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...

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. -- If you liked this conversation you'll LOVE The QUARTERDECK, 59 North's 'deep dives on the art of seamanship.' Join our...

Henry Mickle & 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...

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...

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...

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. -- If you liked this...

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...

Jens Joachim Hiorth is the Captain of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, the largest and oldest tall ship in Norway. The ship recently completed a circumnaivation around the great capes. August joined the Captain onboard the ship for a conversation on the particulars of running such a large ship on the high seas. Website: https://lehmkuhl.no -- If you liked this conversation you'll LOVE The QUARTERDECK, 59 North's 'deep dives on the art of seamanship.' Join our interactive community and get involved...

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...

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...

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.   -- If you liked this conversation you'll LOVE The QUARTERDECK, 59 North's 'deep dives on the art of seamanship.' Join our...

Captain Jan Miles returns to the podcast! Andy first sat down with Jan onboard Maryland's flagship PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II tallship 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 tallships, 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. Follow and support the...

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...

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. -- If you liked this conversation you'll LOVE The QUARTERDECK, 59 North's 'deep dives on...

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. -- If you...

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...

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...

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...

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...

#411: 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. -- If you liked this...

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...

Andy & Mia sit down to talk about the past 5-6 years of 59º North and how it's evolved from a "lifestyle" business to an "actual" business, with investors, lots of staff and high stakes! They talk about the rollercoaster of emotions, the stress, the joys and the future (which is exciting—make sure to listen to the end!) -- If you liked this conversation you'll LOVE The QUARTERDECK, 59 North's 'deep dives on the art of seamanship.' Join our interactive community and get involved in the...

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...

Peter Bruce is both a sailor and a writer of sailing. He most famously wrote the last four editions of the world-famous book HEAVY WEATHER SAILING having taken over from the original author Adlard Coles. A life-time of achievements on the water qualify him to write with such esteemed authority. He has represented Britain on seven occasions, won the Admirals Cup twice, finished the Fastnet Race of 1979, and skippered a blind crew to win a gold medal in the Southern Cross Series in Australia....

Will Sofrin is among other things a sailor, shipwright and author of the new book ALL HANDS ON DECK. The story is a maritime adventure memoir that follows a crew of misfits hired to sail an eighteenth-century warship replica 6,000 nautical miles from New England to Hollywood where the ship would become the HMS SURPRISE for the iconic film MASTER & COMMANDER. Will was 21 years old at the time, working on yachts and somewhat directionless. In this episode, Andy interviews Will to hear more...