo as the first female and fastest sailor ever. Lisa shares the challenges and set backs to date, talks about weather, icebergs, repairs and leaks. A few days after the interview by Sat Phone, disaster strikes and Lisa's mast comes crashing down. Working in the dark sailing into 9m seas, we share a nar...

We check in with Lisa Blair a few days prior to her departure to find out how her shake down trip form Sydney, NSW to Albany, WA went. Lisa tells us how "Climate Action Now" stood up to 60 knots of wind and a sizeable storm. We find out whats left to complete on her endless task prior to her departure, as she sets off to become the first female to complete a sailing circumnavigation of Antartica s...

A sailing day on the water with the Wild Oats XI Sydney Hobart crew in their ninth and final consecutive day of on-the-water training, in the lead up to the 72nd edition of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. This episode captures the anticipation beforehand of Rod Routh and David Hows as they fly to Sydney to join Mark Richards, Iain Murray and the Wild Oats XI team sailing on Sydney Harbour,...

Disaster struck the first week of Andy's non-stop westward bound solo circumnavigation and world record sailing attempt in his S&S 34 yacht 'Impulse'. By day 3 he hit challenges he had not expected during a 40-knot storm, while sailing 150nm offshore. From genoa failure to electrical problems, water ingress into his food storage and a bizarre EPIRB activation. After months of preparation and years...

Mike Horn is globally acknowledged as the world's greatest modern day explorer. From swimming the Amazon River solo and unsupported to an unmotorised circumnavigation of the globe at the equator, Mike's list of accomplishments as a solo explorer is unparalleled.  In two decades, he has seen more of the Earth than possibly any other human. He walked to the North Pole during darkness and has scaled...

David Hows shares his story of preparing and sailing to a 45 foot Beneteau yacht named 'Ocean Gem' across the Tasman Sea from Auckland, New Zealand, via Norfolk Island to the Gold Coast in Australia in late 2013.  This second of a two-part episode is a step-by-step summary of his extensive preparation and substantial refit and it will help and inspire any blue water cruiser who is preparing to sai...

David Hows shares his story of preparing and sailing to a 45 foot Beneteau yacht named 'Ocean Gem' across the Tasman Sea from Auckland, New Zealand, via Norfolk Island to the Gold Coast in Australia in late 2013.  This first of a two-part episode is a step-by-step summary of his extensive preparation and substantial refit and it will help and inspire any blue water cruiser who is preparing to sail...

In this episode we chat with Martin Vaughan about his epic sailing adventure and lessons learned from competing in the 5,500nm 2-handed 2013 Melbourne to Osaka Race. As a long distance South to North Ocean Race, it's a unique Pacific Ocean journey and it crosses multiple weather systems and seasons. The course starts in Portsea, Melbourne, heads into Bass Strait, up the east coast of Australia, in...

In 2015, after three South African sailors went missing after sailing into the vastness of the Southern Ocean and their families desperately tried to trace their final movements. Their determination to uncover the truth, would require going to war with the world's largest tourism conglomerate, a €20 billion-a-year monolith that had no interest in fielding questions. In this episode we share a narr...

After months of preparation and years of planning we check in with Andy Lamont a few days before he leaves the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia for his non-stop westward bound sailing solo circumnavigation and world record attempt in his S&S 34 yacht 'Impulse'. We find out what's gone to plan, what's changed, his set backs, his final departure plans and Andy's final thoughts before leaving for th...

Following the 2015 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race Lisa Blair is taking sailing to the extremes and aims to set the world record for becoming the first female to compete in the Antarctica Cup Ocean Race, circumnavigate Antarctica, circumnavigate below latitude 45° south and break the current speed record of 102 days, 1 hour, 35 minutes and 50 seconds. Lisa will be the second competitor in histor...

Back from competing at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week for the first time, we do a race crew debrief and share the highs and lows of sailing at one of the most spectacular regattas on the planet. From trailer boats to 100-foot super maxi's, a record fleet of 252 yachts competed across 14 divisions, racing in challenging weather and strong tidal currents while sailing around the Whitsunday Islands....