Colm Walker, Pacific Mexico to France, The Mental Components of Sailing Offshore
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Release Date: 10/12/2026
Bouncing Back from Losing a Boat, Dave and Beth Mortell, Sailing Life Warriors
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
After many years of preparation, Dave and Beth Mortell bought a catamaran and took off with their daughter Landon and their two dogs. But tragedy struck early and they lost their boat to a fire in The Bahamas. Instead of giving up the dream, they bounced back, bought a Leopard 45 and took off from Florida again, sailing the Caribbean, Panama, and the South Pacific. They were in New Caledonia when I interviewed them. We talk about New Caledonia, clearing in to the Loyalty Islands, Sail Time and learing to sail, starting a boat fund with $200, kids on a boats, homeschooling, international...
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Colm Walker, Pacific Mexico to France, The Mental Components of Sailing Offshore
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Colm Walker was signed up to race in the Golden Globe Race (GGR), but was not able to make the start. He was in Mexico the last time he was on the show, then sailed to Panama, through the canal, and all the way to France, solo and nonstop, in his Tayana 37. We talk about the GGR competitors, Matthew Wright's Galicia a Galicia circumnavigation, the mental strain of being stuck in light air, sailing through squalls, suffering from the desire to be somewhere else, his decision not to do the GGR (this year), sailing into the Sitran fleet on his way in to Les Sables d'Olonne, leaks in his boat,...
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The Mental Strain of Solo Sailing, GGR Compilation
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
The Golden Globe Race (GGR) is underway again. Many of the skippers from past and present races have been on the podcast. In this episode, I have made a compilation of past GGR racers talking about the mental strain of the race, storms, and other difficult situations. Included are Ertan Beskardes, Guy Waites, Simon Curwen, Kirsten Neuschafer, Elliot Smith, and Pat Lawless. Photos and links are on the Support the show through Shop for or sell sailboats at Get marine electrical help from Shop LED navigation lights at
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Ambre Hasson, Sailing Solo Across the Atlantic in the 2025 Mini Transat and Returning in a Class 40
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Ambre Hasson learned to sail in 2020, then after owning a small cruising boat, she decided to train for the Mini Transat. She got the ball rolling, but lost her boat while qualifying for the 2023 Mini Transat race. Ambre persisted, got a new boat, prepared it, qualified, and completed the 2025 Mini Transat. She then sailed acrtoss the Atlatic back to France, her home country, in a Class 40. We talk about the 2025 Mini Transat, hiding from a hurricane in Peniche, Portugal, whales, hand-steering, tuning your autopilot, hand-steering pros and cons, why planing boats don't use windvane autopilots,...
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Tim Skillman,"Looped," Sailing in Search of a Mid-Life Awakening
Offshore Sailing and Cruising with Paul Trammell
Tim Skillman is a long-time sailor and author of "Looped: from the Staits of Mackinac to the Bitter End," a book about his mid-life-crisis journey from the Great Lakes down the Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers to the Gulf of Mexico and on to the Virgin Islands on a Cheoy Lee 53. We talk about growing up racing small boats in Michigan, buying an Erickson 46, the secret to not getting burned out on maintaining a boat, lunch with Richard Branson, meeting his future wife on the beach, the journey down from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, walking away from his career and...
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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...
info_outlineColm Walker was signed up to race in the Golden Globe Race (GGR), but was not able to make the start. He was in Mexico the last time he was on the show, then sailed to Panama, through the canal, and all the way to France, solo and nonstop, in his Tayana 37.
We talk about the GGR competitors, Matthew Wright's Galicia a Galicia circumnavigation, the mental strain of being stuck in light air, sailing through squalls, suffering from the desire to be somewhere else, his decision not to do the GGR (this year), sailing into the Sitran fleet on his way in to Les Sables d'Olonne, leaks in his boat, plans to do the 2030 GGR, the Golden Globe Race family, solitude, solo sailing - who enjoys it and who does not, GGR history, the point at which we feel the exhale, the passage from Mexico to Panama, sailing with an incomplete sail wardrobe, building confidence offshore, the Panama Canal, using an agent to transit the canal, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, Guy Waites, the pass/fail mental aspect of the GGR, his passage from Panama through the Caribbean and on to France, the Windward Passage, Cuba, rough weather, sailing downwind, slowing down and dealing with difficult situations, lightning, navigation, celestial navigation, sailing without modern instruments, different reasons people enjoy sailing, a solar eclpise, listening to the boat, letting the boat swing, the zen of sailing offshore, meditation, letting go of attachment and suffering, preparing mentally for long offshore passanges like the GGR, having an external dialogue with yourself, the importance of not rushing, Spain and Portugal, a dream boat, the Mini Globe Race, and more.