Nautical Knowledge and Nonsense

In September 2022 Ali LaBonte swam the Catalina Channel in California.  This was a long-term dream and goal of hers.  In the interview she explains in detail how she was able to accomplish this.  I learned a lot about these types of endurance swims from her and her swim in particular.  I am very grateful that she sat down to chat with me, especially since we had only met the night before the interview! 

Intro/Ending Music: Many tha...

My apologies for not publishing in a while; life has been insanely busy.  Jim Peacock is a hippie fisherman who has some great stories to share (storms, close calls, the hippie and fishing life).  He also has been a major part of the Pacific Northwest wooden boat world, and you will hear my shock and excitement in the interview as I learn that I am actually talking to someone who helped create a wooden boat culture that has lasted ...

Sometimes you meet people with whom you have an instant rapport.  That is how it felt interviewing Bill Larsen in this episode.  Bill was a Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine Chief and the whole time I spoke to him it felt like talking to an old shipmate.  I learned a lot during the interview about subs, the mentality of submariners, life under the water, and so much more.  I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did.

Intro/E...

Pelayo and I met while sailing and working on the world's largest Viking ship the "Draken".  Pelayo is an incredibly intelligent, funny and talented human being, and I am sure the joy we had in getting caught up came out in our conversation.  Our chat took us from our meeting in Norway, to the time he survived a demasting aboard the Draken, to fun times on the Hawaiian Chieftain when we sailed together on the west coast of the US. ...

This is the first episode where I get to really talk about what life was like during Covid for many of our sailors in the US Navy.  It's very interesting hearing about all the difficulties and problems faced by Kyle while quarantined on his ship, and how they were dealt with.  My apologies for not releasing this sooner, but one of the topics brought up in the interview was the tragic shooting down of Iranian Flight 655 in the 80s. ...

In this episode I talk about "backseat captaining" and why I can't stand it.  I go through numerous reasons why I think it's bad, and give suggestions on better ways to critique or help other captains and mariners out there.  I go through my personal thoughts on how best to navigate The Rules of the Road, as well as my thoughts on what went wrong and led up to the Elbe 5 colliding with a container ship (Pictured in the cover art)

V...

Jordan Smith is a semi-professional racer and a tallship captain.  Our conversation ranges all over the place, but actually starts with COVID (which might be a first for my interviews, for I think it's only been mentioned in passing before).  We also talk sailing, leadership, tallships and history.  Jordan mentions a historical fiction novel he is working on, so be on the look-out for that in the future!  Lastly, there are definite...

Robert Armer is the first person I have interviewed who has dedicated his adult life to a career in the US Navy. He is a gifted story teller and has had first hand experience with many changes in the US Navy over the past few decades.  He got to see the ships transition from all-male crews to mixed gender crews, and he was also present when the Navy went from peacetime to wartime during the post 9-11 years.  We only scratch the sur...

Steve Bennet is a wonderful person who followed my ship and crew for a few months and quickly became a family friend.  He has had absolutely incredible life adventures!  In this interview we mostly focus on his first and second years working on boats in Alaska, but we also range all over the place in our stories.  In the end we do discuss some serious medical information that every grown man (and every woman with a stubborn man) sh...

In this episode I got to talk to Brandon F.  Brandon makes historical Youtube videos that have received millions of views!  Several of them also have nautical themes and so we discuss that as well as possible future maritime-related videos.  We also go on a few funny historical rants, and just in general have a great conversation!  He absolutely did not have to do this interview (especially as he was just a few hours from catching ...

In this very fun and funny interview with my old shipmate Liz Dal Bon (featured in the Valentines Day Special, Episode 17) we sit down and have a delightful clash of cultures in a way that only two old shipmates can.  We delve into her back ground and what got her into boats, and we have some really great story swapping back and forth.  We go deep covering boat safety, history, and philosophy, but we also have fun covering such non...

Jamie was featured in the "Valentines Day Special" (Episode 17), where he got poked fun of quite a bit and took it very well.  In this episode we get into Jamie's unique upbringing sailing around the world on a "catamaran" (Actually, technically a "double canoe").  We also get into our experiences on the viking ship the Sea Stallion, and some of the fun and craziness that ensued there.  You will probably notice that Jamie and I are...

My first celebrity interview!  Steven Ladd was nice enough to let me interview him about the two books he wrote.  They are about the incredible adventures he as been on.  One was his solo voyage for 3 years on a 12 foot boat of his own design and making.  The other was with him and his now wife and new born baby on an insanely small boat.  Steven pays me a huge complement in this interview, because I am apparently the only person t...

Such an awesome interview!  So much fun and such natural back and forth sailor banter!  We talk about the crazy roleplaying that happens on boats, the illegal stealing and subsequent recovery of his boat "Lumpy Space Princess", as well as the US Army Corps of Engineers, Japanese gift-giving culture, tallship pranks, an epic west coast storm which he and his crew survived and more.

Intro/Ending Music: Many thanks to Riggy Rackin for...

Before the sinking of the Titanic the most well-known tragedy at sea was about the whaling ship Essex.  If you have never heard of this story then you must listen to this episode, and if you have heard the story, I would still recommend you listen to this episode.  In it I give you my perspective as a sailor and captain of tallships, and I hope it will give people who are knowledgeable of the events some new ideas and information t...

An old friend and incredible character, Christian and I get caught up and have a very candid conversation about surfing, big waves, sharks, and psychedelic drugs.  Also, Christian worked at the night club in Bali that was the site of the worst terrorist attack in Australian history, and is very open about his perspective there.

Intro/Ending Music: Many thanks to Riggy Rackin for allowing the use of music from his Nauticas album. Th...

Barry King sails the engineless Maine Windjammer Schooner the "Mary Day".  A former captain of mine and very influential person in my tallship career, Barry and I talk about what led him to the Mary Day, finding one's "home" or "path" in life, some leadership and boat lessons that can save your life, and what makes the Maine Windjammer fleet so incredibly unique in the world.  Hopefully by the end you will want to be packing your b...

I got to sit down with two other captains (Tom Rogers and Ken Lazarus) to talk all about the Sea Scouts program in Tacoma WA.  Tom was the star of the show with over 60 years experience working with the Sea Scouts.  We talk all about the program and the life-long impact it has on so many.  We also talk about "running a fathom line" for navigation, how to memorize the signal flags and their meaning (you will never in a million years...