Episode 117 is Simon Borjeson, a twenty-something Swedish sailor and athlete living in Norway and working as an engineer in the oil industry. I met Simon at the start of the ARC Europe rally in Portsmouth, VA. He, along with three of his friends, were crewing onboard Euphoria, a brand-new Xc-42 that Simon’s dad Len had recently bought.

Simon discusses growing up and sailing with his family, what it’s like on a long ocean passage, how Swedish sailing and boating culture works, why Swedes don’t drink and drive and how his sailing actually helped his preparation for the Stockholm Swimrun in June. Simon & his competition partner Rasmus are gunning for the world championships in Swimrun on September 7, racing in O-till-O, a 75km jaunt through the outer Stockholm archipelago. Follow them on ostersjosimmet.com.

As an aside, you might hear that I talk a bit different in this episode. I know Simon in Swedish, and we rarely talk English to each other. So it’s a bit strange for both of us to be speaking English together on the show. Big thanks to Simon for going out of his comfort zone and recording this episode in English.