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YARNS: Lin Pardey and David Haigh sit down with Sailor James for the Yarns sailing podcast
December 29, 2023 · 1h 12m · 13K views · New Zealand
What this video covers
Lin Pardey and David Haigh sit down with James aboard their steel Van der Stadt 36 (extended to 37 feet, built 1991 in Sydney) at a marina in New Zealand for the inaugural episode of James's new podcast series, Yarns: Conversations with Cruisers.2:57 David describes sailing the boat — named Sahula — up the Danube and Rhine, through European canals, and across to the Mediterranean starting in 2008, noting her shallow draft made canal cruising practical.5:59 Lin recounts her decades sailing engineless boats: Seraffyn at 24 feet, Taliesin at 29 feet, both with no engine and minimal electronics, and explains how that simplicity enabled full-time cruising on a small budget.14:35 She describes serving as foredeck captain on a Carter 37 during a full English race season.13:45 The two met on Kawau Island when David sailed past during a music festival Lin was coordinating; he came for a drink, stayed until midnight, and moved in nine months later.11:53 Lin addresses sailing in her 70s — reduced agility, a new appreciation for a windlass foot-switch, and adjusting to an instrument-equipped boat after a lifetime without radar or engines.21:20 Both argue that oversized, over-equipped boats trap owners in maintenance and cost, preventing the spontaneous, community-rich cruising they found by going 50 miles off the beaten track in Vanuatu.1:06 The practical lesson they return to: go small, go simple, go now — a smaller boat you understand completely outperforms a larger one you can barely afford to run.59:57
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