59° North Sailingvideo
Dan & Kika // Sailing Uma Exclusive
9 September 2025 · 2h 33m · 2K views
What this video covers
Dan and Kika of Sailing Uma tell Andy Schell on the On The Wind podcast the first public account of a visa crisis that nearly ended their sailing life.4:22 Kika, a non-Canadian travelling on a visa, was detained at an airport, separated from Dan, locked in a room with bunk beds described as a jail cell, and had her belongings confiscated.0:19 Dan had to stay behind to settle their apartment and car while Kika flew alone to Canada to stay with his brother — a man she had not seen in seven years — to pursue residency paperwork in person.1:25:16 The couple weighed permanently relocating to Canada, a process requiring five to seven years of residency before citizenship, against continuing their liveaboard life.1:26:46 They ultimately chose to return to Italy and rebuild Uma, their 36-foot monohull, rather than buy a replacement.1:31:13 The rebuild decision came after Kika felt the boat flexing audibly on a passage out of Iceland between two storms, following a year of sailing Norway, Svalbard, and Iceland in average 40-knot conditions.1:45:17 Dan and Kika calculated that repairing the existing hull cost a fraction of a new used boat at roughly $100,000, a bare hull at $150,000, or a new build approaching $1 million.1:46:31 The interview also covers their origin story: meeting on a student architecture trip flight to Seattle, Dan's upbringing in a log cabin in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, and their philosophy that sailing is a lifestyle choice driven by freedom rather than practicality.14:35
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