Alex Laline is a lifelong sailor and one of our full-time staff at 59º North. Growing up in a multinational family, he sailed dinghies as a kid in the UK, Spain and Indonesia, then got inspired to sail around the world when he saw an ad for the Clipper Round the World Race. As a teenager he saved all his money and joined Clipper as a paying crewmember, completing a circumnavigation and later going on to work as a mate and now skipper for them as well, under the guidance of Clipper founder Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. I talked to Alex about his career onboard FALKEN in Barbados.

Sailing was never a part of Lutz Kohne’s life growing up — it hit him square in the face as an adult, and completely changed his trajectory. He has since worked as a professional skipper, as Race Director for the OGR and the GGR, and he is now preparing to set sail himself, around the world, solo, retro and unassisted as a participant in the Golden Globe Race 2026.

Henry Mickel & Bayley Richardson are self-described "Mates from the Land Down Under", cruising around the world in an old Beneteau. These two twenty-something friends made a pact, worked their asses off, saved their money, bought a boat and are living the dream — figuring it out as they go, but with knowledge and experience earned from working professionally offshore in Australia's oil industry. I spoke to them onboard FALKEN on anchor in Barbados about the wild highs and scary lows of their adventure so far in their mission to sail REVELRY home to Australia.

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.

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.

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.