Episodes

  • #150 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 4

    #150 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 4
    Sep 28 2023
    If you are a solo sailor, a racer, a cruiser or even a dinghy sailor.... you  should know who Sir Francis Chichester is. Basically, he is the guy that proved to the world in the 60’s that you could sail solo around the world without stops. He did stop, just once and only because he wanted to, but very soon afterwards the Sunday Times in the UK created the Golden Globe; the first ever Solo, Non-stop Around the World yacht race in 1968 and the rest is history. BUT, this was not the first of Francis Chichester’s adventures, nor his last and in this book, The Romantic Challenge, we discover Francis just a few years on from his successful circumnavigation, looking for something else in sailing that will whet his whistle in the same way the circumnav did.   What he choose to do was to challenge the concept of sailing 200Nm per a day, a big feat for even modern computer-designed cruiser. At the time in the early 70’s it was a far away goal to most sailors except those who remembered the Clipper ships . As was his style, he chose to add greatly to the difficulty of the undertaking, by laying forth a goal of completing this high daily mileage on not one or two days, but for five! He drew a 4000Nm line across the Atlantic and challenged himself to complete 1000Nm in five consecutive days. Meaning every single one of them would be required to be over 200NM.  It was a quantum leap in the psychology of performance around sailing and we are lucky that Sir Francis’s style of writing allows the reader to get under the skin of the endeavor and really see inside the mind of a master mariner at work as he wrestles with the task. If you appreciate this content, please consider supporting the podcast with a donation of $5 per month. In return you will get access to more exclusive patron-only book readings at: www.patreon.com/themariner
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    20 mins
  • #88 | Don’t Pay the Ransom, I Escaped!

    #88 | Don’t Pay the Ransom, I Escaped!
    Sep 28 2023
    It’s been a long time since I published a podcast and I finally I found after many, many attempts that the only way to get back on the horse was to just record whatever came out of my mouth for an hour and we can pick the bones out of it later. In this episode I talk about what has been happening for me in 2023, I talk about the Global Solo Challenge Race coming up in December and answer a great question that was sent to me earlier this year about being the skipper of a vessel at a young age. Regular programming will commence forthwith. If yo have any ideas about my mixing elbow for a Yanmar 3JH2-TE engine or anything else that might help get Falcon to the start of the Global Solo Challenge, please email me at csmthemariner@gmail.com If you want to access more content and show support for this podcast please join me at www.patreon.com/themariner  If you want to hear me reading sailing stories that I have chosen as being beneficial to developing seamanship skills, please look for The Mariner’s Library wherever you get your podcasts.
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • #149 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 3

    #149 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 3
    Sep 27 2023
    If you are a solo sailor, a racer, a cruiser or even a dinghy sailor.... you  should know who Sir Francis Chichester is. Basically, he is the guy that proved to the world in the 60’s that you could sail solo around the world without stops. He did stop, just once and only because he wanted to, but very soon afterwards the Sunday Times in the UK created the Golden Globe; the first ever Solo, Non-stop Around the World yacht race in 1968 and the rest is history. BUT, this was not the first of Francis Chichester’s adventures, nor his last and in this book, The Romantic Challenge, we discover Francis just a few years on from his successful circumnavigation, looking for something else in sailing that will whet his whistle in the same way the circumnav did.   What he choose to do was to challenge the concept of sailing 200Nm per a day, a big feat for even modern computer-designed cruiser. At the time in the early 70’s it was a far away goal to most sailors except those who remembered the Clipper ships . As was his style, he chose to add greatly to the difficulty of the undertaking, by laying forth a goal of completing this high daily mileage on not one or two days, but for five! He drew a 4000Nm line across the Atlantic and challenged himself to complete 1000Nm in five consecutive days. Meaning every single one of them would be required to be over 200NM.  It was a quantum leap in the psychology of performance around sailing and we are lucky that Sir Francis’s style of writing allows the reader to get under the skin of the endeavor and really see inside the mind of a master mariner at work as he wrestles with the task. If you appreciate this content, please consider supporting the podcast with a donation of $5 per month. In return you will get access to more exclusive patron-only book readings at: www.patreon.com/themariner
    Show more Show less
    15 mins
  • #148 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 2

    #148 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 2
    Sep 26 2023
    If you are a solo sailor, a racer, a cruiser or even a dinghy sailor.... you  should know who Sir Francis Chichester is. Basically, he is the guy that proved to the world in the 60’s that you could sail solo around the world without stops. He did stop, just once and only because he wanted to, but very soon afterwards the Sunday Times in the UK created the Golden Globe; the first ever Solo, Non-stop Around the World yacht race in 1968 and the rest is history. BUT, this was not the first of Francis Chichester’s adventures, nor his last and in this book, The Romantic Challenge, we discover Francis just a few years on from his successful circumnavigation, looking for something else in sailing that will whet his whistle in the same way the circumnav did.   What he choose to do was to challenge the concept of sailing 200Nm per a day, a big feat for even modern computer-designed cruiser. At the time in the early 70’s it was a far away goal to most sailors except those who remembered the Clipper ships . As was his style, he chose to add greatly to the difficulty of the undertaking, by laying forth a goal of completing this high daily mileage on not one or two days, but for five! He drew a 4000Nm line across the Atlantic and challenged himself to complete 1000Nm in five consecutive days. Meaning every single one of them would be required to be over 200NM.  It was a quantum leap in the psychology of performance around sailing and we are lucky that Sir Francis’s style of writing allows the reader to get under the skin of the endeavor and really see inside the mind of a master mariner at work as he wrestles with the task. If you appreciate this content, please consider supporting the podcast with a donation of $5 per month. In return you will get access to more exclusive patron-only book readings at: www.patreon.com/themariner
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    17 mins
  • #147 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 1

    #147 | The Romantic Challenge | Sir Francis Chichester | Part 1
    Sep 25 2023
    As I am a sailor, as I live in Nova Scotia, and as I am an Eric Hiscock fanboy, any book that can combine the first two and receive a glowing foreword from the third, has got to be OK by me.  As is always the way when discovering the most amazing sailing book you have ever read, I am not sure where it came from- but it’s either a gem from the original Mariner’s Library as it was donated to me; OR is one of the many sailing books I am now vacuuming up from all the marina and club house launderettes I visit, as I succumb to the feeling of responsibility to  bolster the variety and depth of the Mariner’s Library while it’s in my charge! Either way, it appeared on my desk and one look at the words written by Eric Hiscock and I was hooked!  As I read I discovered a wonderful narrator with a keen eye for not only the detail of life at sea but an ability to express what it FEELS like to be at sea.  The author’s description of waiting out gales at sea-anchor in their tiny boat left me with clammy hands, as a hundred similar personal experiences were conjured to mind. The fact that I had not ever heard of this boat, the authors or their incredible voyage further underlines how important it is to breathe new life into these archives of incredible sailing experiences and learning by converting these lost tomes into publicly accessible podcasts.  If you agree please consider supporting the podcast with a donation of $5 per month. In return you will get access to more exclusive patron-only book readings. www.patreon.com/themariner
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    19 mins
  • #146 | The Wind Calls the Tune | S. Smith & C. Violet | Part 16

    #146 | The Wind Calls the Tune | S. Smith & C. Violet | Part 16
    Sep 19 2023
    As I am a sailor, as I live in Nova Scotia, and as I am an Eric Hiscock fanboy, any book that can combine the first two and receive a glowing foreword from the third, has got to be OK by me.  As is always the way when discovering the most amazing sailing book you have ever read, I am not sure where it came from- but it’s either a gem from the original Mariner’s Library as it was donated to me; OR is one of the many sailing books I am now vacuuming up from all the marina and club house launderettes I visit, as I succumb to the feeling of responsibility to  bolster the variety and depth of the Mariner’s Library while it’s in my charge! Either way, it appeared on my desk and one look at the words written by Eric Hiscock and I was hooked!  As I read I discovered a wonderful narrator with a keen eye for not only the detail of life at sea but an ability to express what it FEELS like to be at sea.  The author’s description of waiting out gales at sea-anchor in their tiny boat left me with clammy hands, as a hundred similar personal experiences were conjured to mind. The fact that I had not ever heard of this boat, the authors or their incredible voyage further underlines how important it is to breathe new life into these archives of incredible sailing experiences and learning by converting these lost tomes into publicly accessible podcasts.  If you agree please consider supporting the podcast with a donation of $5 per month. In return you will get access to more exclusive patron-only book readings. www.patreon.com/themariner
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    21 mins
  • #145 | The Wind Calls the Tune | S. Smith & C. Violet | Part 15

    #145 | The Wind Calls the Tune | S. Smith & C. Violet | Part 15
    Sep 18 2023
    As I am a sailor, as I live in Nova Scotia, and as I am an Eric Hiscock fanboy, any book that can combine the first two and receive a glowing foreword from the third, has got to be OK by me.  As is always the way when discovering the most amazing sailing book you have ever read, I am not sure where it came from- but it’s either a gem from the original Mariner’s Library as it was donated to me; OR is one of the many sailing books I am now vacuuming up from all the marina and club house launderettes I visit, as I succumb to the feeling of responsibility to  bolster the variety and depth of the Mariner’s Library while it’s in my charge! Either way, it appeared on my desk and one look at the words written by Eric Hiscock and I was hooked!  As I read I discovered a wonderful narrator with a keen eye for not only the detail of life at sea but an ability to express what it FEELS like to be at sea.  The author’s description of waiting out gales at sea-anchor in their tiny boat left me with clammy hands, as a hundred similar personal experiences were conjured to mind. The fact that I had not ever heard of this boat, the authors or their incredible voyage further underlines how important it is to breathe new life into these archives of incredible sailing experiences and learning by converting these lost tomes into publicly accessible podcasts.  If you agree please consider supporting the podcast with a donation of $5 per month. In return you will get access to more exclusive patron-only book readings. www.patreon.com/themariner
    Show more Show less
    15 mins
  • #144 | The Wind Calls the Tune | S. Smith & C. Violet | Part 14

    #144 | The Wind Calls the Tune | S. Smith & C. Violet | Part 14
    Sep 15 2023
    As I am a sailor, as I live in Nova Scotia, and as I am an Eric Hiscock fanboy, any book that can combine the first two and receive a glowing foreword from the third, has got to be OK by me.  As is always the way when discovering the most amazing sailing book you have ever read, I am not sure where it came from- but it’s either a gem from the original Mariner’s Library as it was donated to me; OR is one of the many sailing books I am now vacuuming up from all the marina and club house launderettes I visit, as I succumb to the feeling of responsibility to  bolster the variety and depth of the Mariner’s Library while it’s in my charge! Either way, it appeared on my desk and one look at the words written by Eric Hiscock and I was hooked!  As I read I discovered a wonderful narrator with a keen eye for not only the detail of life at sea but an ability to express what it FEELS like to be at sea.  The author’s description of waiting out gales at sea-anchor in their tiny boat left me with clammy hands, as a hundred similar personal experiences were conjured to mind. The fact that I had not ever heard of this boat, the authors or their incredible voyage further underlines how important it is to breathe new life into these archives of incredible sailing experiences and learning by converting these lost tomes into publicly accessible podcasts.  If you agree please consider supporting the podcast with a donation of $5 per month. In return you will get access to more exclusive patron-only book readings. www.patreon.com/themariner
    Show more Show less
    16 mins