#427: Jojo Pickering // From the Sea to the Theatre & Back Again

#427: Jojo Pickering // From the Sea to the Theatre & Back Again

Jojo Pickering grew up with sailing as a central part of her life, vagabonding on the high seas with her family and sailing from Africa to the UK. As she got older, she spent more time ashore, starting a traveling theatre company with her husband and kids and bouncing around the UK, France and Spain. But the sea called her back — she recently completed an Atlantic circle with her family on a gaff-rigged sloop and now sails professionally as a skipper on classic yachts and with 59º North. Andy spoke to her onboard FALKEN in the Cape Verde islands.

#426: Liz Wardley // A Sailor Smashing Records in the Worlds Toughest Row

#426: Liz Wardley // A Sailor Smashing Records in the Worlds Toughest Row

Sailor, kitesurfer, and paddler Liz Wardley returns to the show to talk with Emma about her record-breaking row across the Atlantic. She completed the World's Toughest Row at the end of January after 44 days at sea. She beat the previous record by 15 days. Liz has competed many times in The Ocean Race and was last on the podcast in 2019 when she was skippering Maiden.
Emma talked to Liz while she was home in Australia, simultaneously recovering and preparing for the next challenge: rowing the World's Toughest Row Pacific. Liz tells stories from her solo row across the Atlantic, reflects on her path into sailing and now rowing, and shares plans for the double-handed Pacific row.

#425: Capt. Jennifer Kaye // Schooner WOODWIND & Trans-Atlantic on FALKEN

#425: Capt. Jennifer Kaye // Schooner WOODWIND & Trans-Atlantic on FALKEN

Capt. Jen of Schooner WOODWIND returns to the podcast after having just sailed with Andy aboard FALKEN on the 2,100 mile passage across the Atlantic! Jen and Andy reflect on Jen's first big ocean crossing and what it was like to leave the wintry Chesapeake Bay for tropical Tradewind sailing. They also talk about challenges of running a small business, how Andy evolved from being a deckhand on the WOODWIND into running offshore passages around the world and much more.

#424: Emily Caruso // Pro Sailor & Empathetic Leader

#424: Emily Caruso // Pro Sailor & Empathetic Leader

Emily Caruso has spent 18 years and counting as a professional sailor, though only first learning about the sport in her late 20s. Growing up in the countryside in England, Emily had an epiphany one day during a weekend sailing excursion and hasn't looked back since. Andy & Emily sat down in person onboard FALKEN in Cape Verde to talk about her career path, what motivates and scares her, leadership, skippering Sir Francis Chichester's legendary GYPSY MOTH IV, working for 59º North, 'deep feeling' and so much more.

#422: Bill Strassberg // The Viking Route

#422: Bill Strassberg // The Viking Route

Bill Strassberg literally wrote the book on the Viking Route, authoring the latest edition of the Cruising Club of America's guide to the far northern route across the Atlantic. Andy first got in touch with Bill when researching FALKEN's Greenland passage last summer and caught up with him late last year for the podcast. We talked about Bill's custom 60-foot cruising boat, his own sailing through the fjords of Greenland, what inspired him to write the guide and how he balances a career as a surgeon with his long-term sailing goals.

#421: Cosima Franchini // Yacht Captain & Business Owner

#421: Cosima Franchini //  Yacht Captain & Business Owner

Cosima grew up on the Puget Sound where her family nurtured a love of sailing and old classic boats. In college she worked on tall ships in the PNW but eventually she landed on the east coast where she found a community of friends who worked on private classic yachts. She spent her twenties pursuing positions and racing aboard big rig schooners and other classics throughout the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Today she is Captain of a 108’ sailing yacht based in Europe and running her charter business, Olympia Sailing Company, with her family.

#420: Matt Steverson // The Duracell Project

#420: Matt Steverson // The Duracell Project

Ben Doerr sat down with Matt from The Duracell Project YouTube channel. Matt and his wife Janni are refitting Mike Plant's famous Open 60 "Duracell" into a comfortable cruising boat. Sitting in the cockpit of Duracell outside of Port Townsend, Matt and Ben discuss Matt's cruising and boatbuilding past and the many challenges of building the boat and the channel.

#419: Capt. Jan Miles Returns // PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II

#419: Capt. Jan Miles Returns // PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II

Captain Jan Miles returns to the podcast! Andy first sat down with Jan onboard Maryland's flagship PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II tall ship way back in 2015 for a fascinating interview tracing Jan's career at sea. We return to the Captain's Cabin onboard PRIDE for this second, meandering chat about seamanship, life on tall ships, the leadership structure on traditional ships and a whole lot more. This episode was recorded onboard PRIDE II at the Annapolis Sailboat Show in October.

#418: Elliot Rappaport // Reading the Glass

#418: Elliot Rappaport // Reading the Glass

Elliot Rappaport has been a captain of sailing ships for the past three decades. He currently is a faculty member at Maine Maritime Academy, where he lives nearby with his wife and their dog. Elliot also sailed as a captain for many miles with Sea Education Association, an organization that offers shipboard programs in ocean science and leadership to undergraduates and high schoolers. He recently published a fantastic book called Reading the Glass: A Captain's View of Weather, Water, and Life on Ships.

Emma and Elliot were shipmates on the Robert C Seamans, SEA's Pacific-based vessel, in New Zealand in 2018. We talked about the impact of sail training, leadership, teaching, being a captain, writing a book, and weather.

#417: Mats Grimsæth // Explorer and Photographer

#417: Mats Grimsæth // Explorer and Photographer

Mats Grimsæth is a professional skipper, photographer and lecturer. He’s the youngest person to ever skipper a boat around the island of Spitsbergen on Svalbard, which is where he first met August. He has a great passion for the sea and for his fellow human beings. Having had a difficult time in his teenage years, he’s now using his considerable energy and outreach to help others in the same situation.

#416: Wendy Mitman Clarke // SAIL Magazine Editor

#416: Wendy Mitman Clarke // SAIL Magazine Editor

Wendy Mitman Clarke is the editor-in-chief at SAIL magazine and a long-time cruiser herself. I work with Wendy regularly as a columnist for SAIL, but had never actually sat down to talk about her own background. I caught up with her at the Annapolis Sailboat Show in October, and from the Captain's Cabin onboard the Pride of Baltimore II, we discussed her history as a sailor, 'failure' in the cruising lifestyle, what it's like running a magazine, the writing process and lots more.

#415: Andy, Mia, Adam & Alex // FALKEN Season 1 Debrief

Last week Mia, Bosun Adam Browne and Chief Mate Alex Laline and I sat down in the salon of FALKEN to reflect on what's been a busy, stressful and ultimately successful first season on our newly refit Farr 65. We've truly come a long way since one year ago this time, when we were scrambling to get the boat out of the shed, sea-trialled and out of the UK. Since then, FALKEN has sailed over 16,000 nautical miles (!) with over 120 crewmembers. The four of us reflected on this past year and what stood out most to each of us, and how we feel about the future.

#414: Paul & Sheryl Shard // Distant Shores & the OG YouTubers

#414: Paul & Sheryl Shard // Distant Shores & the OG YouTubers

Paul & Sheryl Shard of Distant Shores are truly the OG YouTubers, having filmed and produced videos of their sailing adventures for over 25 years. I met up with them in person at the Annapolis Sailboat Show a few weeks ago to talk about their transition from broadcast TV to YouTube and if that's changed their process. We also talked a lot about their new boat, a go-anywhere aluminum expedition yacht built in the Netherlands, which will launch in early 2024, and what they've designed into what is their 5th boat. Follow along on Paul & Sheryl's adventures at distantshores.ca.

#413: Jake Beattie // Everyday Heroes and the Race to Alaska

#413: Jake Beattie // Everyday Heroes and the Race to Alaska

#413: In Jake Beattie’s words, the Race to Alaska "celebrates and illuminates life’s everyday heroes". Jake is one of those people. Aside from creating and organizing the Race to Alaska, he is also the executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center located in Port Townsend, Washington: a non-profit organization whose mission is to connect people to experiences of the sea. Through educational programs in boat construction, an annual wooden boat festival, the magazine 48º North and now a maritime academy — Jake and the center are setting a world-class example of how to translate life at sea to every day people.

#412: Jade & Ben // Sailing the Northwest Passage

#412: Jade & Ben // Sailing the Northwest Passage

#412: Ben and Jade Couturier recently completed the Northwest Passage on their Navy 44 Caprivi. They bought the boat in 2016, looking to make it their traveling home. Ben and Jade took Caprivi through an impressive rebuild while living aboard and working in the Florida Keys. In June 2022, they set sail, and have covered a lot of distance since. In May 2023, they left Antigua and aimed the bow north, quietly planning to sail to Alaska via the Northwest Passage. Emma caught up with Jade and Ben just a week after they arrived in Seward, Alaska. They're now part of a group of just under 400 boats reported to have completed this voyage.

#411: Matt Rutherford // Greenland, Grass & Groundings

#411: Matt Rutherford // Greenland, Grass & Groundings

If you’ve been around this podcast for awhile, Matt Rutherford won’t be a stranger to you. Famous for being the first person to sail solo & non-stop around the Americas, he’s now the operator/co-director of the non-profit organization, OCEAN RESEARCH PROJECT, and has his own, amazing podcast called SINGLE-HANDED SAILING. Andy met up with Matt yet again, and their conversation meanders from high-latitude sailing and crew management, to weed and psychedelics.

#410: Mark Sinclair // Retro Racing around the World

#410: Mark Sinclair // Retro Racing around the World

Mark Sinclair has sailed the seas his entire life, both professionally and as a hobby. He served for 20 years in the Royal Australian Navy, commanding three ships and navigating four, at the time when celestial was still the primary means of offshore navigation. He participated in both the 2018 and the 2022 Golden Globe Races on his Lello 34 COCONUT, and is currently racing as skipper on EXPLORER in the fully crewed Ocean Globe Race. August and Adam caught up with Captain Coconut in Southampton just days before the start of the OGR.

#408: Evgeniy “Ev” Goussev // Stowaway Escape from the USSR

#408: Evgeniy “Ev” Goussev // Stowaway Escape from the USSR

Evgeniy “Ev” Goussev was born in the far east of Russia, where he began sailing at the age of five, and was soon competing in a variety of classes while having a grand adventure on the sea with his father and friends. As the Soviet Union began to deteriorate and in-fighting became dangerous, his father decided to sail away, unsure if his eldest son was coming with the family. I sat down to talk with my good friend Ev about his sea-born childhood, his escape from the USSR and the journey that took him around the world to his life here on Bainbridge Island, where he continues to build a community focused on seamanship and sailing culture.