This week we have a chat with Jim Woods about his plans for a trip in 2027 from Hobart to the Louisiades in his beautiful Cray Boat, the MARGARET PEARL. Jim talks about preparing a Bass strait boat for the tropics, how to manage the fuel supply issues, what keeps him awake at night and why he’s undertaking this great adventure.

This Part 2 of our article on our sailing ship pilgrimage to Scandinavia takes up the story as we commenced our Swedish/Finnish itinerary in southern Sweden. Sweden is a very maritime nation and everywhere we travelled - in Gothenburg, in Stockholm and in the Swedish speaking Baltic islands – there is the evidence of this background.

Episode Three- Crossing from Sardinia to Sicily, anchors, holding tanks and pistachio gelato.

This week, More GOLDEN RULES, ADVENTURESS, AMOC, about trawling, and much more.

Interestingly, Lloyd's of London made waves in 2002 when it officially dropped the "she" convention, switching to gender-neutral language in all shipping documents. The Royal Navy followed not long after. Most actual sailors ignored the memo and kept right on saying "she," because traditions at sea tend to outlast bureaucratic decision making.

…After winning several of the annual Grain Races from Southern Australia to Europe in the 1920s and 30s, the Duchess was almost a household name in Britain, but became worldwide news in 1936 when she piled up in fog on the Ham Stone Rock, just a few hours after departing Falmouth, Cornwall, with nearly 5,000 tons of Australian wheat still undischarged in her holds.

This episode comes to you from TORRE DELLE STELLE - Tower of the Stars 15nm east of Cagliari on Sardinia.

This week, Gaffs at Noosa, CO2 in a lake, protecting Polynesia, Fife assembly, John Welsford speaks…. and more

WINDEWARD BOUND has been nominated for the MyState Foundation $25,000 Community Grant, and they are asking for your support. Every vote will bring them one step closer to securing funding that will help more young Tasmanians experience the confidence, resilience, teamwork and personal growth that comes from life at sea.

First, we needed to decide which boat to use. Neither of us had anything suitable, but we both had many years of experience racing 470’s and were familiar with them. There really wasn’t any great discussion about alternatives. Dad suggested it, and I agreed. 470’s also have the advantage of being easily found with great ex-Olympic class boats lying around in driveways and garages across the country.

The differing but complementary roles that Olin and Rod had within S&S were another of their great strengths. Olin would muse over hull shapes, keels, rig proportions and their relationships with the appropriate rating systems while Rod oversaw the development of structures, deck layouts, rigging schedules and detailing.

WELCOME TO MATILDA RADIO a weekly podcast from two mad Australians who gave up living the norm to attempt to live the dream. This episode comes to you from the south coast of Sardinia, under the Roman ruins of NORA. Mark and Sal introduce you to MATILDA their 47 foot S&S Swan while chatting about their five year plan (or eight year, or two year...)

The idea arrived, as the best ones often do, at a cocktail party. It was January 1967, Pacific Palisades, California, when surfer Hoyle Schweitzer and sailor Jim Drake fell into conversation about combining their two favourite sports. Most men would have left the idea where they found it, somewhere between the second and third drink. Not Schweitzer.

This week, techno grumbling, the Heikells, a new Q, Whale Graves, and Petrel Ep 16

Are you are looking for a budget boat with heaps of personality, a great design provenance and a history that you can add to? Are you ok with a couple of weeks over the year spent working on the craft, not only improving her physically but also building a emotional bond with? Are you happy to chat with the people who will no doubt engage you as they are walking down the jetty wanting to know more about her?

I walked up and down the quay at dusk with my camera trying to find the daily reality of fishing at Porto Pino — The techno music ridden tourist beaches are only a few hundred metres away, but the port has a different rhythm, that beats through the seasons, not just for the summer crowds.

No, I haven’t added up the cost of all of this ! Because excitement and adventure only lives on the other side fear. As one gets older, and as a septuagenerian I can say, that the focus has to be on living span and not life span. So lets get on and do what has to be done and have the adventure. The future will take care of itself. 

In a sunny New York City on 20 October 1970 a team of FBI agents scoured the buildings on both sides of Manhattan’s Madison Avenue between 28th and 29th Streets. Questioning shopkeepers, janitors and secretaries, they gave special attention to the offices overlooking no79, a dull 16-storey building on the east side. From early the next morning uniformed police banned all parking on the block and kept pedestrians on the move. They vetted every entrant to no79.

A truely global week of news…Exploring South Georgia, a festival in Albany, Turtles in the NT, Hurrica V in San Fran, and Station Pier back home in Melbourne.

An hour is enough in a place like this. The displays are simple and well thought out. You walk away, not feeling overwhelmed by the things you might have missed out on, but enriched by the values of the sailors who created this history.