“Man, y’all are terrible at this!” I distinctly recall saying while talking to Jeffrey in this podcast interview about how our sail skills have improved the more offshore voyages we’ve done. On the way to Cuba, our friends back home were right: we were terrible. But on our way to the Bahamas, Phillip and I were much better thanks to our new offshore jib and a newly-anointed Captain Annie! Ahoy followers! My first post-Bahamas interview here for you, sharing a few of our fun Bahamas stories and misadventures. Many thanks to Jeffrey Wetting with Shooting the Breeze Sailing Podcast at The Escape Pods for reaching out to me and putting this piece together. Enjoy!
Ahoy crew! A real treat for you here. An interview with our very own Captain Yannick from our Atlantic-crossing on a 46′ catamaran in June of 2016. After all of the photos, stories, blog posts, even a two-hour movie that I have produced talking about our ocean-crossing, Yannick said he needed to “set the record straight.” Ha! He was really happy to do this interview, though, as it was an incredible adventure, such a learning process and an eye-opening experience, it’s definitely worth talking about. Yannick is also a very interesting, multifaceted guy with a lot of great insight and perspective and he shares a lot in this discussion about his boat-shopping process, recovering from the lightning strike and his thoughts and preparation for an ocean-crossing. Thank Jeffrey Wetting with Shooting the Breeze Podcast for putting this together by leaving him a review on iTunes. I hope you enjoy the interview.
Many thanks to Yannick again for letting Phillip and I and the infamous Johnny Walker join him for a life-changing, challenging, fulfilling voyage across the ocean. It brought back many memories hearing his French accent talking about our trip. We miss you Yannick!
Hey hey HaveWind followers! A real treat for you here. Crazy Annie, at it again. I get so excited talking about our wicked sail to Cuba I can hear myself running out of breath. It just bursts out of me. This is my first podcast interview post-Cuba, talking about our sail across the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Stream to Cuba as well as the repair process we went through at the shipyard to be able to make that voyage and some discussion of our Atlantic-crossing in 2016. I think I talked Jeffrey into interviewing Yannick. I know you’ll be excited to hear from our faithful French captain! I hope you enjoy this conversation. Thank Jeffrey Wetting with Shooting the Breeze Sailing Podcast for putting this together!
And cracks me up in the photo Jeffrey chose of me for his website. Looks like there’s a crew member behind me on Libra puking over the side. Ha ha. While that is not far-fetched when you Sail on Libra, that was Greg Spivey (hello Greg!) just leaning over to film the waterline with his GoPro. Hilarious what it looks like he’s doing though. Way to go Jeffrey! : )
If you have seen our Atlantic-crossing movie, I know you want to meet this man.
We’ve had so many followers and Patrons ask me so many questions after watching the movie: “Why non-stop?” “Why did you have so much trouble with the engines?” “What other spares would you have brought?” All valid questions that Phillip and I are happy to answer, but who better to ask than the Captain? Yannick definitely loves to talk about his boat and the lessons learned from the Atlantic-crossing and he has graciously agreed to offer up some of his time to share those with you, my followers. He is a very interesting man, with many diverse talents and pursuits and I’m excited for you all to get to know him better.
So, here’s the deal. We can only handle so many on a call. Just like the Patreon Skype session with Phillip and I discussing the Atlantic-crossing, we will open it up to the first ten folks to sign up. First come, first serve. Reach out to me in a comment below, or on Facebook or via email. GO! I will record the Q&A session like I did last time and share later with you all here so everyone will get the benefit of the discussion. Also, I will share with anyone who signs up to participate but who has not yet seen the Atlantic-crossing movie a link to view the movie for free so you all can watch it over Thanksgiving (while I’m voyaging to Isla Mujeres!) and start deciding what you would really like to ask Capt. Yannick about the voyage. You can also rent the movie ($2.99 on YouTube) here or Patrons get free viewing. The call will be Thursday Dec. 1st at noon, CST. (As Yannick is seven hours ahead, this seemed to be the only reasonable overlap of time that wouldn’t force him to give an interview at 2:00 a.m. his time. My hope was that any 9-5’ers who wanted to participate could take lunch at your desk and jump on the call.)
Thursday, Dec. 1st at 12:00 p.m. CST — Skype with Capt. Yannick
“What follows was one of the more fun-loving and honest interviews I’ve done in a while.” Those are Andy’s words and they mean the world to me. I am honored to be able to share this with you all, my podcast interview with Andy Schell from 59-North.com. I had been talking with Andy off and on for a little over a year about the two of us potentially teaming up on a joint project to create something both of our audiences would enjoy and Andy had the great idea to get the exclusive post trans-Atlantic interview from me. If Andy Schell asks, you say “yes” I can assure you, and so I did. And here it is: an intimate conversation with Andy Schell about my first ocean crossing. Please leave a review on iTunes to help Andy’s insightful conversations reach more sailors and share on Facebook as well. I hope you enjoy the interview.
Annie Dike is a reformed lawyer-turned-sailor – that is, she left the profession in her early 30s to pursue a more passionate life. Her and her partner Philip sail a Niagara 35 on the west coast of Florida, and they recently crossed the Atlantic to France on a high-tech Catamaran. Annie & I discussed how she left the lawyer world behind, what the Atlantic crossing was like for a first-time ocean sailor, her various movie projects, her friendship with Pam Wall & her passion for helping others pursue the cruising lifestyle.
Annie Dike is a truly interesting & inspiring character, and what follows was one of the more fun-loving and honest interviews I’ve done in a while. Annie has an infectious personality, and has been using her lawyer-like work ethic to offer cruising opportunities to other aspiring sailors. Mia & I recently teamed up with Annie to offer one of our offshore passages aboard Isbjorn to one of her fans – check out Annie’s Patreon page on patreon.com/havewindwilltravel for details.
Also, remember Andy and I have teamed up to offer one of YOU a chance to join Andy & Mia on one of their incredible offshore adventures. Become a Patron, read Andy’s offshore voyaging FAQs on his website and email me for a chance to win!
Hey there HaveWind followers! As you may have seen on Patreon on Facebook, Phillip and I recently hosted a Skype Q&A session with Patrons who had watched the movie from our Atlantic-crossing and had some questions about the boat, maintenance, provisioning, things that frightened us, things we learned, etc. While it is not a perfect recording (this was my first time hosting a group Skype) there are some great segments in here, primarily from Phillip, where we share our thoughts, lessons learned and experience from our first ocean-crossing aboard a catamaran. I thought you all might get a kick out of it. Yes, a kick. Enjoy!
Wow, this is REALLY exciting news! I reached out to Andy Schell a while back, mostly to say how much Phillip and I appreciate what he does and the stories and lessons learned that he shares through his podcasts at 59-North.com. Some of the conversations Andy has had with sailors are the most candid, revealing exchanges I have heard on any sailing podcast or platform.
When Andy finally made his way back to the Keys after his sail to CUBA, he wrote me back and magic happened. First, let me say how surprising it was to see his name in my inbox. If you’re a Star Wars fan, it would be like getting a direct email from George Lucas. Whoa. We talked about doing a potential interview and Andy said something to me that definitely stuck:
“I want to share the stories that have not yet been told.”
And he does. While Andy speaks with many well-known sailors, Pam Wall, John Kretschmer and the like, he also speaks to many not-so-well-known sailors, folks you have never heard of and have no idea what their sailing experience is. Why? Because he senses a story there, some intimate experience with the wisdom of the high seas, and he seeks to share that with his followers at 59-North. For this reason, Andy asked me for something I hadn’t yet considered. The writer in me knew this crossing would definitely provide a story not yet written, but Andy was also wise enough to see a story not yet told, which is why he asked for an exclusive. I am honored, humbled and excited to tell you he got it! While it may take a little time for Andy to record and produce it, the first place you will hear my trans-atlantic story will be with Andy Schell at 59-North.com.
You know as soon as the interview goes live, I will share the link to listen to it here. I can only imagine the lessons I will be learning (perhaps right now!) and the stories I will be savoring while we are out there sailing 4,000 nautical miles to France. Andy, you better have a big blank tape ready for this one!
What an honor! Tricia Leach from KeepYourDaydream travel podcasts reached out to me recently via my YouTube channel to ask for an interview with this crazy tool-slinging, shipyard graduate and we had a blast chatting last week. I was honored to be included among the ranks of Sailing Uma, Monday Never, that awesome Pizza-Pi Boat in St. Thomas, the infamous crew of s/v Delos and one of my absolute favs: Tasha Hacker with Chase the Story Sailing. (I want to be Tasha when I grow up!)
Tricia and her family are about to embark on a trek across the United States in an RV to see if she, the hubby and their three children can acclimate to a simpler, more satisfying life before they officially buy a boat, move aboard and cruise and she had a lot of questions about my transition to a more essentialist lifestyle. Tricia’s story in a nutshell (this definitely reminded me of my fat lawyer living, McMansion days) probably sounds very familiar to many of you:
There was no question that we had subscribed to the mentality of more, more, more. From the outside looking in … we had everything. At a cost. It was stressful to keep up with everything we had rationalized as things we needed. Over time, we referred to working as “feeding the shredder.” At the time, we didn’t realize we were associating our happiness with our achievements and possessions. But we knew we were not fulfilled. No matter how great the next thing was… the enjoyment only lasted until we got used to it as our new normal and then it was just another bill. The worst part is… we would have never stopped if it wasn’t for October of 2008 there’s no doubt we would still be in the pursuit of more. That’s when the stock market fell out of the sky and what that meant for us…60% of our bookings canceled in two months. We were forced to start making big decisions about what was really going to be prioritized. And after two years of a lot stress … the final big decision was, we’re not going continue to feed the shredder.
I hope you enjoy the interview! If you’re working toward a goal of more freedom, fun and fulfillment in your life, Tricia and I will both tell you: “Live Your Dream!”
Also, up on Patreon this week: a fun Meet the Crew post for the Atlantic-crossing crew and a virtual tour of the Soubise Freydis 46 we’ll be sailing on. Join the Journey!
