The Mariner

The Mariner Podcast #49: A Maxi by Any Other Name.

There has been a break in the podcast due to me travelling to Europe to pick up a new boat for the Veteran's Sailing Program, but I'm back now and what a story I have to tell! Nothing's ever simple with boats!
Grab a cup of tea and sit yourself down and have a listen to the first part of my tale- just getting to the boat through Covid Lockdown travel restrictions, then losing my financing, then crazy contractual wrangling, cross country drives over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, extreme project triage and a final workable solution which did not resemble in anyway the plan we had at the outset.
It's good old fashioned problem solving nightmare and another stage in my education that maintenance of the overall objective despite critical set backs is all that counts.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
CSM
 
 
 
 

The Mariner Podcast #48: How to Recover a Man Overboard

This episode I announce the winners of the Patreon prize draw which gives three lucky listeners the opportunity to join me on board one of our race boats in the next year to compete in either a major race, regatta or transatlantic event! 
After that we get into the main subject of this episode - man overboard. 
I take you in depth through the procedure I have been taught and now teach to recover someone from the water with the emphasis being on making each stage understandable and transparently logical as part of an overarching strategy to recover the victim before they succumb to hypothermia or drowning.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
CSM
 
 
 
 

#46 | Sailing Alone Around the World | Chapters 13 & 14

In this episode I continue reading Capt. Joshua Slocum's excellent narrative of his solo circumnavigation of the world in 1895.
In Chapters 13 &14 Slocum leaves Samoa, sailing to Australia and then Tasmania.  Australia is an opportunity for Slocum to relax a little- he is on the far side of the world from his starting point in Boston and is once again amongst friends and those who know of his voyage, many of whom are keen to assist him. 
He decides at this point to take a Northerly route around Queensland and head to the trade winds blowing West through the Torres Strait rather than going around Cape Leeuwin to the South.  This affords Slocum time to visit a number of ports, raise some much needed funds and enjoy the cruise North through the Great Barrier Reef.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
CSM
 
 
 

#46 | ABC of Sailing | D is for Damage

In this episode we explore D is for Damage and as always it's me shooting right from the hip discussing this crucial subject as we would sat on the deck of your boat with a cup of tea.  I am unapologetic for tangents and spurious information but the deal here is to plumb what exactly a 'pro' sailor is meant to know should things go sideways.
I discuss, use of 'Mayday', grounding, keel damage, losing the rig & cutting it away, fire, collision, bilge-pumping and lots more! So, grab a cup of tea, sit yourself down and lets explore D is for Damage.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
CSM
 
 
 

The Mariner Podcast #45: Questions & Tangents 4

As always Questions & Tangents 5 hovers close to the optimal track suggested by this week's listener questions before tacking off onto a flyer to 'knock the corners' with whatever happens to be floating through my head!
Topics include (but are not limited to!): Hydrogen Fuel for boats, Synthetic rigging on cruising boats, anchoring, setting the depth sounder correctly and delivering Longobarda home to Nova Scotia this summer.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
Chris
 
 
 
 
 

The Mariner Podcast #44: The Northwest Passage

In this episode I discuss the strange story of Dr. John Rae, a man struck from history by the wife of the famous/infamous Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin.
Rae's brilliant cartography expeditions to the far North of Canada in the mid 1800's not only identified the last part of the puzzle of transiting the Northwest passage but also revealed the final fate of Franklin's Arctic expedition that had been lost 10 years before.  However, it was a terrible truth that no one wanted to hear about and a macabre reality that Franklin's estate strove hard to obfuscate- to the point that 170 years later  very few people even know of the exploits of one of the most successful Arctic explorers of that age.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
Chris
 
 
 
 
 

The Mariner Podcast #43: C is for Cooking

The episode we explore the third subject of our on-going 'ABC of Boating' with C is for Cooking. Food, food preparation and its effect on crew morale, decision making ability, accident avoidance, emotional rationality and overall performance (whether cruising or racing)cannot be under estimated.
Cooking can be the make or break element on a an offshore passage and is something I take extremely seriously as a skipper. In this episode I discuss all the aspects that come to my mind 'off the cuff' when it comes to food from the perspective of someone who has eaten and prepared literally thousands of meals afloat.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
Chris
 
 
 

The Mariner Podcast #42: Review- Helly Hansen 'Aegir' Ocean Waterproofs

This episode I discuss the early origins of waterproof clothing and the designs that have developed over the centuries to a point were, now- we at least 'expect' to be dry when it rains!
To bring things right up to date, I also review Helly Hansen's 'Aegir' Ocean Waterproofs -which are at the cutting edge of heavy duty offshore sailing gear and have been kindly supplied by Helly Hansen as part of their sponsorship of my Westabout Circumnavigation.
But don't worry- 'Sponsored' does not mean 'perfect' :)
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of about 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
Chris
 
 
 

The Mariner Podcast #41: Sailing Alone Around the World, Chapters 11 & 12

In this episode I continue reading Capt. Joshua Slocum's excellent narrative of his solo circumnavigation of the world in 1895.
In chapters 11 & 12 Slocum starts out first in Juan Fernandez ,where he visits the cave the Alexander Selkirk lived in for four years and four months, a story that became the inspiration for 'Robinson Crusoe'  Next Slocum sails 72 days non-stop to Apia in Samoa where he meets the Fanny Van de Graf Louis Stevenson (!) the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Just before you go....
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $5 per month option.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book with me here: Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
If you have any questions please send them to: csmthemariner@gmail.com 
Cheers,
CSM
 
 
 

The Mariner Podcast #40: Questions & Tangents 3

This episode I read listener's questions and then proceed to talk abut whatever comes into my head working on the basis that if it is somewhat related to sailing we will all enjoy the process!! Sometimes, amid the tangents I even end up answering the question! Miracle of miracles !:)
If you have any questions you would like answering please send them to csmthemariner@gmail.com 
 
If you recognize that creating this content requires hours of effort and you would like to help support for the equivalent of 25 cents per episode please visit my Patreon Site and select the $2 per month option.
If you are looking to develop your seamanship skills and take your sailing knowledge & safety to a more advanced level I run an On-Line Seamanship Training Program which gives you access to four 30 minute videos each month that deep-dive into a broad range of subjects from Ropework to Naval Architecture, Electronic Navigation, Sail Trim, Composite Repair. The lessons come out once a week and the minimum commitment to have access to all of them is $20 per month.
If you want to get out on the water on a race, regatta or training voyage you can book any number of trips in the Caribbean, American North East, Europe and even Transatlantic trips; year round with Spartan Ocean Racing & Training
Cheers,
CSM