Sailing around New York City, Maintenance, Licensing and Operating an Offshore Charter Business, Capt. Ryan Rayfield, Sail Libra
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Captain Ryan Rayfield runs , an offshore sailing charter operation aboard a 60' ketch built in 1969 by Abeking & Rasmussen and designed by William H. Tripp Jr. Based in Newport, RI. They sail around New England, to Bermuda, to the Caribbean, and will sail to the Azores and Portugal in 2027. Ryan is a USCG-licensed STCW A-2 Internationally endorsed captain. We talk about sailing from Newport around Long Island Sound and New York City, the East River closure when the UN is in session, anchoring in NYC, a failure of the exhaust anti-siphoning valve and fixing the resulting problem with water...
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Pure Yachts, Jan von der Bank, Top-Shelf High-Performance Aluminum Cruising Yachts
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Pure Yachts is a new German shipyard based in Kiel, northern Germany, building high-performance aluminum cruising yachts featuring hydraulic-lift keel systems, modern planing hull lines, and the use of lightweight composite materials for the interior components. Their boats use the highest quality aluminium and top-shelf components to make them long lasting, secure and fit for world-wide bluewater cruising and high-latitude expeditions. We talk about sailing in the Baltic Sea, the details of the yachts they build, custom hatches, precision design and boat building, boat performance in various...
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Richard and Judith Crigan, Spain, the Balearics, Sailing Naturally in the Mediterranean
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Richard and Judith sail a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410. They were on the show in June of 2025 and have a YouTube Chanel "Sailing Helios" and a Vimeo chanel "Sailing Helios Naturally," where they may or may not be clothed. Richard and Judith were in Cartagen, Spain when I spoke with them, and we talk about Cartagena and the marina, learning foreign languages, the people and culture in Spain, whether to stay longer in the Med or go to the Caribbean, the pros and cons of visiting new places vs familiar places, the Balearics, Air B&B and how it's changed the tourism industry, storms in the...
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Olivia Wyatt, Namibia, the Skeleton Coast, and Seven Years of Bliss on a Panda 34
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
You might remember Olivia Wyatt from . She sails a Robert Perry Panda 34 solo and has been sailing around the world visiting remote places and documenting indigenous people in her . We talk about Namibia and why she loves it, the magical landscape, the wildlife, Walvis Bay, language, clearing in to various countries, a roller-furling problem and how she dealt with it, foul weather in the Indian Ocean, locking the wheel while using the Hydrovane, a spirit that lives in her boat, guiding voices, freediving, nitrogen narcosis, the lemurs of madagascar, sailing solo and when a second person...
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Diana Vega, First Mate in The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Diana Vega was the first mate aboard Team UNICEF in the 2025-2026 Clipper Round The Wolrd Yacht Race, a circumnavigation on one-design 70' ocean racing yachts with professional skippers and amateur crew. Diana grew up sailing in Cowes, started sailing professionally during the pandemic, and went on to crew in the Solent and Caribbean. She co-skippered the Clipper Race with skipper Guy Waites. The race started in Portsmouth, UK, then stopped in Spain, Uruguay, South Africa, West Australia, East Australia, The Phillipines, China, South Korea, Seattle, Panama, Washington DC, Scotland, and back to...
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Cruising Cuba
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
MIke and Danielle live aboard their Catalina 34 in La Paz Mexico. They recently bought another boat, a 1999 Catalina 42, in Virginia and sailed her to Panama, where I met them. On the way, they were forced to stop in Cuba to fix their motor and were able to explore and cruise a bit. We talk about their boat, Panama, poisonous snakes, immigration in the US and the current political climate, discovering surf breaks, sailing down the US East Coast, sailing to Cuba, entering and clearing in to Cuba, the Cuban people, the embargo, politics, Castro, propaganda, Cuban fishermen,...
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Exploring Alaska with Allison and James
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Allison and James bought a Catalina 30 just a few years ago, taught themselves how to sail, and took off to explore Alaska. We talk about meeting and deciding to make plans to buy a boat, learn to sail, and explore Alaska by boat; their boat, a 1979 Catalina 30, Uintah; going from an airstream to a sailboat, setting sailing goals, learning by the school of hard knocks, wheel vs tiller, towing the sailboat by rowing a dinghy, sinking and on fire, Desolation Sound, making the call to go on the first adventure, solar and batteries, lifting the anchor without a windlass, sheet-to-tiller...
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Sailing a Norseman 447 from Florida to The Bahamas and Panama, Brendan and Channel Moore
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Brendan and Channel Moore live aboard and sail a Norseman 447. They recently sailed from Florida to The Bahamas and on to Panama. We talk about sailing across the Gulf Stream to The Bahamas, a leaking hatch, clearing in to The Bahamas in Great Cay - Berry Islands, other islands in The Berrys, fishing, the new fishing permit in The Bahamas, sharks, the San Blas islands, barracudas, trouble with the starter, a fierce squall while at anchor, trouble at Highbourne Cay, anchoring and scope, setting 2 anchors, sailing from Great Inagua to Panama in June, losing the autopilot, trees and fishing...
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Brian Hathaway, Circumnavigating on a Hunter 44DS
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Brian Hathaway was in Marina del Rey, California, where he left from in February 2022 at the beginning of his circumnavigation, during this intervierw, after completing a circumnavigation on his Hunter 44 DS. We talk about how a circumnavigation changes you, what it's like to complete one, readjusting to life in civilization, staying at a marina in California vs Mexico, haul-out facilities, an incident with a crazy doc worker at a marina, choosing a Hunter to circumnavigate and all the doubters, the pros and cons of a production boat, running warps, drogues, weather routing, weather...
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Gaurav Shinde, Lake Ontario, India, and a Life-Changing Shoulder Injury
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Gaurav Shinde lives and sails on Lake Ontario in Toronto, Canada. He was entered in the 2022 GGR with "Good Hope," his Baba 35, but injured his shoulder on the way to France and had to drop out of the race. His need for adventure was cultivated by his late grandfather at a very early age, starting with climbing and hiking in the Western Ghats of India. Gaurav was introduced to sailing at the Sea Cadet Corps Training Ship Jawahar and found what he was born to do. After winning several offshore sailing championships in India, Gaurav decided to take on the challenge of the Clipper Round The...
info_outlineGuy deBoer is preparing for the Golden Globe Race, which starts in September, and will try to be the first American to win a solo nonstop circumnavigation race. He was in the 2022 GGR, but went aground on a reef on Fuerteventura. He has since repaired the boat, Spirit, a Tashiba 36 and is entered in the race again.
We talk about the preparations he has been making to his boat, his two different windvane autopilots, his rig, his sails, bottom paint, different racing strategies (compared to 2022), his GGR tactical handbook - which he developed, the other skippers, the evolution of the race, the GGR compared to the Vendee Globe, how to win the race, avoiding bad decisions, avoiding ships, AIS, the rules, repairing his boat, The Canary Islands, delivering a Swan 57 from the Exumas to Rhode Island, celestial navigation, and more.
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