Episodes
In this episode, we venture to the stunning west coast of Sweden with Mia Karlsson! Listen in as we discuss the unique beauty of the Swedish archipelago, the challenges of sailing in the area, and the rich culture and history of the region. Don't miss this chance to explore one of the world's most picturesque sailing destinations with a passionate and knowledgeable local. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to continue the conversation, and to access the resources...
Published 04/20/23
In this season on the Quarterdeck Sailing Podcast, we talk to members of the 59 North team about their favorite cruising grounds, and get them to share their tips, tricks and hidden gems. First out is August, sharing his knowledge about the streets of his childhood - The Fjords and islands of the Norwegian West coast. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to continue the conversation, and to access the resources mentioned in this podcast! First two weeks free! 
Published 04/13/23
Whisker poles, telescoping poles, spinnaker poles, carbon poles, alluminium poles, fixed height poles, large poles, slim poles, pink poles - OK we are getting a bit carried away - but there really are a lot of different types of poles onboard! For many sailors, the pole is a mysterious long object that sits on the deck and does little more than stub your toe when walking up to the bow. It can be an intimidating idea to life up a large metal pole and attach it to a sail, especially when it...
Published 03/17/23
Grab a drink and a handhold, and join Mia Karlsson and Nikki Henderson for a chat on heeling! Unless you sail a multi-hull, 'life-on-a-heel' is an unavoidable fact of life. Heeling is a love//hate type thing: some think heeling contributes to the 'romance' of sailing; others find being heeled over a gut wrenching and deeply uncomfortable aspect of sailing. Through our various careers, we have all learnt the hard way about what works well and what doesn't when living on the North Face....
Published 03/09/23
CHAFE - you might be thinking that's a narrow subject area? But when you really dig into it, chafe and chafe avoidance is so critical to life at sea where everything but everything is always moving whether you want it to or not.  Chafe isn't limited to just running rigging - we also need to avoid chafe on piping, standing rigging, the deck, the interior around the moving parts like the gimbled cooker, in and around the ever vibrating engine, on our hands, clothing - it's everywhere!  So...
Published 03/02/23
Part 2 of our 'crew overboard' deep dive! Now we get to the more difficult bit - how to get someone back onboard. This is really a two part procedure: How to get the boat back to the person, and then how to get the person back on the boat. There is of course countless scenarios which alter the exact procedure, but we will endeavour to give you a basic framework which you can adapt to your boat, conditions and situation accordingly. Saying that, we will dig into the nitty gritty of what to do...
Published 02/23/23
Andy Schell and Nikki Henderson talks MOB this week! This is the first half of the discussion on the bigger topic of people falling overboard. So before we discuss how to rescue anyone, it seems sensible to first discuss how to stop them from falling in in the first place. Of course we have not got full control onboard of anyone or anything so cannot claim to have a foolproof way for ensuring the crew stay on the boat. Saying that though, there are lots of means at our disposal -->...
Published 02/09/23
The water system possibly works harder than anything else onboard - every day, every crew member will use it multiple times. And it keeps us alive too! So it's arguably the most important system to understand. We discuss how to properly maintain your water system (that's piping, tanks, filling hoses, filters, pumps and taps), how to trouble shoot common problems and then how to solve them. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of...
Published 02/02/23
We're back! Nikki and August are kicking off a new round of Quarterdeck Podcast episodes with a discussion on fuel line issues.. Inspired by resent events aboard our Swan 48 Isbjørn. Fuel is toxic, flammable and expensive, and can cause some real headaches (hah) when it gets loose. How can you fix fuel line problems, or better yet, prevent them from happening in the first place? -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two...
Published 01/26/23
Last episode of 2023! Nikki & Andy discuss ways to make sail handling and your sail inventory optimal for short-handed crews (think 2-4 sailors on a passage). We discuss which sails you should consider having in your wardrobe and how to handle them at sea. This is the final episode of 2022 - we're back in late January or early February with more new shows about seam'nship! -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two...
Published 12/29/22
Chef de cuisine (and 59 North Bosun!) Adam Browne joins the gang this week to talk galley optimization. Adam, in a prior life, worked for 15 years as a chef at chalets in the Alps, on superyachts, and indeed as 59 North mate. He, Nikki, Andy, Mia & Emma talk about how to best design a new galley, how to make the one you have work better, favorite tools in the boat's kitchen & more! -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of...
Published 12/22/22
Happy Holidays! Nikki, Mia & Emma sit down by the fire to talk about Christmas. Specifically, what they're favorite Christmas presents for sailors are, to give, and to get! -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on video on the Quarterdeck, so members can watch the show as it happens, ask questions and suggest future topics.
Published 12/22/22
Andy & Nikki dive deep on electrical systems and calculating electrical consumption. Specifically we are looking for answers to the following: How to calculate the draw of your domestic circuit onboard? How that relates to the required size of the domestic battery bank?  How to then decide what your charging regime should be? -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on...
Published 12/15/22
Nikke Henderson & Andy Schell take a deep dive on anchors & anchoring systems (aka 'ground tackle'). Which anchor should I choose? How long should the chain be? What weight should I be looking for? What material should it be made of? Is bigger always better? These are just some of the questions we discuss, with the aim of taking some of the mystery out of this selection process.  -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship....
Published 12/07/22
Nikki, Andy & Adam are live and in-person from Gosport, England, where Nikki leads a discussion on safety briefings. How to think about them, inshore versus offshore thoughts, how to make people take safety seriously (but not too seriously) and how we've done it onboard the 59 North boats, and how Nikki has leds them on racing boats, including the Clipper Round the World Race. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First...
Published 12/01/22
Andy & Emma continue on last week's rig topic by discussing how to inspect your mast and rigging. We talk about timing of rig inspections - preparation, pre-departure, and at-sea - and what to look for at each stage of the inspection process. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on video on the Quarterdeck, so members can watch the show as it happens, ask questions and...
Published 11/24/22
59 North Skipper Nikki Henderson is joined by Chief Mate Emma Garschagen to go deep on rig climbing for sailors. They discuss all the details you want to know about safely going aloft ashore and at sea, including proper equipment and techniques, what tools to carry aloft, how not to fall, how to overcome the fear of mast climbing, how to communicate with the deck crew, proper line handling and much more. Don't miss next week's episode on Rig Inspections, as a followup to this week. -- Join...
Published 11/17/22
Emma talks to 59 North Bosun Adam Browne & his wife Laura (one of our graphic designers!) about their electrified Hallberg-Rassy 312 YELLOW MATILDA. Adam & Laura repowered with a fully-electric system from Finnish-made Ocean Volt, and Emma gets the full story on why they did it and how it's working out. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on video on the...
Published 09/29/22
Andy, Lee & Adam talk props on this week's episode. We discuss how to decide what to optimize for - sailing performance, motoring performance or efficiency - and then how the decisions kind of make themselves once you know the mission. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on video on the Quarterdeck, so members can watch the show as it happens, ask questions and...
Published 09/22/22
Andy, Adam & Lee chat about the boat designs in the 2022 Golden Globe round-the-world race, which set off from France last week on Sept. 4. Though the rules are very strict in what boats qualify for the historic re-enactment type event, there remains quite a bit of variablity between them. We examine that variability, then talk about our favorite designs in the race, our favorite skippers, and who we think will win! Make sure to listen to ON THE WIND next week - Andy interviews Don...
Published 09/15/22
Andy Schell & Nikki Henderson spend an hour talking about anchoring! This episode was prompted by a Quarterdeck article asking "Are Anchor Alarms Seamanlike?", which of course led us down the rabbit hole on seamanlike anchoring in general. We touch on all aspects of anchoring from gear selection to finding the best spots and share some of our best - and sketchiest - anchoring stories and what we learned from them. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we...
Published 09/07/22
Nikki Henderson and 59 North's Bosun Adam Browne discuss the challenges of time management during an extensive refit, highlighting how we're handling it on FALKEN. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on video on the Quarterdeck, so members can watch the show as it happens, ask questions and suggest future topics.
Published 09/01/22
Andy & Nikki talk about how they got to know each other and what Nikki's new full-time role will be with 59 North! -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! -- This podcast is recorded LIVE on the Quarterdeck, so members can watch the show as it happens, ask questions and suggest future topics.
Published 08/25/22
Nikki, Andy, Mia and August are all together under the same roof in Bergen! And doing a LIVE podcast on ship's electronics and navigation systems! We are currently discussing how to set up the electronics on our new flagship FALKEN from scratch, and have many exciting things to figure out. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! -- This podcast is recorded Thursdays at 1900 UTC on the Quarterdeck, so...
Published 04/18/22
Our boats have many crucial and complex systems that needs to be inspected and maintained regularly, lest they rust or rot away. But our most important systems by far are made of meat and bone. What are the best ways to take care of your precious crew? -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! -- This podcast is recorded Thursdays at 1900 UTC on the Quarterdeck, so members can watch the show live, ask...
Published 04/11/22