036 Hands Across the Sea

In this episode, we interview Harriett and TL Linskey who run a non-profit that brings books to schools and students in the Caribbean.   They cruise through the islands yearly on their 46 ft. catamaran and during the interview Harriett shares stories from their cruising history that goes back to the 1980’s when they cruised their self-built Bristol Channel Cutter from Mexico to Japan.  We also have a great discussion about their move from monohulls to a catamaran.

Listen to the podcast here or at the smartphone application links below:

Intro Chat

  • We have had a busy summer with sailing cruising trips to Dunnedin and Tarpon Springs, the Adult Summer Games event on Lake Toho, Cocoa Beach and Labor Day weekend at Ponce inlet / Disappearing Island, met some young sailor buying boats for very low cost and living on the water. And couple with 38ft meadowlark w/ lee boards, 8 1/2ft beam and draft 1 ½ ft. designed by Herreshoff.  Here are some pictures of the boats.
  • It is that time of year when the northerners have to pull and winterize the boats. Bummer. We are finally getting some boat projects done – waxed our blue hull, using a new ceramic coating – Hydro Silex

    It was really easy to apply and we will see how it performs to keep the oxidation from coming back.  We also replaced our fuel filter that was leaking.  Replacing the fuel lines and tank pickups is next.
  • My canoe build is almost done, but the final steps seem hardest to keep moving. Just need to install the seats, paint and varnish.  It is a Michael Storer Quick Canoe. 
  • We have a trip planned to visit Salt Lake City, Utah in Mid-October and drive up to Jackson Hole Wyoming, maybe Yellowstone national park in Montana, then back down to Park City, Utah.  Let us know if any listeners live in that area and want to meet.

Interview

Please join us in supporting a great cause to help the students get great books in the beautiful Caribbean Islands.

Image result for hands across the sea harriet

http://www.handsacrossthesea.net/

The ASA / Hands Across the Sea Sweepstakes – win a one-week, four-person bareboat charter in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Tobago Cays courtesy of ASA Affiliate Horizon Yacht Charters. Or you could win a luxurious seven-night stay for four (two rooms) at The Verandah Resort & Spa in Antigua or at the St. James’s Club, Morgan Bay, St. Lucia, courtesy of Elite Island Resorts.

Here are the bios for Harriett and TL Linskey:

Harriet Linskey
Executive Director • Hands Co-Founder

Harriet’s responsibilities include developing relationships in the Eastern Caribbean, fundraising, overseeing the CLASS program, setting up the logistics infrastructure, managing finances and working with donors, recipients, volunteers and board members. She is a trained secondary education teacher with five years of experience teaching English, Journalism, and Art History in New Zealand and Japan. At a rural secondary school in New Zealand, Harriet led the refurbishment of a dismal library and saw firsthand how the addition of new and relevant books can inspire all levels of readers. Before co-founding Hands Across the Sea, Harriet was for 18 years a marketing and sales executive. Harriet has a B. A. from Yale and a Diploma of Teaching from the Auckland College of Education, New Zealand.

Tom “T.L.” Linskey
Marketing Director • Hands Co-Founder

Tom Linskey uses his 30 years of writing, editing, and photography experience to design and update the Hands website and create print and video materials for Hands. Back in 1986 T.L. built his own sailboat and sailed it, with Harriet, from California to Mexico, the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. T.L. also raced sailboats; he was a three-time world champion crewman in the Olympic 470 class and a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Yachting team.  

TL’s great article in Cruising World about cruising catamarans : https://www.cruisingworld.com/why-cruise-catamaran

Sailing & Cruising News

  • to be updated

Product of the Week

We use this gel pad at the helm as a comfortable seat when we are cruising for hours at a time.  It helps improve the comfort or any cushion and the gel does not soak up water.

Sojoy iGelComfort Gel Seat Cushion

Please help us Support Podcast

We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:

It also helps when you share the podcast links on social media and sailing forums.

Patreon

If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us on our Patreon site and get some special rewards. Check it out at this link:

https://www.patreon.com/TheSailingRode

How it works:  Patreon is designed for you to support your favorite content creators.  You can support our podcast creations by signing up for various levels of support.  You can set a maximum monthly amount so if we release a lot of podcasts in one month, you still only pay your maximum amount.  In return, you get some rewards for your support.  It is kind of like giving us a tip or buying us a drink after a good show.

Thanks for listening and all your support!  We wish you fair winds and hope to see you on the water soon.

–  Steve & Brandy

The Sailing Rode / The Sailing Road

035 Salt & Tar

In this episode, we interview Ruth and Garrett from the Salt & Tar YouTube channel where they have spent the last three years building a traditional 35 foot gaff rigged ketch.

Listen to the podcast here or at the smartphone application links below:

Intro Chat

  • We have had some great recent boat trips – Bahamas, Clearwater with Ellie the Dog, and St. Augustine
  • We are getting ready for 4th of July holiday and hope to take the boat to the Dunnedin area on the west coast of Florida and up to Tarpon Springs to possibly do some scalloping.
  • Several projects we are working on the boar – sink drainage hose broke, boat needs wax, and repair trailer tires.
  • Steve is making great progress on his canoe build. He has been filming the process and that video should be on YouTube soon along with the last two years of trips we have on video just waiting to be edited!
  • Brandy is growing her fitness and nutrition business. We are working on a new website but if you are interested in a great program for eating better and staying in shape contact her at BrandyPayment@gmail.com or crew@thesailingrode.com

Just saw an article that says only 23% of the people in the United States get the recommended amount of exercise to stay healthy. It’s the end of June and if you said this was the year you were going to get in shape and you have not got that habit started yet , then get started this week.

Interview

I have been watching Ruth and Garrett from the Salt & Tar YouTube channel for about the last six months.  They are on the third year of building their own 35′ traditional wood gaff rigged ketch.  This will be their sixth boat and the are still in their 20’s.  We talk about how they have been able to buy fixer upper boats, do the work, and sell them for a profit to build up to their current boat.

You can see the design a Button #2 by George Buehler here.

Here are the links to:

The Salt and Tar YouTube channel

Buehler’s Backyard Boatbuilding for the 21st Century

 

Sailing & Cruising News

  • to be updated

Product of the Week

We recently upgraded the queen size foam mattress on our boat and it is awesome.  The mattress was recommended by some friends who bought it on Amazon for the boat and it is super comfy.  We have had several trips with the new mattress and we get a great nights sleep.

Best Mattress 6″ Memory Foam Mattress


Amazon Prime Video of the Week

Great free sailing movies if you are an Amazon Prime Member

We talked about the 1968 Golden Globe Race,  the first solo non-stop around the world sailing race, in the sailing news.  Deep Water is a documentary of that race and it is a great story.

Link to Deep Water on Amazon Video

Please help us Support Podcast

We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:

It also helps when you share the podcast links on social media and sailing forums.

Patreon

If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us on our Patreon site and get some special rewards. Check it out at this link:

https://www.patreon.com/TheSailingRode

How it works:  Patreon is designed for you to support your favorite content creators.  You can support our podcast creations by signing up for various levels of support.  You can set a maximum monthly amount so if we release a lot of podcasts in one month, you still only pay your maximum amount.  In return, you get some rewards for your support.  It is kind of like giving us a tip or buying us a drink after a good show.

Thanks for listening and all your support!  We wish you fair winds and hope to see you on the water soon.

–  Steve & Brandy

The Sailing Rode / The Sailing Road

034 Sarah Steenland – The Cruising Cartoonist

Image result for sarah steenland sea monkey

In this episode, we interview Sarah Steenland, The Cruising Cartoonist and her kids as they cruise Southeast Asia.   We have some more sailing / cruising news and our featured product will help make sure you never have to worry about expired signal flares.

Listen to the podcast here or at the smartphone application links below:

Intro Chat

We have we been? Last show was after hurricane Irma last September.   As much as we wanted to get some shows out, we have been too busy with other activities.  We have done a couple boat trips, Cocoa beach area, St. Johns river trip over new years weekend. Gasparilla pirate weekend in Indian Rocks Beach.  Steve even built a cannon for the boat! No wonder we don’t put out podcasts!

Steve took over two additional areas at work so he is spending a lot of time in Atlanta and Nashville.

And we have been busy with non-boat travel with trips to the Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Las Vegas

We have an upcoming trip to the Abacos in the Bahamas, Marsh Harbour and Hope Town / Elbow Cay

Steve re-started work on his sailing canoe and we hope to be sailing it before year end.

Brandy receive great news on her leukemia and we are praying that she will be off her medication by the end of the year and truly cancer free!

Brandy started a new health and fitness business.  If you are interested in a great workout and nutrition program then send her a note at crew@thesailingrode.com

Our Amazon store is being rebuilt. Check it out at the link in the menu at the top of our site.  Let us know if it works better for you and if you have any products your recommend for us to include.

Sarah Steenland – The Cruising Cartoonist

Sarah and her family are cruising Southeast Asia in their boat Sea Monkey

Image result for sarah steenland sea monkey morgan

Check out all her  Coconut Telegraph cruising cartoons and really cool website here.

Get all the latest updates on the family’s cruising adventures and their environmental projects on Sydney and Indy’s Sea Monkey Broadcasting News!

 

Sailing & Cruising News

Product of the Week

We recently realize our emergency flares were expired on the boat.  In fact they were expired over a year. Luckily we were never stopped by the Coast Guard.  Since we do all coastal cruising, we decided a new LED distress flare from Weems and Plath. They never expire and run on a couple standard “C” batteries. We kept the expired aerial flares as they will likely still work, but it is nice not to have to worry about expired flares.


Amazon Prime Video of the Week

Great free sailing movies if you are an Amazon Prime Member

The Weekend Sailor is a great sailing documentary about the 1974 around the world race and the unlikely entry from a mexican businessman and his family.  Brandy and I really enjoyed it.

Please help us Support Podcast

We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:

It also helps when you share the podcast links on social media and sailing forums.

Patreon

If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us on our Patreon site and get some special rewards. Check it out at this link:

https://www.patreon.com/TheSailingRode

How it works:  Patreon is designed for you to support your favorite content creators.  You can support our podcast creations by signing up for various levels of support.  You can set a maximum monthly amount so if we release a lot of podcasts in one month, you still only pay your maximum amount.  In return, you get some rewards for your support.  It is kind of like giving us a tip or buying us a drink after a good show.

Thanks for listening and all your support!  We wish you fair winds and hope to see you on the water soon.

–  Steve & Brandy

The Sailing Rode / The Sailing Road