Salty Podcast #49 | Sailing Solo Around the World: Olivia Wyatt’s Golden Globe Race Journey 🌍⛵ - Salty Podcast: Sailing

Episode Transcript
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Capn Tinsley (00:02):
Imagine this sailing solo for eight months or
so nonstop around the world inthe Southern Ocean with no GPS,
no motor, no satellite, no cellphone and no boat Mechanics no
boat mechanics.
Tonight we venture into a taleof grit, guts and timeless
seamanship, as I welcome anext-level guest to the Salty

(00:24):
Podcast.
She's gearing up for the mostepic retro sailing challenge of
them all the 2026 Golden GlobeRace.
No modern tech, just a sailboat, the unforgiving ocean and
navigation tools.
Christopher Columbus would haverecognized Her courage,
determination and sheer passionfor sailing are enough to make
you question why you evercomplained about losing Wi-Fi.

(00:45):
So grab your favorite beveragefor this standout chat about her
journey, her prep and whatmotivates her to tackle one of
the toughest sailing races onthe planet.
But first here's the deal.
Please hit all the buttons likeshare, subscribe and drop your
questions in the live chat soolivia can respond during the
podcast.
I'm Captain Tinsley.
This is the Salty Podcast,episode 49.

(01:08):
Please help me.
Welcome, olivia Wyatt.
I messed up on the intro.
The intro was great.
What do you mean?
Okay, good, you didn't notice.
That's fine with me.
How are you doing?

Olivia Wyatt (01:23):
I'm doing well.
I'm in Thailand getting theboat refit for the race.

Now, when does that boat?
When does the race start?

It's like September or something September
2026.

Okay, Wow, so you're there.
This is going to take.
You're going to be there untilSeptember.

No, the race starts in Europe, so I've got to
get the boat ready and get overthere.
Um, I have all of the sea milesthat I need for the race, but I
need to do, um, I need to dosome under celestial navigation,
um, so that's the kind of likethe last qualifying thing I need

(02:06):
to do.

Oh, so you have to qualify for that for the
celestial navigation.

Well, you have to have a certain number of
offshore miles on the boat thatyou're racing, and I've sailed
my boat all the way fromCalifornia to Thailand.
The majority of those mileswere sailed solo.
So I have about 16,000 nauticalmiles with the boat I'll be
racing on and I think 14,000 ofthose miles were sailed solo.

Wow, Okay, and so yeah, one of my questions is
about the celestial navigation.
But why don't we start with?
Why this race?

I mean, okay, um, I I'm not.
I've I've raced because youknow, racing is a way to to sail
and meet other sailors, but I'mnot really a big racer.
Um, so, for me, I'm not doingthis race for the race.
Um, I'm approaching it like apilgrimage or a vision quest.

(03:09):
Um, I, I like the challenge ofit.
I'll start off I I heard aboutthe race and then I read more
about it and found out that myboat was already perfect for it,
um, that I had the miles that Ineeded for it and that you
couldn't use modern technology.
And that was a big turn on forme, that last bit.

(03:29):
And then I started talking topeople who had been in the
previous race, and I talked toDon McIntyre, I talked to
Kirsten and I talked to ElliotSmith and you know, kind of told
them why I was nervous, youknow why I was excited about it,
why I was nervous about it, andthey encouraged me that I, that
I should go for it, and as wellas Don McIntyre, who founded

(03:54):
the race.
And then, for a month straight,I dreamt that I was in the race
, and I'm talking every time.
I went to sleep and woke up.
I was in the race in my sleepand every time I woke up I had
such an elevated feeling.
You know, it was so sublimethat experience in my dreams

(04:15):
that it was an indicator to methat this was the next step I
was to take in life.
I'm really guided by my dreams,so I try to listen.
I believe in that too.
I think.
Yeah, well, I was going to say.
One other thing is that when myfirst solo crossing was from

(04:36):
California to Hawaii and thatwas 23 days, and on that
crossing I only had 200 Watts ofsolar no-transcript.

(05:08):
But that voyage had such abigger impact on me, it was more
transformative than any of myother ones.
And it was due to the lack oftechnology, it was due to that
deep connection I had to gainwith nature to to make to make
it to my destination and um.

(05:29):
But I'll never do that unlessI'm forced to.
You know, I'll never choose togo all instruments off.
So that's what I liked aboutthis race is that I have, I have
to do it without instrument,you know.

So you were able to turn on your cause.
You know, Hawaii is just alittle speck in in the ocean, so
are you able to turn it on.
Turn on your engine every oncein a while and make sure you're
on track of your chart clutter.

No, I couldn't turn on the engine.
I lost the use of my engine.
Uh, week one together, okay,all together.
So I I only had with the 200watts of solar, you know, I had
to, um, because I left in august, which is, you know, the 200
watts of solar.
I had to because I left inAugust, which is the beginning
of hurricane season, so I didn'thave a lot of bright, sunny
days, which is why I couldn'tkeep the instruments on.

(06:16):
I didn't have enough power torun it.
So it was like no chart plotter, no fridge, no wind instruments
, no speed, nothing.

So in this rate, were you able to turn it on
every once in a while and makesure?

you're on track Every once in a while.

Okay, and of course, in this case it'll be
different.
You're not allowed to do that,yeah, yeah.
So Kirsten told me you have atank full of gas or diesel, but
they'll be measuring it to makesure that.

You don't use too much yeah, you can only use.
Is it 15 liters?

I'll have to go back and look at the the rules
okay, yeah, and that's so justto charge batteries if you need
it right, or just to make surethat it's working, or something
yeah, I I don't know when.

I mean I don't know when people are choosing to
to use it.
I mean I lost the use of myengine, because it's really that
I'm a terrible mechanic thatI've lost, you know.
But I lost my engine, also theuse of it, um between French
Polynesia and Fiji and no sale,just sailed the whole way and
when there's no wind, drop thesails and wait.

And um, well, the good thing is there's not a lot
that can break when you don'thave all that technology right.
That's true, yeah, you, justyou just have to make sure the
rigging's going and the uh areyou going to use what is it?
Um, not the autopilot, but theoh, I have a hydrovane wind vane
?

yeah, yeah, I have .
Um, I've been using a wind vane, so I never use my autopilot,
so you're already familiar withthat.

Yes, I love the wind vane, it's amazing okay, so
, um, for those that don't know,2026 globe, golden Globe Race.
The history is which.
There's lots of good videos onthe history, and everything
happened in 1968.
It was so controversial thatthey decided not to have it
anymore and they didn't have ituntil 2018.

Right, and then 2022 or something like that.
Well, it kind of turned intothe Vendee Globe, the Golden
Globe, like I mean.
That's my understanding, isthat it is.

Is that it morphed into, like the higher
technology racing, but, um, johnMcIntyre took it back to its
original format okay, yeah,because it was very
controversial at the timebecause people in 1968, they
weren't even sure it could bedone, you know someone
circumnavigate, you know, withthe technology of the time, um,

(08:54):
with no assistance, you know nosleep or very little sleep.
But I understand, you guys dosleep, um, I, I do cross, make
smaller crossings and I a nap.

but the person said she went downstairs, you
know, went down and and she took, she went to sleep, no problem,
yeah yeah I mean because I'vebeen the sleep thing I'm used to
, because I've been sailing,like, uh, you know it's, it's
when you're in shipping lanesand when you're near shore you
have to be more alert, right, um, and you sleep in, or I sleep

(09:31):
in 20 minute segments and, um,that wears on you after time,
like you know you're doing thatfor two months, it's really
right wears you down, which Ihad to do that all through
indones and I had a big accidentbecause of it.
I had some poor decision making, yeah, but when you're offshore

(09:57):
and there's nothing else around, you, just sleep when you're
tired, if the conditions allow.

Yeah, so do you sleep in the cockpit or do you
go down into the conditionsallow?
Yeah, so I.
Do you sleep in the cockpit ordo you go down into the?

Depends.
Um, usually I like to be downin the cabin, but, um, if I'm in
shipping lanes or if I'm nearshore, I'll generally sleep in
the cockpit.
Um, unless it's pretty roughout, then I'll go down.

Okay, so tell you mentioned you sailed from
California to Thailand.
How did that go?

Well, so I went first California to Hawaii,
Hawaii to French Polynesia,French Polynesia to Fiji, Fiji
to Vanuatu, Vanuatu to Solomon,Solomon to Papua New Guinea,
Papua New Guinea to Indonesia.
Indonesia to Malaysia, Malaysia, Thailand, Wow.

And how long did that take?

Well, I work as I go, or I've been working as I go
, and also I started duringCOVID or just before COVID, so I
had to kind of stop, go backhome work, or you know, stop
wait for countries to openthings like this.

Okay, yeah, I knew some other people that they had
to wait to go from Hawaii to.
Was it French Polynesia?
They weren't open.
Was it French Polynesia?
They?

weren't open.
Yes, I had to wait from Hawaii,but as soon as I saw that it
opened, I just went, withouteven emailing anybody in the
government.
I got there and they were likewhat?
Oh, really.

Can that be?

done, that can be done.
I don't think it was right,french Polynesia is very by the
book are they?
So how did?

you manage it.
Did you have any grease, anypalms or anything?

no, I just smiled and prayed they didn't put me in
jail.

No, so here's a comment for you here.
Um, this is from hayden andradine.
They're're in the Caribbeanright now.
They were on two weeks ago, orwas it last week?
Whoops, two weeks ago You'rebrave, amazing learned to tear
down your fuel system, put itback together and get the engine
started.
A great skill to learn, heknows how to do all that stuff.

Well, now, I mean now, at this stage, I can do my,
I can fix my engine, but it was, you know, I've learned, I
learned as I as I went right.
So when I, when I, when I first, I mean I'll tell you this is
stupid and I don't think anybodyshould do it.
But when I left for Hawaii, Ididn't even really know how to
like anchor solo or catch amorning solo.

(12:40):
I mean everything.
I'm kind of learning as I go.
I, I'm a little bit reckless insome ways.
I think I don't know.

I love it.
I love it.
There's a lot of people thatnever leave the dock, so I think
it's great.
Yeah, so okay.
Transition to using traditionalnavigation tools like a sextant
.
How much have you done thathave?
Where are you with it?

So I did the um celestial navigation through the
ASA.
Um, but you know that's a thingif you're not doing it every
day, it's just going to go rightout your head, right?
So, um, I, that was the firstthing I asked the other racers
and, and Kirsten was like, don'tworry about it, I didn't know

(13:29):
how to do it.
Um, you know, I took a courseafter I signed up for the race.
Elliot learned how to do itwhile crossing the Atlantic to
get to the start of the race.
Um, so I, I, they, they put meat ease.
I've been taking an onlinecourse through the Northeast
Maritime Institute.
They're amazing because they'vesponsored me by giving me all

(13:52):
the training that is requiredfor the race, like my medical,
offshore safety at sea, thingslike that, and so I've been
doing it online.
But I am going to take anin-person course as well, just
because, um, I learn better thatway.
And then, of course, I will sailum 2000 nautical miles under

(14:13):
celestial before the start ofthe race.
Is that the requirement is?
Now?
He upped it to 4,000 solo mileson the boat that you're racing,
plus, I think, another 2000miles on the boat, but can have

(14:34):
crew, I think?
I'm not sure, because I wasn'tpaying attention to the mileage
because I already had it.
I need to sail with celestialand so I'm just going to do 2000
just, and also I'm modifyingthe boat at the moment and I
need to just make sureeverything I've done is is
pretty solid.
So I think 2000, it's a goodnumber anyway.

So you're taking off all your you know, like your
chart plotter and all that, orare you?

waiting to do that .
I am waiting on the instrumentso you can keep things um on
board, but you have todisconnect it and and um put it
in a sealed box like you cankeep.
You can have an autopilot onboard, but but it can't be
connected.
It has to be sealed so they cancheck and see.
Did you use that?

(15:21):
okay, so it goes in a sealed boxlike yeah, you see, you use,
you seal it um, like the cablesand everything.
You seal it up so they can seeif you used it um.
But that's I mean, I'llprobably and he don recommends,
yeah, I keep it on there in casethere is an emergency and you
know you have to get out of therace and all that.

So Bruce asked a question Does US Power Squadron
offer a celestial navigationcourse?

Oh, I don't know, but let me put that, let me
write that down.

Yeah, good question.
I interviewed a guy here on thepodcast several months ago and
he's not too far from here, andI plan to take an in-person
class too.
I just learn better, like somepeople do, captain's school and
everything I prefer in-person,especially learning chart

(16:18):
plotting and everything.
I don't see how people learnthat online.

I don't see how people would learn that online.
Well, all the other stuff I didlike for my captain's license,
I did it online and then justwent in person to the test
taking and that was okay.
You're smart.
But no no, I mean, I make youshould see, like the pile of
note cards I make to study, Wow,but this was celestial.

(16:45):
The online course is amazing.
I just want to, I just yeah, Iwant to do yeah.

Okay, so I think this would be a good time to
bring up that you are doing.
You're our fundraising for this, yes, and you.
You have a little bit ways togo, so what is.
I tried to pull up that linkthat was on your.
Let me go ahead.
It didn't work for me, but youknow I've got all these

(17:13):
protectors on my computer Ithink it was my phone, though,
so this is how you find Olivia.
This is on Instagram atwilderness of waves, and there
is a link there, and hopefullyit's working.

And it was just me .
Maybe link to to my.
Can you link to my website,wilderness of wavescom, and if
you go to, there's a ggr sectionand I've got um, my, you know,
my gofundme people can get a taxbreak too.
I have.
I'll be making a film of thisvoyage.
Um, right, so I'm rigging theboat with cameras that can be

(17:47):
turned on with the press of abutton so I can get all the
action from multiple angles.
Um, and so, through thearkansas cinema society, people
can get um a tax deduction forfor their donations.

Here we go Wilternisofwagecom, there's a
GGR link.

There's a GGR section in the menu.
Just go to GGR 2026.
Then you talk about the race.
If you scroll down, you can seeall the links.

When does this goal have to be met?
I'm trying to help you get somemoney here.

Yes, no um so I'm fundraising as I go, I'm I'm
also getting um, you know,writing to companies and getting
in kind um sponsorshipdonations, which, which is great
, and I'll be able to announceall of those sponsors soon.
But yeah, I mean I could use.

(18:53):
You know, I'm at a criticalstage right now with refitting
the boat and funding isnecessary to get to the start
line.

Should we mention the amount to give people a
sense of urgency?

No, I don't know, I listed on there.
I also have my sponsorship deckis on the website through the
link, and so you can see, youknow if you contribute what you
can get back.
Um, you know if you contributewhat you can get back.
I can put names on the side ofthe hole.
I can put logos on the sales,um so, and the race has a high

(19:31):
roi, um so, yeah, I have allthat information and a
sponsorship deck on the okay,return on investment huh, yeah,
awesome okay.

Um, all right.
Yeah, awesome Okay, all right,okay, what kind of boat is
Juniper?
And what makes it the rightchoice for this journey full

(20:09):
keel.

She's got a cutter rig um.
She was designed um by bobperry's apprentice, so he
designed all the other pandasbut his apprentice, gary grant,
designed um the 34 foot panda.
Um, so it's very similar to all.
Of, uh, you know, like the baba, I would say the baba is the
closest sibling.
Okay, so it's a full kill.

That's cool we got .
That's what an island packet is.

That's what I have yeah, oh, I love the island
packets.

Yeah, our boats are very similar oh okay, yeah,
so hayden, who is, uh, sb allenspirit, this guy, he's a boat
broker and an island pack.
He's on an island pack at 35.
He might be familiar with thatkind of boat.
So, hayden, chime in if you arethe guy that's in the Caribbean
.

Cool.
So it's a Tashing Panda 34 footand the Tashing is the name of
the boat yard where my boat wasbuilt.

Okay, all right, and I'm the third owner.
And what year is it?
84, 85.
Sorry, it has to be prior to 88, right.

It has to be designed prior to 86 or 88.
Sorry, I can't remember all thethings.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I just know I put the bill.
Yeah, yeah or 88.

Sorry, I can't remember all the things, I just
know I've hit the bell.

Yeah.
So Bruce Williams says it's atank, yeah, which is okay, and
Hayden says it's a great yacht.
Thank, you.
Hayden.
Thank you, bruce, keep themcoming.
We want more questions, morewords of encouragement,
encouragement, whatever you wantto send us, um, all right, so

(21:48):
juniper is a 34 foot uh to shingpanda with a full keel and uh,
how long have you had this boat?

I bought her 2017 or 18, I can't remember but um,
I set sail to Hawaii in 2019.
And prior to that sale, so youknow, I had to get the boat
ready for single handed sailingand practice.
You know, I'd never I'd beenoffshore as crew, but you know

(22:18):
I'd never sailed a cutter rig.
So people always, always ask,how did you prepare to cross the
ocean?
And I like to share that.
Um, I I took friends with me,uh, during small craft
advisories and I went offshorewhen it was blowing.
You know, I mean, I went umsailing around California when
it was blowing in the 30s andsaw how the boat, you know,

(22:42):
handled and learned that way.
And then the.
The only solo sailing on thatboat I had done prior to sailing
to Hawaii was I sailed bymyself to Catalina Island, which
is only like 36 nautical miles.
So I'd never been alone at seaat night until I set sail for
Hawaii and um.

I love this.
I love this about you.

But one thing I did do was I did an overnight
sail with there's a man who usedto design boat design and build
boats for America's Cup, and hecame, he helped me install some
of the systems I needed.
And he helped, he heard what Iwas doing, was in San Diego and
kind of helped train me for thatcrossing.

(23:27):
And he went on an overnight sailwith me and he didn't touch
anything but he took notes andhe said that wasn't safe, how
you reefed or if you did thiswrong, you know, and he just he
never touched anything but hejust made notes and told me how
I could be do things moreeffectively and more safely.
And then he just made notes andtold me how I could be do
things more effectively and moresafely.
And then, um, he just kind ofset up my boat Uh, what is the?

(23:51):
The trans pack?
He, he looked at the rules ofthe trans pack and he set up my
boat.
You know, like two knives inthe cockpit, this much water,
and we, we just set up my boatexactly how they would set it up
for the trans pack.
Wow, um, and so that was areally that was a great big
blessing.
I mean, he just you know thatwas just from the goodness of

(24:11):
his heart that he worked with meto prepare me.

Wow, that's very fortunate.
Hayden says how are you sobrave off for offshore?
Does anything scare you All thetime?

I'm scared all the time, but I think I really lean
into my faith.
Um, yeah, I just, she's aSouthern gal, everyone.

Southern gal, Arkansas, that's right Roll tide
.
Roger McClure says uh, how doyou handle provisioning for
eight months?
Do you carry all yeah?

Speaker 3 (24:50):
you have to.

Nobody can give you anything, even when you do
your check-ins, right, that'sright, and I've never
provisioned for that long.

So this will be an interesting thing to do, but
you know, I think I'll be eatinglike an astronaut, just
freeze-dried.
I'll have a lot of freeze-driedin cans.

Kirsten said that she said in one of if you ever
watched her videos during therace, someone said have you run
out of anything?
She said coffee.
I was like, oh my gosh, Ialways freak out, that's the
worst.
I'd rather have coffee thancoffee.
I was like, oh my gosh, Ialways freak out.
Oh, that's the worst, I'drather have coffee than food.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
I need coffee, I'm sure I mean oh no.

No, you got to make sure you need to talk to
Kirsten about provisioning forcoffee.
Yeah, like how much that'sgoing to be a challenge, like
the water, the food, um, youknow, you've got good people to
talk to, thankfully I'm lookingto partner with a company that
makes, like uh, food forbackpackers.

You know that's.
I've been reaching out topeople like that.
Um, I think that it's kind ofthe route to go and I've done a
lot of backpacking and thingsand those meals are great.

So okay, well, that's a great way to plan
because it's all just packagedfor you.
Every day, bruce says do youfish along the way?

I, I.
So I brought friends with mefrom Hawaii to French Polynesia.
That was the big sale that Ihad friends for, and we fished
all the time.
But when I'm by myself so I'vebeen a vegetarian since I was
eight Fish was the first thing Icut out.
I will eat it now, but I don'tfish when I'm by myself.

(26:40):
I find that, yeah, just my body.
My body doesn't really crave it, but if it's there and it's
fresh gone and neighbor has it,I'll.
I'll eat it for sure.
And if you're starving, yeah ifI'm starving, I can I can I can
catch a fish okay and you canclean it and all that right yeah
, okay, uh.

Hayden says um, will you have a water maker?
Not allowed, is that allowed?

Not allowed.
I hold 120 gallons of water.
So I have two tanks, two 60gallon tanks, one on each side,
and I've been collecting rain.
I've given myself fever, feveror whatever you want to call it
three times already through mywater system, which is the worst

(27:27):
when you're sailing and you'vemade yourself sick through your
water.
But anyway, so I make and work.
On what filtration system?
What did they call it?
When you go to what I?
There's different words for itfever, fever.
What's?
When you go to mexico, what dothey call it?

oh, um montezora, what revenge yeah, oh gosh, and
so you're cleaning that out,right?

well, I clean out my tanks regularly and I also
treat them, but some, you know,maybe it hasn't rained and maybe
, if I'm along the way I've beensometimes like can stop and get
water from a village that'scollecting rain or things like
that.
I don't know what, what'shappening, but now I'm making a
proper filtration system becauseI will have to collect water as

(28:15):
I go.

Okay, yeah, so you'll have your 120 gallons
plus.
You'd be collecting rain andprobably have some bottled water
too.
Yes, and Roger says hayden ismarried to radine.
Um, I did a video with her.
Radine can give you, give herprovisioning tips, but the
problem is, I think radine, Ithink they eat meat, so but she
they came on and did a videoabout provisioning for the

(28:38):
bahamas because it's verydifficult like there's not a lot
of like, if you want your foodwhen you're going to the Bahamas
.
You spend three months in theBahamas.
You need to take most of whatyou're going to have.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
Oh, really.

It's very difficult there.
Yeah, there's not a lot ofchoices and everything.

And are people growing food down there in the
Bahamas, like fruits andvegetables you can't get?

Speaker 3 (29:01):
local produce.

I'm sure that you can with that um, but well, I
think the main thing is like um,meats or uh, or if you have
specific needs.
You know how in america we have, like, I want my toothpaste to
be this and my shampoo to bethat, or all the food and all
the certain things.
So it's best when, when you'regoing there, to take the things

(29:27):
that you like, because you'reprobably not going to find them
there.
That makes sense.
But yeah, I'm sure Radine wouldmake herself available.
I'm volunteering you, radine,so I think she's probably
listening.

She's right now.

I think they're in St Martin right now.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
Oh, I love.

St Martin.
They've come on here like fourtimes and they're very experts.
They're experts in theCaribbean so they offer great
tips.
So when it's time to go to theCaribbean, you can talk to them.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
Okay.

Hayden says look into LifeStraw personal drinking
filter.

Yes, I have one of those.
Do they know everything?
Do the LifeStraw personaldrinking filter?
Yes, I have one of those.
Do they know everything?
Do the LifeStraws desalinatethough?

Oh, that's a good question.
Is that allowed?

No, you can have it Like I can have a solar
distill, okay, yeah.

I don't know, hayden, can you answer that
question?
Does it desalinate personaldrinking filter um uh, bring dry
fruit?
Yeah, okay.

he says no, yeah see so, but that will help me
from getting sick from all thestuff in my tank and he said,
writing can help.

That's his wife.
Yeah, I'll give you theirinformation.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Oh, bring dry fruit.

You're meeting new friends here.
Can you have a freezer fridge?

Yes, I can have a fridge.
I don't have a freezer.

I've been living without a freezer?

Yes, I can have a fridge.
I don't have a freezer.
I've been living without afreezer, but I can have a fridge
.

Okay, let's see All right.
So these are all good.
Oh, here's more.
Bring homemade banana bread Yum.

Will you make me some?

Roger, did you hear that Bruce Bruce, roger,
did you hear that Bruce Bruce?
So okay, these are greatquestions.
Keep them coming, you guys.
So I'm going to go to my listhere and see what we have here.
Physical how are you training?
Are you training?
You're young.
Can I tell your age?
Yes, 42.

Yes, I'm 42 have.

Mine starts with a five.
So please, um, what are?
How are you doing anythingphysical?
Um get trained to be trainingnon-stop, unique routines or
strategies.

You probably have some ideas what you're going to
do while you're gone, whileyou're on the journey I need to
train for like um some I mean,I've had some heavy weather, but
not anything like what I'mprobably going to see out there,
and uh, kirsten and I spokerecently about her um working
with me, training me for forlike towing warps and things

(32:24):
like that and some of the newsails that I'll be using.
So hopefully that works out.
We just have to kind of seeabout our timing aligning.

She is where is she?
Again?
She's well, she was doing adelivery last.

Okay, that was doing a delivery.
Last time I checked, or lasttime we spoke and she was like
oh yeah, I haven't, but Ihaven't Okay.

Okay, bruce wanted to chime in.
It's easy six ingredients forthe homemade banana bread and
Hayden's asking about the route,so I could pull something up.

But yeah, pull up the map so it's easier people
get it.
Okay, the visual, all right, doyou want me to send it to you,
or just look at I?

actually have it.
I took a screenshot of it.
Uh, let's see if I can.

Okay, first I have Just just Google GGR 2026 map.

Yeah, it's not going to.
Let me go right to my file or Ihave it, okay, yeah, let me do
that GGR map, yeah.

Is there yeah.

Yes, I can share, screen it here, it is All right.
So basically it's from France,right?
Mm-hmm Starts in France, startin France.
First one was in England.
Here we go.
Okay, so you start up here,mm-hmm, you go down, you hang a

(34:14):
left, you go around the worldand you come down here and take
another left at Cape Horn and goback up and there's three or
four checkpoints.

Well, they've reduced the media drop points.
Okay, so I think there's yeah,two now there's one in Spain.

right, it was like quick.

I think they dropped that one, but I'm not
sure I have to check becausethey just they updated the
notice of race recently.
I'm sorry, I've been so thickin the refit that I haven't
looked at the modifications.

I think that one was like a couple of weeks or
something and I think kirstenwas like she just she didn't
want to be bothered.
It's like let's get on with it.
You know, it's like too soon,yeah, but anyway, then there's
another one somewhere over, isit here?

anyway.
Um he they, they there.
It shows you on there.
Hold on, let me see.
But they've changed it.
So the rule, the rules of therace, got modified and they've
removed some media drop pointsfor safety.
So I'm not.
I have to look at the the newnotice of race.

Okay, so this may not even be up to date, right
here.
Yeah Well, it doesn't reallytell, doesn't really tell where,
but um, so that.
So you in Kirsten's videos thatthe uh I guess the media boat
is what you call.
It pulls up and she's offshore.
So she's not she's, and they'llcome up and and ask her

(35:54):
questions and I guess take theuh the footage or something.

Well, you pull into a port and then that you go
alongside and handle.

I mean that's my understanding.
Yeah, you're never actuallytouching like a dock or anything
.

No, okay no, okay, yeah, um, so right, uh, you can
anchor.
You can anchor and rest yeah,you have to.

You have to stop for at least, I think, six hours
.
Oh, really, is that leg intothe wind?
Cape town um, I think you'regoing with the wind and yeah we
are.

The wind we're always going to be well depends
there's a system.
I mean, you know, sometimes thewind will clock okay but as a
rule that's the route I mean.

Typically the trades go with you that way.
Okay, and there's doldrums uphere.
Kirsten was not happy with thedoldrums.
They're cursing was nothappening with the doldrums.
They're up somewhere up here,right?

by the equator.
Yeah, the horse latitudes.
They call it because peopleused to have to throw their
horses overboard to reduceweight yeah, so down here in the
southern ocean is east yeah,did you watch the um the movie
um the weekend sailor thedocumentary.

(37:21):
It's documentary about a teamfrom mexico and they were kind
of they had never raced beforeand they they ended up um
winning the the first I think itwas the first wet bread.
But it's an amazing documentary.
But all the guys on the shipthey're like I never want to see
that again.
They just talk about howintense it was sailing there.
But that's an amazingdocumentary if y'all haven't

(37:42):
seen it.

So they don't want to do it again.
No, no, the.
What's the guy?
The Robin?
No, who was the guy that?

kept going.

Oh, that was Robert stockton is the one that
won in 96.
There was a guy that kept goingyeah, bernard motissier, yeah,
yeah, he, he, he went.
He came around cape horn, wentnorth into the atlantic and said
you know what I don't want todo, I don't want to go back.
And he left his family andeverything.
And he kept going around and hestopped.
He didn't go all the way around, he stopped um somewhere and I
and he kept going around and hestopped.
He didn't go all the way around, he stopped somewhere and I

(38:17):
can't remember where, frenchPolynesia.
Okay, you know, yeah.

Yeah, he went and set up life in Aje, which is in
the Tuamotus, a FrenchPolynesian.
I went there actually and wasmoored at a pearl farm.
There was moored at a pearlfarm there and there's a French
sailor there who kind ofconvinced Mautissier to move to
Ahe.

And then he started another family.
Yeah, I don't know about thepersonal side of his life, but
yeah, it was a little bitcontroversial, but I think he
just had been at sea forsomething Like the first race
took 300 and something days andwhen Kirsten did it was like 233
days or something.
So I guess the modern boatswere a little faster.

(39:06):
I guess that time at sea hejust wasn't ready to go back to
the big charade of coming backto all those people, which I
hear is challenging.
Now kirsten said that it wasexciting to her because
everybody's like cheering forher and everything I asked, I
asked about that.

That was my.
My biggest concern is like, amI is is because I had a really
hard time adjusting after when,when I sailed to haw, hawaii,
after I sailed to Hawaii, andpeople I mean um, noises like

(39:44):
just the like I, I heard I was,I was eating lunch with my mom
like day two after arriving andum, siren went by and I I ducked
under the table Like I meanthings were so startling to me
and, um, I haven't really hadthat sense.
But maybe that's because that,like I said, that voyage I was
very just, it was just me andnature, I mean without any
instruments.
And and then I had a reallyhard time being around people.

(40:08):
And so I asked Kirsten andElliot that was one of the first
questions I asked like, did youhave a hard time adjusting back
to life on land?
I worried a bit about me inthat regard.
What did they say?
They said they were fine, butthey didn't have any issues.

I've heard that from others.
Um, they almost didn't want togo.
They be pulling up where theyhave to come in and they see all
the people.
It's like sensory overload.

You know it's just like it's.
What have we created on it?
You know you're just like yeah,I don't know.
So how long did it?

take you to acclimate.

A while, even when I cause I.
I got to Hawaii and I was therefor about a month and then I
had to go straight back intowork and I was at the time I was
um the field producer on a on ashow, um on on NBC starring
Melissa McCarthy, and um,everyone my coworkers just said

(41:16):
I said I it was.
They said it like I don't knowhow they described it, but they,
they said I was different, kindof like I'd been in a cage or
something like I was real jumpyand you're kind of feral yeah
yeah wow

yeah, I know there's a big difference and
you'd sailed with Tanya.
I never know how to say her lastname abby abby is how I said
abby, yeah, okay, yeah, Ithought it was abby, then
someone else told me it was abby, but, um, and for those who
don't know who she is, she was,uh, the youngest solo in the 80s
, prior to all this gps,everything, and I had her on

(41:54):
recently, which was an honor andwhat is.
Oh, I read her book and I wasfascinated by the being in the
moment thing that she talksabout, like if you're stirring
your soup, you are just rightthere because you have no
distractions, and I can'timagine, I want to experience
that in my life.
You're going to experience that?

Yeah, I've already been experiencing it, but this
is going to be like that, youknow, on steroids.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I just can't imagine.
In this day and age, it's hardto know what that's like, you
know?

no distractions.

Okay, so Hayden wants to know how you manage
your beautiful website.
It is really good, oh, thankyou, I don't know.

So I'm a, I'm a creator by by.
You know, I studied stillphotography and then moved into
filmmaking and I just built thatwith WordPress.
And then there's some littlethings that I, you know, some
adjustments I wanted to makethat I couldn't do.
That required, you know, someexpert coding and I have a team

(43:07):
in India that I work with.
That's amazing.
And so I can just say, hey, canyou modify this?
And I can share their contact.
If anybody would like it, Feelfree to email me.

That's so smart.
I know people that do that.
It gets them to do all kinds ofthings for them, you know, like
even the clips or anything.
I do all myself, but it wouldbe nice just to hand it over and
just make it happen.
So if you've got it, I wouldlike to.

I would like.
Yeah, they're amazing, it'scalled.
They're called leading edgetechnology.
But I mean, I can send you theWhatsApp and I found them on one
of the you know work sharewebsites.
I can't remember which one, butyou know where you can go
online and look like Fiverr, oneof those types sites.
You know where you can goonline and look like Fiverr or

(43:56):
one of those type sites.
Okay, leading, did you sayleading edge?
Leading edge technology.
But if I'll send you their, doyou have WhatsApp?
Because?

I can send you their WhatsApp contact.
Yeah, I do have WhatsApp, but Iused it when I was in Mexico
and I kept getting all this spamstuff.
So I it so, but I can, I can,but you can email it to me, yeah
, and okay.
Um, now Bruce is a Contessa 26.
I'm not sure why he was umthat's the boat that Tanya Abbey

(44:28):
sailed.
Oh yeah, that's right, that'sright, it was a 26 foot, that's
right.
That's right, it was a 26 foot,that's right.
Thanks, bruce, he is on top ofit there.
We have some good sailors onhere, all right.
So I feel like I don't.
There's not any special orextra thing that I've added to

(45:00):
my mixture.

You know I've I.
I don't need to do any sleeptraining, I already know how to
do it.
You know my body is alreadyready for that.
Um, physically, right now I'mat this refit.
I'm already in month two of it.

And um you're doing a lot of the work yourself
I'm doing.

Well, I cannot do all the work myself.
I'm doing some work myself, umand, but I have a team of people
that I'm working with here aswell.
Okay, uh, so one of myquestions okay, one of my,
that's right, one of myquestions?

yeah, okay, one of my, that's right, one of my
questions, uh, because it's.
I think those, um, some ofthose videos are on your website
.
I've been posting.

I've been posting on Instagram stories like every
day what the reef, what we'redoing in the refit, and you can
see what I'm doing, what theteam is doing.
Because, like I cannot, I'm nota carpenter so I hired a whole
carpenter team.
We had to take off my cap railand redo my deck to whole joint
because I had quite a bit ofleaking, okay, and I'd already

(46:03):
removed the teak deck.
So I knew that wasn't the issue.
And I spoke to Bob Perry and hesaid, if that's not your issue,
it's the deck to whole joint.
So, um, you know, we took offthe cap rail, had to rebuild the
cap rail.
I, um, some people had, you know, one person in the last race
had an issue with their bowsprit.
So I had a new bow sprit made,because mine is 40 years old,

(46:25):
teak and, um, we looked at, wetook it off and inspected it and
you know, it was decided by theteam that needs to be rebuilt,
you know.
So, all of the all of thecarpentry, and then I've been
working with them, like togetherwe're doing the fiberglass and,
um, yeah, it's just a lot, abig.
I'm almost finished with allthe exterior work and now I'm

(46:47):
about to get it.

So they said they have problems with the bow
spread.
What?
What kind of problems did theyhave?

well, I think I can't remember what how Elliot's
bow spread broke or somethinghappened and he had to use like
chains to try to keep it on.
And you can have, yeah, that'sa.
You know, that's a major pointon the boat that you don't want
to lose offshore.
So smart, yeah.
And so I'm getting all new,like I right now I'm having new

(47:16):
whisker stays and a new bob stayor dolphin striker, whatever
you want to call it made.
And the new bow sprit just wenton yesterday.
Yeah, I've done a lot of theturtle hatch that goes.
That's the piece of wood thatgoes over um, my companionway

(47:36):
door.
I had to redo that.
I mean, I kept the originalwood, but all of the um, all of
the wood underneath, was totallyrotten, but the core was all
rotten.

So wow, that's good.

It's a good thing you caught all that, yeah make
it a lot less stressful well,the thing I just I knew my boats
weaknesses.
I mean, I'm essentially likerebuilding her and making her
beefier and ready for this newadventure.
But I knew, I knew, I knewwhere she had faults luckily,

(48:12):
because I've sailed her so faralready and she's always some of
these leaks she's always hadright, okay, um, so part of that
question, uh, about thephysical thing also.

uh, have you thought about what's going to
keep you busy after?
I mean, I think Kirsten saidshe would check the boat over
every day, you know, look lookat everything, go up the mast,
and there was a couple of tasksshe had every day.
Then she had to occupy her mindand just her time.
Have you thought about that?

Yeah, so when I'm offshore, already, what I do, I
do a lot of writing.
So I write every day that I'mat sea and my blog is, you know,
every day that I'm at sea, I'mwriting.
So I at sea, and my my blog is,you know, every day that I'm at
sea, I'm writing.
So I always spend a lot of timewriting and I spend a lot of

(49:06):
time reading and and yeah, it'spretty I'm thinking about you
know, I like to collage, so I'llprobably bring a lot of
materials for collaging.
Okay, well, you got it figuredout Now.

can you do like audio books or anything?
Is that allowed?

Yeah, you can have a cassette player.
Oh, a cassette player?
Yeah, but I think Kirsten waslearning a new language out
there.
Oh my God, I started to listento things recent.

(49:42):
More recently, it wasn't untilmy trip to fiji that I listened
to music, but prior to that I Iwould go without any sound.
Be just this, just the naturalsound of the ocean and a book.
You're ready you're ready?
no, but that you know that's 20.
You know the longest I've beenat sea alone thus far is is 23
days.

(50:02):
You know 23 day chunks.
So this is wow, this is goingto be.
You know, I've only, I've onlyexperienced a tenth of that.
So of what I'm about to do,Right.

Speaking of right.
What?
How long do you think this willtake you?

Um, I think in the 10 month range.
Yeah, I don't know.
How can I know?
How can I know what?
I never know how longanything's going to take me.
Right, it's like it should havetaken me 14 days to get to Fiji
, but I had seven days withoutwind where I was just, or six
days without wind where I wasjust bobbing, you know so.

Well, I think.
Kirsten did it in 233 days.
Yeah, that's.
Isn't that 10 months, Right?
Is that?
Is that eight months?

It could take up to 10.
Yeah, I think it can take up to10.
Yeah, I think it can take up to10 months.
Oh that's, oh, yeah, oh, mygosh, 233 is 7.6, yeah yeah and
um, knox robert johnson.

What is?
What is his full name?
Again, robert knox johnstonthat's it, robert.

No, no, robin.
Now you're confusing.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
Yeah, sorry about that.

Yeah, robin Knox Johnston.

Yes.
So, robin, right, he they.
Back then it was 300 andsomething days.
I can't remember off the top ofmy head.
So, um, like I said, I thinkthe I can't remember off the top
of my head.
So, like I said, I think thenewer boats make a difference.
So, hayden is giving you somegood, some compliments here on
your website, your blog, yourphotos, everything looks
fantastic.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Oh, thank you.

He manages the website and the Facebook page
for the Island Packet yachtowners.
Oh cool, so he's been doingthat for years.
I love Island.
Packets yacht owners, oh cool,so he's been doing that for
years.
I love Island Packets.
Yeah, I got good votes.
I'm kind of partial to itmyself.
Okay, let's see what else wegot here.
What's been the mostchallenging part of getting

(52:11):
ready for the race so far Mental, physical, logistical?

part of getting ready for the race so far mental
, physical, logistical.
I mean mentally.
It's tough because I have toraise this money to get to the
start and you know, it'ssometimes it's just like I want
to break down.
I'm also, you know, imagine I'mdoing a refit.
I'm by myself in a foreigncountry using Google Translate,

(52:37):
a lot Like you know, and there'sso many resources here and so
much skill here, but it's yeah,I'm alone doing a refit in a
foreign country with not enoughmoney to do the refit.
So that is hard, that is reallyhard.
To why am I doing this to myself?
I could be on a tropical beachright now just enjoying my life.

(53:02):
Right, it's like sometimes youquestion, sometimes you doubt,
sometimes you start to fix onething and you find other things
broken and you didn't accountfor that and it's taking more
time than you thought.
You know, yeah, it's, it's hard, it's very hard, and I

(53:22):
sometimes break down and andsometimes have doubts.
But then you know I'll pray andI check in, am I continue doing
this?
And then something will happento show me yes, keep going, keep
going.
This is the path.
So I'm just following it, I'mtrusting it.

Yeah, you're a person of faith, and so am I.
We just keep moving forwarduntil if there's a big block in
the way, then maybe it wasn'tmeant to be, but if it keeps
going, which it sounds like itis, yeah, and then maybe it
wasn't meant to be, but if itkeeps going, which it sounds
like it is, then it'll be ifit's meant to be, you're going
to do it.

Yeah, I mean, I'm ready to do it.

Every day.
I'm going towards doing it.
So, yeah, well, good, well,we're going to, we're going to
come back here.
Like you said, we were talkingbefore we went on online.
We're not done yet, but we'regoing to come back and, um, and
help and try to help you raisesome more funds.
I'll beg for you, please.
Yeah, exactly, um so uh, let'ssee Okay.

(54:33):
Um so uh, let's see, okay, oh,so you know, staying.
Basically, the answer to thatwas staying motivated and not
being discouraged.
It's a huge life lesson.
Um, what excites you aboutembracing such the traditional
tech free approach to sailing?

I mean, I guess I kind of um well, okay, I
referenced it a little bitearlier about what happened on
my first crossing and I, as afilmmaker I'm an ethnographic
filmmaker I focus so much wisdomamong communities who live
symbiotically with nature.
You know, I first saw, witnessthis, I was living in the Amazon

(55:24):
one summer and it's like theycan, they know which, and you
know, there's one tree that theants eat and it secretes
something similar to Novocaineon the interior of the plant.
And it's like all this wisdomthat it would take, um, you know
, modern scientists a long timeto to um gain on that knowledge

(55:50):
on their own Right, but this isjust innately they have it.
And then I heard about,actually in Thailand, what my
third film was.
In Thailand I'd heard about anomadic seafaring community that
all survived the Indian Oceantsunami which you, if you
remember, that's the problemthat took everybody by surprise.

(56:10):
Nobody knew it was coming.
They all knew it was coming.
I went back 10 years after thetsunami and um lived in the
community.
That went to 13 differentislands, um, I interviewed all
the elders, I documented theirway of life and each island I
went to they had a different wayof knowing, but pretty much

(56:30):
their ancestors had told them ifyou see deep sea creatures
coming closer to shore, it meansa man eating wave is coming.
If you see, if you dream thatthe sea is turning all red and
boats are sinking, it means theman eating wave is coming.
You know.
So, every everywhere I went,they had their own way of

(56:51):
knowing that.
They all knew it was coming,either through dreams or
observations of nature.
And they had enough time, theday that it came, to go and
rescue tourists on neighboringislands.
And every single one of theMokans survived, except for one
man who was handicapped, andnobody could get him to safety.
What their ancestors taughtthem was if you are at, if

(57:13):
you're at sea and you know thewave is coming, you go to deeper
sea.
If you're at sea and you knowthe wave is coming, you go to
deeper sea.
If you're on land and you knowthe wave is coming, you go to
higher land.
Um, so you know, this type ofknowledge is is is getting lost
because in modern society we areseparating ourselves more and
more from nature.

(57:34):
And after I made that film Idecided I'd already loved
sailing, but I decided to makethe sea my home.
That's after I made that film.
I bought my boat After I madethat film.
You know it was two years later.
I crossed the ocean and I'vebeen going ever since and I'm
always on a path, personally, tojust keep my connection to

(57:57):
nature as solid as I can.
Now, what is this film?
It's called Sailing a SinkingSea and it's out on documentary
educational resources, so it'staught in universities through
them, taught in universities, um, through them, and it's also on

(58:22):
, um uh, drag city, which is arecord label out of Chicago, um.
So we did like a vinyl LP ofthe music I recorded, plus um
music that I had, like asoundtrack that I had made by
the band bitch and Baja.
So it's like a vinyl LP withthe DVD we did.

Is it on YouTube or anything?

No, I had it on YouTube briefly as part of a
fundraiser, but no, it screenedat the Smithsonian and premiered
at South by Southwest.
So it did you know people.
It was cool to see that muchexcitement about this way of
life.

Could you put it on?

YouTube I cannot because it's through the.
I mean it's on Vimeo.
You can buy Vimeo on demand andI put it on YouTube briefly,
like I said, I had to getpermission from my distributors
to briefly like I said, I had toget permission from my
distributors Um, and I just putit on there very, very briefly
to kind of raise money andawareness about the race, kind
of like.
This is what got me excitedabout the sea type thing.

Wow Okay.
Um family and friends.
What do they think about allthis?

Speaker 3 (59:32):
I think about all this.

I think they've learned that I always do things
that scare them.
You know I mean I come fromArkansas when I first I didn't
tell.
When I first decided to crossthe ocean, I decided a month and
a half before I actuallycrossed it.
I sent my parents an email andmy mom didn't speak to me.

(59:58):
She was really upset with me.
For weeks, weeks.
My dad would speak to me and Isaid I was surprised how well he
was handling my decision and hejust said because I know you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
And I know you're going to sorry, I'm crying
because he passed away.

Capn Tinsley (01:00:17):
Oh, your dad.
Oh, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Sorry, sorry, but to have his support, you know, he
just he made a deal with Godthat he'd never go back to sea
again.
He had a got caught in a bigstorm while deep sea fishing,
and so to have his support wasreally amazing, wow.
But he just said I know you, Iknow you're smart, I know you

(01:00:44):
know what you're doing, and youwouldn't, you wouldn't go out
there if you hadn't properlytrained yourself to do it.
So, yeah, sorry, so yeah.

Sorry.
I didn't realize that's okay.
Is your mom still with us?
Oh my mom yeah my mom.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
So she's funny.

Olivia Wyatt (01:01:02):
So she finally spoke to me and now she loves it
, you know oh good.
I think because the blog.
Like a lot of people from ourhometown read the blog and you
know, one time the mailmanknocked on the door and it was
like, is your daughter the onecrossing the ocean?
You know she'll go to thegrocery store and so she gets

(01:01:24):
like she's proud, she's proud,she gets a lot of conversation
out of it.
And, um, I remember I was aboutto do a crossing to, or when I
was about to sail to to Fiji, Iwas, I was a bit nervous for it
and I called home and I wasreally scared and she was like,
oh, you'll be fine, you've donethis before.

I scared my mom too, and um is she's passed away
since, but she was she washaving a lot of chemo at the
time and I think that was why,um, I scared her to death
because I was.
I lost power and that was whenI was pretty green and I wasn't
checking the batteries and Ilost all all um my instruments.
But she was mad at me when Ifinally made it to shore and, uh

(01:02:13):
, I reminded her she was a pilot.
Whoa, she was a private pilotback in the day when she was
married to my dad, and I said,well, did grandmother ever get
scared when you were flying?
And she calmed down at thatpoint.

She goes.
Yeah, that's so cool.

She was a pilot, yeah, so it comes naturally to
do weird things like this thatother women don't necessarily do
by themselves because, I liketo solo too, nothing like you.
I haven't been to made longcrossings like you, but it
scared her and I think that'snormal.
But now that we have in reachand everything, will your family

(01:02:56):
be able to track you?
I know that's that's normal,but now that we have inReach and
everything but you won't, theyis will your family be able to
track you?

I know that the people at the race can track you
, we have the yellow brick sopeople can track us.
Um, okay, Our family can, andum you just can't know where you
are right.
Exactly, okay, yeah, and we dodo um monthly or weekly, uh
check-ins like podcasts with therace, with dawn, um, so we have

(01:03:26):
a podcast going while we're outthere.
Um, we're, we have a satellitephone and we can only use it to,
to, to communicate with therace committee.

Okay, so you'll be .
You'll be calling in.
It'll just be audio.
Oh cool.
Okay, did they do that withKirsten?
Yeah, is that new?
They're all online.
Yeah, you can go online andread.
I mean listen.
Wow, I didn't know that.
Okay, mom's uh still happyabout you.
She's probably she's.

I'm sure she gets feedback all the time.
She just I think she's.
She just says she's trying notto think about it yeah, yeah, um
.

So Hayden says will yellowick report to the web
.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
Yes.

I think so.
Yes, I didn't, I didn't.
I'm pretty sure they're goingto have us out there.

We're 95% sure that yes.
Well, so what about yourfriends and the rest of your
family?
Or do you have any brothers andsisters?

Yes, I have two sisters and a brother brother.
And my youngest sister is myrace manager.
She's.
She doesn't know anything aboutsailing, but she's highly
organized.
Um, she, she's, uh, manages,you know, for work.
She's man, she's amazing.
I don't even know how she doeswhat she does, but she's way
more organized than I am.

She's handling the business side of everything.
Yes, making paperwork andappointments.

And calendars Making calls.

Oh great, you got to make this deadline for this.
Like your celestial navigation,yeah, that's good.
It's good to have a familymember doing all that, someone
you trust.

Yeah, that's looking out for you.
Yeah, it was.
You trust her, I trust her.

She's like the only person I trust oh, okay,
all right no, I mean you know,like, with, with this aspect of
me, right, you know yeah, it'sall pretty important um is she
do it full-time or she's got ashe's working?

She works, she's I don't know what her title is,
but she's like she oversees.
You know everything she does.
She's overseeing teams ofpeople and you know, running
smoothly and she's working withthe bank now and now.
She had the idea for an app tohelp people save money and also

(01:06:00):
to keep people organized.
I don't fully understand it,but anyway, the bank loved her
idea and hired her, and she'snow working with them and
they're developing her app.

I just got a statement from Instagram.
It doesn't appear here, so Ihave to look at it separately.
Rick Halstead, 1t3, said YellowBrick will have an app for the
race.
Yeah, okay, so that's.
How is that?
How will we all be able totrack?
Her or is that just?

family.
Yeah, everyone will be able tosee that.
Okay, and everyone can hear thepodcast that they do.

And that will be through that.
See that okay, and everyone canhear the podcast that they do
and that and that will bethrough that also.

The app um.
Their podcasts are on thewebsite, I believe, and they are
also doing videos.
So when we have the media droppoints, they're editing videos
and putting them on youtube.

I mean the race is doing quite a bit of media
right okay, cool, so, okay, so,um, uh, your brother, you said
you're, you have brother and twosisters.
Now do they all do things likethis, or you're pretty much the
only one.

You're the only one.
That's kind of the adventurousone none of them are vegetarians
, none of them, I mean.
They all travel.
They like to travel, but notthe way that I don't think any
of them travel the way that Itravel.

You know, Well, it's interesting because when I
asked Kirsten about what her Ithink her parents, you know she
did that bike trek from Europeto the tip of South Africa, rode
a bike by herself.
It wasn't a race or anything,and she said her parents had

(01:07:46):
more of a problem with that,which I can imagine.
You're going through all thosecountries in North Africa just
riding along by yourself.
They were more worried aboutthat than the sail around the
world.
That's interesting, but sheshe's hasn't she always sailed,
or did she grow up sailing?
She's never been in a race andthat was the first race.

(01:08:08):
That race was the first race,um, but she's like you, she'd
sailed all around, you know.
She delivered boats.
I think you said you deliverboats, well, but but I didn't
grow up sailing.

No one in my family says I didn't learn to
sail till my 20s.
So, um, I think, because my,because I grew up landlocked, so
my and and, like I said, my dadwent deep sea fishing like
somewhere off of flor, and wasmade a vow never to go to sea
again.
Right, it was like his one timeout there.
But, um, so they don't reallyknow the sea, we didn't.

(01:08:43):
Nobody in my family grew uparound the sea, right, and so I
think, when you don't, you knowthey would be comfortable with
me climbing a mountain or beingin the woods.
Um, but for them that, becausethey know that, because that's
what is around, I see your point.
I see your point like if shegrew up sailing yeah, right,

(01:09:06):
they're near the ocean, right,you know the ocean there it's.
Yeah, maybe, I don't know yeah,okay, you're, you're dead.

You were born in Arkansas.
He was making you be landlocked.
All right, let's see what elseI have here.
Worried about the risk Ialready asked you that, crossing
the finish line, what's thefirst thing you'll do, or the
first person you'll call?

or there's gonna be a bunch of people talking to
I hope all the people I wouldcall will be there.
If I okay, it's a defendant,you know what I mean.
Uh right, I think my family'splanning to come to the start
and then they'll be there whenawesome, awesome, that's perfect
.

Um, uh, let's see this question.
Personal traditions Are yougoing to bring any?
What kind of things are yougoing to bring?
Routines?
You kind of talked about thatKeep you grounded during the
race.
You talked about reading andblogging.

Oh, grounded, yeah , the writing grounds me.
I do meditations, like I thinkit's really hard to stay
grounded at sea.
I mean, I don't know, thismight not even make sense to
anybody, but I don't know how toexplain it.
I have to actively stay in mybody.

(01:10:30):
I have to actively, like putroot.
You know, envision like rootinginto the earth.
So imagine when you're on thewater it's much harder to do
that.
You know, another way to easilydo that is is go barefoot and
and and touch the earth, hug atree.
You know like, get, makeyourself um one with the earth.

(01:10:51):
And I have a heart.
I I tend to.
I don't know, sorry, I soundtoo maybe airy fairy, I don't
know how to explain it.

No, no, I'm fascinated by this.
Put your feet in the water.
I don't know.

Well, so I?
No, I just I envision.
I.
You know, I do a meditationwhere I uh, roots are.
I envision roots coming out ofthe bottom of my feet and and
going down into the earth.
But um, um, I have to do thatpretty actively at sea okay, and
what does?

what does that do for you when you do that um?

it makes me more embodied, like my spirit, more
embodied, I guess I, I don'tknow in the present in the
present.
It's not that I'm not in thepresent.
I don't know if it's, I don't.
It's so hard to describe it.
I think because I'm I thinkbecause I'm creative.

(01:11:45):
I can very.
I don't know it's very.
This is too difficult, maybe toexplain You're doing great.
I'm learning about you.
I'm very empathic.
Um, I can uh, I can, I can uhfeel other people's emotions.

(01:12:08):
I can't you know.
I can you know if I'm next tolike I can walk into a room of
let's?
Here's an example a friend ofmine, it's a couple.
One time I walked in the room Ifelt I could feel instantly.
Something just happened.

You're very intuitive.

I'm highly intuitive.
Intuitive people tend to theycan go out of their body very
easily.
I don't know why that happens,and yeah, so I have to actively
stay grounded.
I have, I have to domeditations where I'm bringing
myself back into the body.

Okay, uh, my um, my camera just started zooming
in, so I was trying to stop that.

Okay, it's going to do it, I think it's, I think
maybe that's too crazy for somepeople to their heads around.
No, no, no.

There's no rules here.
We're learning about you.
So last question, Because youalready answered the one I was
about to ask you If you couldgive advice to someone
considering a solo sailingadventure.
What would it be?

That's a good question, that's a great
question, like only one piece ofadvice.

Well, it can be more than one.

I don't know, because there's advice for many
different parts of it.

How about for someone getting started?

Does that help For someone getting started?
I think, with any dream, ourfear tends to stop us.
Overthinking can stop us, ourwhat ifs can stop us, right,
sure, sure.
I think when you, when you havea dream, you just have to just

(01:14:10):
keep one step at a time, keepgoing towards it, don't you know
?
Uh, like me, like I didn't, Ididn't have my full family
support.
But it's like you, you have to.
You, you have to trust yourself.
You have to believe in yourself.
Don't worry about what anybodyelse thinks.
Like a lot of people get hungup on the, the financial stuff.
Well, it's like, okay, you know, when I first went to hawaii, I

(01:14:33):
had um ten dollars in myaccount, but it's like I knew I
could cause.
I put all the money into theboat, but then I knew, okay, I'm
just going to go to Hawaii, Ihave all the things I need to
have, all the food I need, I'llget to Hawaii and then I'll go
back and work.
Right, you know it's like,don't get hung up on all of the
little things.

What you're talking about is faith.
Yeah, the little things.
What you're talking about isfaith.
Yeah, I am talking about faith,yeah, and like if it's meant to
be, it will happen.

You just keep moving forward.

not let fear stop you.
If something, if somethingblocks it, then then so be it.
But but if it, you know, youjust keep doing one thing at a
time, and if it keeps opening upto you, the doors keep opening
up.
That's that, to me, is faiththat's right.

That's right.
And you know, like, like when Iwas getting ready to for the
Hawaii trip, can I do this?
I'm having some doubts.
I mean I don't have all themoney I need it.
I'm having doubts, but I'm justtrusting.
Trusting, then, a guy that guyI told you about that built
boats for America's Cup whoheard what I was doing and just
came out of the woodworks andsaid guy I told you about that
built boats for America's cupwho heard what I was doing and
just came out of the woodworksand said can I help you dropped

(01:15:41):
in, yeah, yeah, and it's likethat's the.

That's the you couldn't have conjured that up.
That just you couldn't haveconjured that up.
There's just that gift justdropped out of the sky, and
there it is.

That's, that's, that's God showing me.
Keep going.
This is the path, like I ranout of.
I ran out of budget the otherday.
I you know, and I was like whatam I going to do?
I have to, I have to halt allof my um, the, you know, the
refit.
But then that same day, somemoney came and, um, I didn't

(01:16:16):
have the money to sign up forthe race.
This was really a big sign forme.
I did not have the extra moneyto sign up for the race because
it's I can't remember how manyeuros, like somewhere 10,000
euros or something, and then, ifyou want sponsors, another
amount equivalent to that on top.
So I didn't have the money justto even sign up for the race.

(01:16:37):
But I filled out my applicationand then I go and look in my
bank account and something hadhappened where my grandmother
had left me a little bit ofmoney in an account in a bank
that merged with my bank that Iuse.
No way, yes, no way.
I don't even know how thishappened.

(01:16:57):
So I go to my bank account andthere's another new account with
the exact amount I needed tosign up for the race and I and I
called the bank.
I was like, how did this gethere?
And then I then I figured outabout my grandmother had left me
that money that I didn't evenknow about.
I mean, that's just likegoosebumps, right, that right.
You are doing this.

(01:17:18):
This is what you are to do.
That's the door open right.

That door opened up and um, my friend Danielle is
on Instagram.
She says it's your groundingwire.

I don't know what she means by that, but uh yes,
I'm glad someone I it's hard toexplain it, but I'm glad she
knows that.

Yeah, she's a little bit like you.
I don't have to just, you know,still use those kind of terms.
So, Key West John, who I haveon the podcast a lot.
He lives on his boat in KeyWest.
He says you're in the zone,You've inspired me.
I'm now going to do the direct78 nautical miles from Key West

(01:18:02):
to Margo Island, which he's donemany times.
Tinsley knows I'm a lightweightand this is not my norm,
meaning he doesn't like heavyweather.
He's been sailing his wholelife and he knows everything.
Okay, so don't get it twisted,but uh, but yeah, you are an
inspiration.
So that that is very true.

(01:18:23):
And Goose um, who comes on hereonce in a while.
There's no substitute forexperience, yeah, but there's
also a little bit of just um,got some moxie and I'm going to
go and do it.
That's you, Uh, but okay.
So is there anything else thatyou want to cover?
We want to talk about thatwebsite again.
She needs some money, money,money, money.

(01:18:45):
Wilderness of wavescom thankyou.

Um no, this has been great and I hope we, I hope
we can do it again.
I was thinking to be definitelyif we we go live like on
YouTube or something, through mychannel too.

Absolutely, we can do that.
I think we can do up to threeof your accounts.

Okay, let's do it.

We'll set it up ahead of time and you just have
to do a free account and we'llgo live on my five and your two
or three, whatever's allowed.
Okay, I love it.
And Hayden says cool stories,thank loud.
Okay, I love it.
And Hayden says uh, coolstories, thank you.
What time is it?
Where you are?
It's nine, 20 Caribbean.
It's eight, 20 here.
It's in the morning.
Yes, yeah, so she's in Thailand.

(01:19:27):
So well, this has been anabsolute pleasure.
Thank you so much for doingthis.
I'm so glad I I was just raninto you on Instagram.
I was like oh, she's cool, Igot to, she's doing the GGR,
definitely got to, and you, youresponded and you were very kind
, you were and agreed to do it.

So thank you so much, thanks for having me and
thinking of me.
Yes, we're going to do it again.

We'll do some more fundraising, but we'll get an
update on the fit, on the um,the refit and just everything
that's going on.
And again, the race startsSeptember 2026.
So yeah, oh, that's right, 2026.
Oh, you've got a while, okay,good.

No, but you think it's a while, but time flies you
know Okay, all right yeah.
I have a lot in my head to do.
Okay, well, thank you so muchand we're going to do this again
, and I'd like to end by sayingsalty abandon out.

Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
Thank you.

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Salty Podcast #49 | Sailing Solo Around the World: Olivia Wyatt’s Golden Globe Race Journey 🌍⛵

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Salty Podcast #49 | Sailing Solo Around the World: Olivia Wyatt’s Golden Globe Race Journey 🌍⛵