Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell

Ollie Bergquist recently sailed his Contessa 32 from California to Hawaii solo and plans to continue on around the world. We talk about Hawaii, arriving at a city after a long passage alone, learning to sail, preparing for the journey, learning on a Laser, YouTube favorites, books, the Contessa 32, the Dufour Arpege, the 1979 Fastnet, Fiji, California, sailing offshore for the first time, sailing from British Columbia to California, learning the Hydrovane, developing the confidence to pull the trigger and buy a boat and take her on a long journey as a novice, sleeping while offshore, autopilots, electronics, safety, seasickness, loneliness and solitude, Starlink, making videos during a passage, Matt Rutherford and his coming attempt to cirumnavigate the Arctic, the cold, fishing, taking on water, dolphins, catching a buoy on the Hydrovane, expectations, making landfall, heaving-to, destinations, dream boat, perfect moments offshore, freedom, and more. Links and photos are on the podcast website Support the show through Patreon List or shop sailboats at Sailboatsforsale.com

Jillian Feberwee, Nick Tait, William Edelman, and Michael Youngling sailed with Tapio Lehtinen aboard Galiana, his 1972 Swan 55 yawl from Antigua to Nassau, The Bahamas. We talk about what everyone hoped to get out of the passage, Galiana and other sailboats, sailing with and learning from Tapio, highlights of the passage, fishing, hand steering, seasickness and getting over it, sailing downwind at 9 knots, preparing for the trip in Antigua, cooking in the galley, difficult situations, comparing Galiana to other boats, sails, the Swan's companionway, sail trim, swimming in deep water, reefing, working with and getting along with a crew, a Spanish ghost, not having cell service, goals, singlehanding, dream boat, wildlife, and more. Photos and links are on the podcast shownotes page Support the show through Patreon If you are interested in sailing on Galiana in her upcoming passages, email paulwtrammell at hotmail.com and put sailing in the subject line

Ertan Beskardes is a lifelong sailor entered in the 2026 Golden Gobe Race. He recently completed the Mini Globe Race, in which he circumnavigated in a 19' Class Globe 5.80 sailboat. He started both the 2018 and 2022 Golden Globe Races, but retired in each. His GGR boat is a Rustler 36, formerly Matmut, Jean Luc Van Den Heede's winning boat form the 2018 GGR. He also sails a Jenneau Sun Odyssey 33. We talk about the difficulty of being suddenly disconnected from all communication with family in the Golden Globe Race, learing through experience, an electrical fire, the Mini Globe Race, Starlink, beautiful moments, getting into harbors with inadequate motors, the new one-way broadcast-only Starlink in the coming GGR, cameraderie in the MGR, buying Matmut, propellers, windvanes, single-line reefing, his qualifying passage, a transmission coupling problem, sailing by compass vs chartplotter, heavy weather, running with a storm under bare poles, comparing the MGR and the GGR, what makes the suffering worthwhile, his love for boats unsuitable for the job, and more. Photos and links are on the podcast shownotes page support the show through Patreon

In this episode, I talk about Tapio Lehtinen's recent Bahamas trip and lessons we can take from it, using Google Maps to find coordinates of anchorages or dive spots and transfering them to Navionics, I read select passages from Bernard Moitessier's "A Sea Vagabond's World" and discuss them, including why it is advantageous to learn to sail in a dinghy, learning to sail offshore, anchoring, chain vs rope, snubbers, secondary anchors, things to do before heading out to sea, getting to know your boat, making landfall, sailing without a schedule, weighing anchor, using clouds to forecast weather, hurricanes and signs they are coming, maneuvering out of a hurricane and avoiding the eye, heaving-to, a GGR announcement, and how I broke my foot. Links are on the podcast shownotes page Support the show through Patreon

Will Sofrin is a lifelong sailor and the author of the book "USCGC Eagle: The Legacy of America's Tall Ship." The book tells the story of a German naval training ship seized at the end of World War II and transformed into the U.S. Coast Guard's flagship, training generations of officers. Rather than a conventional history, it is told through firsthand accounts from those who sailed her, with each chapter capturing a different decade of the ship's life, from her dramatic 1946 delivery to America, to Cold War voyages behind the Iron Curtain, to surviving a near-loss in a hurricane. He is also the author of the book "All Hands on Deck," a memoir about sailing the tall ship Rose 5,000 miles from Rhode Island to California so she could become HMS Surprise in the feature film Master and Commander. We talk about sailing a J-70, his book all hands on deck, sailing a tall ship, what all the crew did, maneuvering a tall ship, sails on a tall ship, climbing the mast of a tall ship, tall-ship sailors of old, the book "Two Years Before the Mast," sailing the tall ship Rose from Rhode Island to California for the movie Master and Commander, chain of command on a tall ship, a force 12 storm, going aloft in the storm, freeclimbing rigs, crew dynamics on Rose, sailing upwind in a tall ship, the motion of the boat, ballast on a tall ship, the ship's carpenter, the daily routine, tools, varnishing exterior teak on a sailboat - tips and best practice, his new book "USCG Eagle: The Legacy of America's Tall Ship," Will's dream boat, and more. Photos and links are on the podcast shownotes page Support the show on Patreon