Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell

Robin Toozs-Hobson is a long-time sailor and delivery skipper based in St. Lucia. He and I have sailed together a few times and had some great adventures. He recently did a delivery of an Excess catamaran from St. Lucia to Japan.  We talk about living in St. Lucia, living abroad and dealing with the passport and banking and mail, monohull sailing vs catamaran sailing, favorite boats, Excess catama...

Hylke Boersma is a project manager for refits at KM Yachtbuilders. He is currently working on the repair of a Boreal 52 that suffered hull damage after being struck by another boat while on a mooring.  We talk about using a 3D-scanner to asses damage, repairing an aluminum hull, repairing aluminum vs steel, care and maintenance of aluminum hulls, painting aluminum hulls, advantages of building in...

Harry Anderson is the only person to have both flown solo and sailed solo to all seven continents. He is also the author of "Sailing 7 Continents Solo." We talk about his route, his boats (a Bavaria 37 and an Alures 40.9), sailing with a centerboard, heaving-to, HF radio, VHF with wireless remote handset, anchoring, shore lines, generating electricity, Deception Island, getting permits to go to An...

Willem Nieland has been designing yachts for 35 years. He designs Globemaster yachts, as well as custom aluminum expedition sailboats, motor yachts, and residential yachts. His designs are know for efficent and ergonomic use of space, comfort, and excellent offshore sailing characteristics. We talk about design elements he likes in a boat, his boat, sailing around The Netherlands, designing boats,...

Tapio Lehtinen and his crew were sailing in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia when we talked. The interview was conducted in the cockpit of Galiana, a 1972 Swan 55 yawl, while underway. I spoke with each of the crew, most of whom were paying customers. Tapio is taking paying crew on ocean training passages and various offshore races this year, as well as the 2027...

Viivi was part of Tapio Lehtinen's crew onboard Galiana for the 2023 Ocean Globe Race. This race was the subject of Tapio's book "Pole Star and Albatross." Viivi is now building a Class Globe 5.80 to sail in the 2026 Mini Globe Transat.  We talk about learning to sail, training for the Ocean Globe Race (OGR), the sinking of Asteria, favorite moments in the OGR, rounding Cape Horn, fear, difficult...

Andrew Evans is best known for his book "Singlehanded Sailing, Thoughts Tips Techniques and Tactics." His most recent book is "Singlehanded Sailing, Two Points West of Sanity." The book is mostly about his ill-fated passage attempting to sail from Victoria, Canada, to the start of the Transpac in San Francisco. During the journey, he experienced falling overboard, taking on water, total loss of hi...

The Royal Western Yacht Club was founded in 1827 to encourage yacht racing. Chris Arscott is the Vice Commodore and organizes the OSTAR and the Round Britain & Ireland Race, and now the Worldstar, a new nonstop round-the-world race for 35'-60' monohulls without specific requirements and raced singlehanded or doublehanded,.  We talk about the Worldstar, Starlink, communication, sponsorship, making...

Guido Cantini is an Italian entrant in the 2026 Golden Globe Race. His boat is a Vancouver 34, and he has been preparing for the race for six years.  We talk about sailing arounf the Tuscan Archipelago, the differences between being a mariner and a racer, the Golden Globe Race, his boat and how he chose it, work he has done to the boat, cruising in Panama, the effects of moving weight inside the b...

Eddie and Kelli were in Corfu, Greece, when I spoke to them. They were sailing a 1986 Beneteau First 29, had just sold it, and were buying a Moody 422.  We talk about sailing with a new baby, kids on boats, their Beneteau First 29 and how they chose it, buying a boat remotely, in-mast furling, the Moody 422, sailing in Croatia, buying a boat in Croatia, registering a boat in Poland, staying in the...

Iain and Brioni are two Scottish sailors casually circumnavigating on a Leopard 47 Catamaran. As we spoke, they were in the South Pacific.  We talk about dealing with a broken steering cable, using an emergency tiller, repairing the steel cable with dyneema, their route across the South Pacific, hurricanes, staying warm, whales, cameras and drones and the logistics of making a YouTube channel, INa...

Brett and Tess were in the Solomon Islands when I spoke to them. They sail a Corbin 39, surf, spearfish, explore, and interact with the local cultures. We talk all about the Solomon Islands, their boat, colliding with a floating tree and dealing with a damaged skeg and a pernicious leak, hauling out and and fixing the skeg, living on a boat vs living in a house, crocodiles, crocodile safety, cigua...

Jaz races in the Hanse 303 and RS Venture Connect SCS classes , and sails an Albin Vega 27, in which she recently became the first wheelchair user to sail solo and unassisted around Great Britain and Ireland, and doing so confronted and overcame great difficulties. She lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome ,  which means her connective tissue does not function properly, and this also effects her inter...

Tapio Lehtinen sailed his boat Galiana, a 1972 Swan 55 yawl, in the 2023 Ocean Globe Race. He is now taking paying crew on ocean training passages and offshore races. If interested, send an email to paulwtrammell@hotmail.com and put "Sailing" in the subject line. In this episode, we talk about sailing in the Finnish Archipelago, Galiana and her latest refit, electric winches, autopilots, raising t...

Adam Desrosiers lives in the Alaska panhandle and sails a Cape George 36.  We talk about sailing in the Alaska panhandle (the south), fjords and inlets, weather, currents, storms, dealing with the cold, katabatic winds, Patagonia, anchoring in Alaska, 25' tides, using two anchors, his boat, making the boat more cruiser-friendly, bears on the beach, black bears vs brown bears, bear safety, benefits...

Brian and Helen Russell sail an aluminum Dudley Dix 43 that Brian built. This past summer, they sailed the Viking Route from London to Halifax, Nova Scotia via the Scilly Isles, Scotland, The Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland.  We talk about all the places they visited, the pasages in between, the wildlife, difficult situations, sea ice, icebergs, radar, broaching, autopilots,...

Norbert Sedlecek Koch is the founder of Innovation Yachts. In July 2026, he will attempt to sail nonstop unassisted solo around the world passing through all the world's oceans, and becoming the first person to do so. He has already circumnavigated in a boat he built and in the Vendee Globe, and he has circumnavigated Antarctica. Innovation Yachts designs and builds custom yachts with attention to...

Etienne Messikommer is an entrant in the 2026 Golden Globe Race. He also won the 2021 Globe 5.80 Transtat.  We talk about his first boat (which was steel), selecting his GGR boat (a Tradewinds 35), refitting and preparing the boat for the GGR, converting from wheel to tiller, reefing and furling, reinforcing the chainplates, antifouling, getting advice from previous GGR competitors, books, the rul...

Mark Sinclair is following the Mini Globe Race in his Lello 34, Coconut (the boat he raced in the 2018 GGR). He was in Antigua last time we spoke (in February 2024) and he was in Darwin, Australia when we spoke this time. We talk about the Mini Globe Race, Darwin Australia, his sail from Antigua to Australia, sailing every other leg with his girlfriend, provisioning, transiting the Panama Canal, A...

Gunnar Christensen is an entrant in the 2026 Golden Globe Race. He owns a Hans Christen 34 and is also a professional sailor and skipper of racing sailboats. We talk about his Baltic 42, a Southerly 42, The Bahamas, the value of a swing-keel, RORC races Gunnar has been competing in, racing a Farr 60, how seamanship differs between racers and cruisers, how racing boats are less forgiving than cruis...

Kevin Le Poidevin sails an Open 40, Roaring 40 and a Sigma 36 Rogue Wave . He sailed in the 2014 and 2018 Solo Trans Tasman Challenge New Plymouth to Southport, the 2021 and 2024 Sydney Hobart, the 2023 Global Solo Challenge, and the 2025 Melbourne to Osaka Race. He has also solo sailed around Australia and Malaysia, as well as from Osaka back to Australia. He supports the Brain Tumor Alliance Aus...

Guy deBoer is a professional sailor active in offshore racing. He was in the 2022 Golden Globe Race, but went aground in the Canary Islands and had to retire from the race. He eventually saved and rebuilt the boat, Spirit, a Tashiba 36. We talk about his new (to him) Cheoy Lee and how old full-keel boats are sometimes free or nearly free, racing in the Two Star in a Jenneau 45, dealing with the co...

Tom Cunliffe is a living legend among offshore sailors. He has lived his life at sea, mostly sailing traditional boats. He learned to sail on a 22 ft gaff sloop when a teenager on the Norfolk Broads. He studied law in university, but then ran off to sea. He has worked as mate on a coasting merchant vessel and skippered private yachts as well as having been a delivery and charter skipper. He was a...

Jolly Holly sails a 72' carbon fiber trimaran now, and has a history of restoring old boats and solo sailing. She is also the owner of ShowMeYourDinghy dinghy navigation lights, which I use and approve of.  We talk about sailing in the Caribbean, getting knocked down, sailing solo vs with crew, observing fishing regulations, Sunfish, Tritium - her 71' carbon fiber catamaran, backlash from skeptics...

Daniel Turner is currently in second place in the Mini Globe Race, another Don McIntyre circumnavigation race. He was in Fiji when I interviewed him, right befrore the start of Leg three, Fiji to Cape Town.  We talk about sailing from Antigua to Panama, dealing with a roller-furler malfunction, sailing to Fiji, a storm in the Tuomotus, using a drogue, helmets, preventers, response to the skeptics,...