Self-sufficiency is one of the most important and attractive aspects of long-distance sailing, and a proper toolkit is arguably the most important step towards achieving it. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to add your own arguments and to continue the discussion. First two weeks free!…

Quarterdeck Member Morgan Hunter reached out to ask us about sail plans for Catamarans, and we invited him on the podcast for a conversation on the topic with sail plan pundit Andy Schell! Check out Morgan and his many projects on skylarksailing.com. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to add your own arguments and to contin…

Our amazing bosun Adam Browne returns to the podcast to talk to August about the latest and greatest upgrades and modifications that he recently worked on aboard ISBJØRN! Many new and exciting things happening on the boat! -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to add your own arguments and to continue the discussion. First two…

The Quarterdeck Sailing Podcast is back! ISBJØRN is about to have her mast stepped after having spent the winter in a cozy warm shed, and Andy and August takes a moment to remind themselves about best practises when you go to tune your rig up for the season. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to add your own arguments and t…

Andy and August talk offshore weather routing, with FALKEN's recent trip to Greenland as a case study. They discuss how to think about forecasts, considering alternatives, implications on comfort and crew morale, what to prioritize, and how it's different for racers and cruisers. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to add yo…

Andy Schell and his crew just returned to port after Falken's last sail of the year. They sailed through the Gulf of Cadiz - A stretch of water that offers a new and unique challenge to mariners in the form of attacking orcas! August and Andy talks about how to to deal with the attacks, as well as the moral implications of it all. -- Join us on The…

The Quarterdeck Podcast is back! It will feature conversations about projects and issues from the top of the 59 North agenda, providing some insight into our work and our decision making process. Going forward, we’ll release weekly episodes any time “On the Wind” is between seasons. So we’ll be there in your ears every Tuesday every week all the ti…

For the last debate of this season, we take a big step back and ask the big question: The sights, sounds and cultural input of coastal cruising? Or the freedom, desolation and peace of offshore sailing? Nikki Henderson and August Sandberg randomly pick a side in this heated discussion, and tries to convince the other, and the audience, of which is …

When the wind is light and abaft the beam, what you want is a spinnaker. But what type of spinnaker? Nikki Henderson and August Sandberg randomly pick a side in this heated discussion, and tries to convince the other, and the audience, of which is the best version of sailing. Will they succeed? Will they stay on topic? Will the debate devolve into …

The more the merrier? Safer? Faster? Or just more expensive, crowded and annoying? Nikki Henderson the extrovert and August Sandberg the introvert randomly pick a side in this heated discussion, and tries to convince the other, and the audience, of which is the best version of sailing. Will they succeed? Will they stay on topic? Will the debate dev…

Are bananas the perfect food offshore, or are they inherently dangerous? Nikki Henderson and August Sandberg randomly pick a side in this heated discussion, and tries to convince the other, and the audience, of which is the best version of sailing. Will they succeed? Will they stay on topic? Will the debate devolve into crying and name-calling? Cli…

Cruising or Racing - which is better? Nikki Henderson and August Sandberg randomly pick a side in this heated discussion, and tries to convince the other, and the audience, of which is the best version of sailing. Will they succeed? Will they stay on topic? Will the debate devolve into crying and name-calling? Click play to find out! -- Join us on …

Monohulls or cats - which is better? Nikki Henderson and August Sandberg randomly pick a side in this heated discussion, and tries to convince the other, and the audience, of which is the ideal number of hulls. Will they succeed? Will they stay on topic? Will the debate devolve into crying and name-calling? Click play to find out! -- Join us on The…

Welcome back to the second debate of this season of the Quarterdeck Sailing Podcast! Nikki Henderson and August Sandberg will randomly pick a side in a contentious sailing topic, and then go toe to toe and see who can make the best case for or against! In this second episode, Nikki and August argue which is better: wheels, or tillers. -- Join us on…

Welcome back to a new season of the Quarterdeck Sailing Podcast! This time around, we are doing debates! Nikki Henderson and August Sandberg will randomly pick a side in a contentious sailing topic, and then go toe to toe and see who can make the best case for or against! In this first one, Nikki and August argue whether they should go to the marin…

Time has come for us to cross the line and explore the very south of the southern hemisphere. Nikki makes a call to sailing explorers Sophie O'Neill and Christoffer Kobusch, who just sailed FALKEN into Antigua. The background of tropical birdcalls is a stark contrast to their vivid descriptions of nature's grandest performance - Antarctica. -- Join…

Laura Parent is representing 59 North on the Pacific coast of the US, and teaches sailing on the famous bay. She knows a lot about the waters, culture and history of the area, and thoroughly convinces August to come visit. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to continue the conversation, and to access the resources mentioned…

Crammed with history, boats and sailing culture, the south coast of England is a perfect cruising destination. Nikki Henderson grew up in the area, and shares her vast knowledge about tides, weather and navigation, as well as favourite events and marinas. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to continue the conversation, and …

Svalbard is a different cruising ground all together. Icebergs, polar bears, cold and isolation are just a few of the challenges - and allures - of this arctic archipelago. Isbjørn skipper Jon Amtrup has seen them all, and met up with August in Bergen to share his vast knowledge. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform, to contin…

This week, we set sail for the Chesapeake Bay in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US with Andy Schell. Andy shares his personal connection to the Bay, where his love for sailing first took root. Hear about his favorite spots, the unique local culture, and the challenges and rewards of sailing there. No doubt one of America's most iconic cruising dest…

In this episode, we venture to the stunning west coast of Sweden with Mia Karlsson! Listen in as we discuss the unique beauty of the Swedish archipelago, the challenges of sailing in the area, and the rich culture and history of the region. Don't miss this chance to explore one of the world's most picturesque sailing destinations with a passionate …

In this season on the Quarterdeck Sailing Podcast, we talk to members of the 59 North team about their favorite cruising grounds, and get them to share their tips, tricks and hidden gems. First out is August, sharing his knowledge about the streets of his childhood - The Fjords and islands of the Norwegian West coast. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK,…

Whisker poles, telescoping poles, spinnaker poles, carbon poles, alluminium poles, fixed height poles, large poles, slim poles, pink poles - OK we are getting a bit carried away - but there really are a lot of different types of poles onboard! For many sailors, the pole is a mysterious long object that sits on the deck and does little more than stu…

Grab a drink and a handhold, and join Mia Karlsson and Nikki Henderson for a chat on heeling! Unless you sail a multi-hull, 'life-on-a-heel' is an unavoidable fact of life. Heeling is a love//hate type thing: some think heeling contributes to the 'romance' of sailing; others find being heeled over a gut wrenching and deeply uncomfortable aspect of …

CHAFE - you might be thinking that's a narrow subject area? But when you really dig into it, chafe and chafe avoidance is so critical to life at sea where everything but everything is always moving whether you want it to or not. Chafe isn't limited to just running rigging - we also need to avoid chafe on piping, standing rigging, the deck, the inte…

Part 2 of our 'crew overboard' deep dive! Now we get to the more difficult bit - how to get someone back onboard. This is really a two part procedure: How to get the boat back to the person, and then how to get the person back on the boat. There is of course countless scenarios which alter the exact procedure, but we will endeavour to give you a ba…

Andy Schell and Nikki Henderson talks MOB this week! This is the first half of the discussion on the bigger topic of people falling overboard. So before we discuss how to rescue anyone, it seems sensible to first discuss how to stop them from falling in in the first place. Of course we have not got full control onboard of anyone or anything so cann…

The water system possibly works harder than anything else onboard - every day, every crew member will use it multiple times. And it keeps us alive too! So it's arguably the most important system to understand. We discuss how to properly maintain your water system (that's piping, tanks, filling hoses, filters, pumps and taps), how to trouble shoot c…

We're back! Nikki and August are kicking off a new round of Quarterdeck Podcast episodes with a discussion on fuel line issues.. Inspired by resent events aboard our Swan 48 Isbjørn. Fuel is toxic, flammable and expensive, and can cause some real headaches (hah) when it gets loose. How can you fix fuel line problems, or better yet, prevent them fro…

Last episode of 2023! Nikki & Andy discuss ways to make sail handling and your sail inventory optimal for short-handed crews (think 2-4 sailors on a passage). We discuss which sails you should consider having in your wardrobe and how to handle them at sea. This is the final episode of 2022 - we're back in late January or early February with more ne…

Chef de cuisine (and 59 North Bosun!) Adam Browne joins the gang this week to talk galley optimization. Adam, in a prior life, worked for 15 years as a chef at chalets in the Alps, on superyachts, and indeed as 59 North mate. He, Nikki, Andy, Mia & Emma talk about how to best design a new galley, how to make the one you have work better, favorite t…

Happy Holidays! Nikki, Mia & Emma sit down by the fire to talk about Christmas. Specifically, what they're favorite Christmas presents for sailors are, to give, and to get! -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on video on the Quart…

Andy & Nikki dive deep on electrical systems and calculating electrical consumption. Specifically we are looking for answers to the following: How to calculate the draw of your domestic circuit onboard? How that relates to the required size of the domestic battery bank? How to then decide what your charging regime should be? -- Join us on The QUART…

Nikke Henderson & Andy Schell take a deep dive on anchors & anchoring systems (aka 'ground tackle'). Which anchor should I choose? How long should the chain be? What weight should I be looking for? What material should it be made of? Is bigger always better? These are just some of the questions we discuss, with the aim of taking some of the mystery…

Nikki, Andy & Adam are live and in-person from Gosport, England, where Nikki leads a discussion on safety briefings. How to think about them, inshore versus offshore thoughts, how to make people take safety seriously (but not too seriously) and how we've done it onboard the 59 North boats, and how Nikki has leds them on racing boats, including the …

Andy & Emma continue on last week's rig topic by discussing how to inspect your mast and rigging. We talk about timing of rig inspections - preparation, pre-departure, and at-sea - and what to look for at each stage of the inspection process. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. Fir…

59 North Skipper Nikki Henderson is joined by Chief Mate Emma Garschagen to go deep on rig climbing for sailors. They discuss all the details you want to know about safely going aloft ashore and at sea, including proper equipment and techniques, what tools to carry aloft, how not to fall, how to overcome the fear of mast climbing, how to communicat…

Emma talks to 59 North Bosun Adam Browne & his wife Laura (one of our graphic designers!) about their electrified Hallberg-Rassy 312 YELLOW MATILDA. Adam & Laura repowered with a fully-electric system from Finnish-made Ocean Volt, and Emma gets the full story on why they did it and how it's working out. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's ne…

Andy, Lee & Adam talk props on this week's episode. We discuss how to decide what to optimize for - sailing performance, motoring performance or efficiency - and then how the decisions kind of make themselves once you know the mission. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First …

Andy, Adam & Lee chat about the boat designs in the 2022 Golden Globe round-the-world race, which set off from France last week on Sept. 4. Though the rules are very strict in what boats qualify for the historic re-enactment type event, there remains quite a bit of variablity between them. We examine that variability, then talk about our favorite d…

Andy Schell & Nikki Henderson spend an hour talking about anchoring! This episode was prompted by a Quarterdeck article asking "Are Anchor Alarms Seamanlike?", which of course led us down the rabbit hole on seamanlike anchoring in general. We touch on all aspects of anchoring from gear selection to finding the best spots and share some of our best …

Nikki Henderson and 59 North's Bosun Adam Browne discuss the challenges of time management during an extensive refit, highlighting how we're handling it on FALKEN. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! This podcast is recorded LIVE on video on the Quarterdec…

Andy & Nikki talk about how they got to know each other and what Nikki's new full-time role will be with 59 North! -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of seamanship. First two weeks free! -- This podcast is recorded LIVE on the Quarterdeck, so members can watch the show as it happens, ask que…

Nikki, Andy, Mia and August are all together under the same roof in Bergen! And doing a LIVE podcast on ship's electronics and navigation systems! We are currently discussing how to set up the electronics on our new flagship FALKEN from scratch, and have many exciting things to figure out. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platf…

Our boats have many crucial and complex systems that needs to be inspected and maintained regularly, lest they rust or rot away. But our most important systems by far are made of meat and bone. What are the best ways to take care of your precious crew? -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we dive deep on the art of s…

Andy & Emma discuss the current happenings onboard FALKEN during her refit in the UK. Andy traveled to Gosport, England last week to check in on the progress and make some key decisions in the FALKEN project. He recaps with Emma what's happened since the boat went into the shed, and spends a fair bit of time discussing the propane versus induction/…

This week, we will tackle an excellent question that we received from Quarterdeck member and Isbjørn crewmember Knut Nesheim: "What is the best way to build the skills needed for cruising?" Like many others, Knut is planning to sail off over the horizon in the near future, and is wondering how he should prepare himself. How much do you need to know…

This week, August is joined by Jon Amtrup, who is going to skipper ISBJØRN along with him to the Arctic this summer! They discuss the route, the destinations, and challenges. Jon is a great guy, a very accomplished sailor, and if you don’t already know him, we recommend listening to Episode 195 of the “On the Wind” podcast, where Andy Interviewed J…

These days, Andy and the 59 North team is pondering the sail plan and sail inventory for our new Farr 65 FALKEN, and is very excited to talk about it. Sails, balance, redundancy.. Let's all get together for a huge, virtual group hug and tumble down this rabbit hole together. -- Join us on The QUARTERDECK, 59º North's new online platform where we di…

August and this week's special guest Ben Doerr are both big fans of the high latitudes and of winter sailing. Too many sailors wrap up and mothball their boats in the wintertime, missing out on fantastic cold weather sailing experiences. But it is not without its unique challenges. How different is cold weather sailing from a Caribbean charter, and…