Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell

In part 2, we go deeper into Ricardo's experience surviving the sinking of his mini-transat boat, what went through his mind while floating 26 hours in a lifejacket, how he contacted the cruise ship that rescued him and talked them to his location, how he was received on the ship, and how this turned into his career as an inspirational speaker. Other stories we get into include almost hitting a wh...

Ricardo Diniz is a Portuguese singlehand sailor, author, coach, actor, businessman, and inspirational speaker. We talk about growing up in Portugal, learning to sail, building a mini-transat boat, running into a container and sinking in this boat, surviving 26 hours at sea in a lifejacket, being rescued by a cruise ship, hitting a second container a year later, sleeping when singlehanding, safety...

I met Maikel in Bocas del Toro when he sold me a dinghy that he built. He invited me into his shop, where he had built an aluminum dinghy from scratch. Also in the shop was a dismantled 34' aluminum sailboat, which he was rebuilding. In this episode, we discuss this project, which includes building a lifting keel, as well as how he finances his nomadic life working on other boats.

In this second interview with Carin, we discuss sailing from Bocas del Toro to shelter Bay, preparing to transit the Panama Canal, going through the canal, the Pacific side, and preparing for the coming passage to French Polynesia.

Carl Schultz, a former bicycle messenger in New York City, is a solo sailor exploring the tropics on his Shipman 28. We talk about his adventures sailing through the Bahamas, to Turks and Caicos, and the Dominican Republic.

Simon and Sally recently sailed from Greenland to Labrador to Newfoundland to Nova Scotia. We talk about high-latitude sailing, staying warm, anchoring, radar, icebergs, bugs, clearing customs, Vikings, polar bears, williwas, hiking, favorite places in Newfoindland, Bras d'Or Lake, and much more.

I spoke with Peter as he was anchored in Portugal fixing a steering breakdown. He is on his way around the world in a solo, nonstop, unassisted circumnavigation via the five capes in his Rival 41, Waxwing.

Brian Russell and his wife Helen, who you might remember from season 2, recently sailed Helacious, the boat the Brian built, from the USVI to the Azores and then to Ireland and Scotland. We talk about sailing from the USVI to the Azores, swimming in the open ocean, downwind sailing, arriving in the Azores, the Portuguese language, his wind generator, sailing from the Azores to Ireland, cruising Sc...

Dr. Rikki Grober Eriksen is a PhD Marine Biologist and the Director of Marine Programs for the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation. She lives on a sailboat in the Caribbean and is a wealth of information on coral reef ecology. We talk about her boat, spotted eagle rays, a magical dolphin encounter, coral reef decline, overfishing, where to and not to anchor, spearfishing, ocean acidification an...

Pat is preparing his boat, a Saltram Saga, for the 2022 Golden Globe Race, a singlehand, non-stop circumnavigation that allows only pre-1968 technology and old-fashioned boats. He recently sailed from Ireland to Iceland for a shakedown. We discuss his list of tasks, the cruise, and the upcoming race.

This one is just me talking about my time here in Bocas del Toro, Panama. I talk about the anchorages, the town, my new dinghy, spearfishing, surfing, some of the other islands, rip currents, my plans of going to Cartagena next and The Bahamas after that.

This is the second half of my interview with spearfisherman, freediver, kiteboarder, and sailor, Adventureman Dan. If you haven't already listened to Part 1, it is the episode directly before this one.

Adventureman Dan is a spearfisherman, freediver, and solo sailor, currently in the Bahamas. As a nice coincidence, Dan ran into Stephanie Shuldt, from the previous episode, right after I invited him to be on the podcast. As I interviewed him, he was rafted up with Sail La Vie and two other boats in her entourage. Dan and I talk about spearfishing, the Bahamas, surviving a 70-knot storm on a paddle...

Stephanie left a corporate job just a few years ago to chase her dream of living a nomadic life on a catamaran, sailing, freediving, and spearfishing. We talk about the obstacles she overcame, her boat (a 46' Fountaine Pajot Bahia), The Bahamas, freediving, spearfishing, freedive training, sharks, ciguatera, coral reefs, and more.

Robert Perry has been designing boats since he was 14, and is one of the most well-respected and prolific sailboat designers of all time. We discuss his career, feedback from sailors, boats in the GGR, double-enders, different keel shapes, balanced rudders, draft, his new Carbon Cutter, Sail Drive, the Valiant 40, roller furling, staysails, his book, books he loves, and a final word to his support...

Margie Woods sailed her Catalina 34, Haunani, in the 2016 Singlehanded Transpac, from San Francisco to Hawaii, and she did it with minimal offshore sailing experience. We discuss preparing herself and her boat for the race, the good days and the hard days, the worst weather and the best weather, dealing with difficulties, being present and sailing in the moment, the mental challenges of singlehand...

Expedition Glacialis is a team of scientists aboard a 43' custom steel Koopmans sailboat. Virginie Wyss, Matthew Ryle, Arnaud Conne, and Richard Mardens are collecting data on wildlife, plastics, and the chemistry of the ocean. Their project has taken them to Greenland, where they were when we spoke. We talk about the magic of Greenland, the difficulties and rewards of sailing in the arctic, their...

Katie is currently trying, at 14 years old, to become the youngest person to sail singlehanded around Great Britain. She is doing so on a beautiful wooden 26' Morgan Giles built in 1950. We talk about her inspirations, her preparations, her boat, the route, the journey so far, and much more.

Pete recently bought a Formosa 51 in Grenada, worked on her enough to make the passage home, and took off for Ireland. Along the way, he had a few mechanical difficulties, including loosing use of his engine, but made the trip regardless. Upon arrival, he accepted a tow into the harbor at Kinsale, which prompted two newspaper articles about his being "rescued at sea," an over-dramification to say...

Avoiding the lockdown by sailing north around Scotland to the Azores on a Rival 32, the 1988 OSTAR, capsizing a catamaran in the North Sea, the rescue, cruising around Scotland, provisioning, avoiding old age, and more.

Losing a mast in the Sydney Hobart; setting up his boat, a Thomas Gilmer Aries 32, for the Golden Globe Race; safety protocols; the selection and refit of Harmony; bottom paint; training for the big race; and much more

Kirsten is an extremely accomplished blue-water sailor, with extensive experience in the high latitudes. She is an entrant in the 2022 Golden Globe Race, and a skipper of Skip Novak's expedition sailboat Pelagic . We discuss her sailing history, working for Skip Novak, South Georgia Island, anchoring, heavy weather, heaving-to, dressing for the Southern Ocean, the Golden Globe Race, safety, her Ca...

Surfing and spearfishing in The Bahamas, sharks, deciding as a couple to sail to Panama from The Bahamas, preparing for the crossing and dealing with anxiety, selecting a weather window, clearing out at Matthew Town, the Windward Passage, crossing the Caribbean, almost getting run over by a Navy ship, trouble clearing in at Bimini, the beginning of Covid in The Bahamas, clearing in at Shelter Bay,...

This is the second half of my interview with Joe Richardson onboard his Jason Kerr 63. We talk about his sailing and racing history, sailing in the Mediterranean, safety precautions for singlehanders, smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, liferafts, AIS, radar, sleeping while singlehanding, sharks, setting up a high-performance sailboat for singlehanding, climbing the mast alone, reefing, self-tacking...

Joe's boat,  Dark Horse of England, is a Jason Kerr designed 63' ocean racer with a luxury cruising interior. In addition to talking about his magnificent boat, we discuss sailing from Barcelona to the Caribbean, breaking the carbon fiber boom and rebuilding the engine due to saltwater intrusion along the way, various destinations in the Caribbean, his Williams jet tender, the hydrogenerator, seek...