Why We Spin Yarns Giselle Miller

Listen to Giselle and Clif, along with other fellow sailing couples, as they reflect on their first ocean passage across the Pacific. From preparing in Mexico, to the experience of Landfall, learn about the highs and lows of passage-making. Cruising vessels featured in this episode include S/V Bravo, Ripple, Summer, Merrion and Tioga. Music featured includes two pieces by Dan Kirkwood and his group Obiwan Coyote, as well as Les Hayden and Vagabond Mantra. Dan is from Juneau, Alaska, and just released a great new title album (Obiwan Coyote) that you can purchase or listen to on iTunes, Spotify or Bandcamp.

*Disclaimer* There is a brief section of audio at the end of the episode, call them podcast "bloopers," that contains some explicit sailor talk.

While interviewing female sailors in La Cruz, Mexico, one common thread emerged: the quest, or need for community. Embracing the cruising lifestyle often equates to leaving friends and family behind; those building blocks that make up, what we refer to as, home. Home is a relative term when you live your life on the sea, but that doesn't stop these women from seeking those same connections wherever then drop the hook.

While preparing for my first long ocean passage, I have had the pleasure of receiving words of wisdom and guidance from Jeanne Socrates, the current record holder for the oldest woman to sail around the world non-stop. After her husband passed away in 2003, she was left with a boat and their cruising dreams that they had just begun to achieve. With him in spirit, she continues to sail and circumnavigate solo.

Music featured in this episode includes pieces by Les Hayden, M Shanghai String Band, and guitarist David Reed.

For more information on Jeanne, or if you're a single-hander wanting to connect, go to her website at svnereida.com.

Sedna is in the water. The sails are up, the motor is running and Giselle and Clif are on their way down the Sea of Cortez, testing the waters on the new hull of their sailing vessel. Long passages lead to new reflections on cruising, sea life, and the excitement for the even longer passage to come.

Episode includes musical pieces by Vagabond Mantra, David Reed, M Shanghai String Band and Punta de Mita local Salomon Kanafany.

This is the first of several "Single Threads," Mini-Episodes that will be posted in-between each main episode. Single-Threads are sailor spotlights that focus on one or several people who live their lives on or around the sea. For the first edition, I interviewed Leiv Poncet, a single-handed sailor who is currently completing his voyage through the Pacific: from the Faukland Islands, up to Alaska and back down.

The first episode of Why We Spin Yarns begins in a boat yard in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. Hear sounds and pieces of interviews from sailors and staff alike that spend time in this funny, limbo land for sailboats.