The Mariner

This is the second installment in my reading of Cruising Under Sail by Eric Hiscock, from the 1987 edition. This book has been enormously important in my own sailing development. I first started using it to build my knowledge in 1996, when I was 18 years old, in Hong Kong, working on my first tall ship. Nearly thirty years later, I still find myself coming back to it. As you'll hear in the video, many of the ideas in this book became part of the foundation on which I built my seamanship. COME SAILING — TRANSATLANTIC, OCTOBER 2026 We’ll be departing Massachusetts on October 21, sailing across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands, and we still have a couple of places available. If you’d like to join the crew for the passage, get in touch through CSM The Mariner: [email protected]  If you’d like to sponsor or otherwise support my campaign for the 2027 Global Solo Challenge, please get in touch as well. I’d love to hear from you. SUPPORT THE MARINER Patreon — support the videos, podcasts, sailing projects and the wider work: https://patreon.com/themariner⁠ THE MARINER’S LIBRARY More maritime books, history, stories and seamanship: https://themarinerslibrary.podbean.com⁠ THE MARINER PODCAST If you prefer watching rather than listening, this episode will also appear on The Mariner Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/BXgkbW5L6dQ

This is the first installment in my reading of Cruising Under Sail by Eric Hiscock, from the 1987 edition. This book has been enormously important in my own sailing development. I first started using it to build my knowledge in 1996, when I was 18 years old, in Hong Kong, working on my first tall ship. Nearly thirty years later, I still find myself coming back to it. As you'll hear in the video, many of the ideas in this book became part of the foundation on which I built my seamanship. COME SAILING — TRANSATLANTIC, OCTOBER 2026 We’ll be departing Massachusetts on October 21, sailing across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands, and we still have a couple of places available. If you’d like to join the crew for the passage, get in touch through CSM The Mariner: [email protected]  If you’d like to sponsor or otherwise support my campaign for the 2027 Global Solo Challenge, please get in touch as well. I’d love to hear from you. SUPPORT THE MARINER Patreon — support the videos, podcasts, sailing projects and the wider work: https://patreon.com/themariner⁠ THE MARINER’S LIBRARY More maritime books, history, stories and seamanship: https://themarinerslibrary.podbean.com⁠ THE MARINER PODCAST For longer conversations on offshore sailing, seamanship, safety, heavy weather, experience and life at sea: https://www.themarinerpodcast.com⁠ If you prefer watching rather than listening, this episode will also appear on The Mariner Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/BXgkbW5L6dQ

Join me 250 Nm west of Madeira as I negotiate my way through the Azores high on my qualifying passage on board the 80 ft yacht Osprey for the 2027 Global solo challenge round the world yacht race   If you would like to join me for many more deep dives on topic's like: MOB recovery, heavy weather tactics and offshore seamanship, check out:   Patreon & Youtube Membership    To support the production of this material please consider heading over to Patreon where for $5 a month you can get access to all the extra content, including the narrated version of this video (concentrating on the seamanship, safety aspects & stories surrounding what is going on in this video), livestream Q&A's, free consultancy PLUS merch, and exclusive sponsor sailing trips with CSM.   Find it all at: https://www.patreon.com/themariner You can also join this channel on Youtube to get access to the same perks as on Patreon: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq6ye2Qd2WVPoun_Iks0qVg/joinA   #ocean #sailing #yacht #themariner

It’s been a while since I last recorded an episode. A friend put it perfectly the other night — I’ve been “down below, sheltering.” There’s been a lot to deal with, but I’ve come through it. Right now I’m lying alongside in Cherbourg, France, aboard Osprey — our 85-foot maxi — with a brand-new mainsail, surrounded by some of the best sailors and sailing service providers in the world. Ahead of us is a single, clear task over the next month: to sail solo to the Caribbean and, in doing so, qualify for the Global Solo Challenge. This episode is about getting caught up — where I’ve been, what’s happened — and setting the stage for what comes next. Because the story that’s unfolding now is, without question, the most interesting sailing story I’ve ever told.

In this episode you join me on deck as we enter the Needles Channel, en route to Southampton, to pick up the crew for the Fastnet Expedition 2025.  This comes at the end of a 3500Nm solo  transatlantic voyage, on the 80 foot maxi, Osprey. 94 days before, in Nova Scotia, sick and stuck on the mooring, I set myself the challenge to get Osprey into the Centenary edition of the world's most famous offshore race - in this episode you join me as that Dream starts to take on a shade of reality. You can own a piece of the mainsail that wouldn’t die as your own talisman of Tenacity, a reminder to you in the straits of your passion, that perseverance, persistence and sheer bloody-mindedness are the currency of personal growth and will bring your goals within your grasp. For a pledge of $100, you’ll get one of the hand-cut and signed sections from this legendary, 100,000Nm mainsail, with all the funds going directly to the new sail wardrobe and the Osprey Westabout campaign. If you believe in what I'm doing — the story, the struggle, the adventure —then this is your chance to own a piece of the mainsail of the mainsail that would not die and allow it to fuel all that comes after it's work is done. https://www.patreon.com/posts/own-piece-of-not-134326761?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link If you like joining me for these deep dives on topic's like: MOB recovery, heavy weather tactics & offshore seamanship please consider supporting the production of this material over on Patreon where for $5 a month you can get access to extra content, including: livestream Q&A's, free project consultancy and exclusive sailing trips on Osprey.   Get a better deal on your next boat insurance policy connect with our partner Edward William Insurance, to make marine insurance simple and straight forward; whatever your style of sailing.   FOR A 10% DISCOUNT ON YOUR NEXT POLICY Quote the code MARINER10  to receive 10% off at checkout, or better still follow this link: https://www.edwardwilliam.com/boat-insurance/proposal-form?pid=ORT   To hear my personal research regarding this insurance broker who I also have a policy with, and the Q & A I had with their COO before making the decision to creating to partner with them; check out   The Mariner Podcast #118: https://themariner.podbean.com/e/120-marine-insurance-who-i-use-why #navy #shipping #ships #ocean #sailing #yacht #themariner