Out The Gate Sailing

Cree Partridge started building boats in his parents front yard while still in elementary school. His passion for being on the water started at a young age and continues to this day. In college, he channeled his desire to be on the water into racing and traveled all over the world to crew aboard big, fast boats. He then got into boat building. For the past twenty years he’s run the Berkeley Marine Center, where he helps bring many a dream to life.   

Ben Pedersen-Wedlock grew up on boats and is an experienced ocean sailor. Anna Behrens had little to no sailing experience - until she met Ben. About a year after meeting, the two took off cruising in a 28-foot, ferro cement, William Atkins designed boat named Inga. They sailed south from San Francisco, down around South America and back up to New England, all without an engine. We talk about their 50-plus day passages, transiting the Beagle Channel, getting arrested in the Falkland Islands, running low on food and power in the dead of winter, and more.

Kevin Wasbauer is an experienced sailor, having competed in the Fastnet, the Heineken Regatta, the Transpac and many other races. In 2020 he purchased a Farr 53 named Atalanta and refit her during the pandemic in order to launch a charter business out of Monterey called Shearwater Sailing. I recently joined Kevin for a chat and a sail aboard this beautiful boat.

In 1967, my father Sidney Shaw was shipwrecked on a small reef just south of Vietnam while sailing aboard an 87-foot steel schooner named Dante Deo. The crew of seven, including a young child, were attempting to navigate the reef strewn South China Sea when they struck the Bombay Reef. Over 50 years later, my dad’s memories of the disaster and survival are still vivid as he recounts the story.

When Bianca Bahman and Fernanda Schlender, two Bay Area women decided to go on a surfing trip in Indonesia together they had no idea what kind of adventure they were in for. The small boat carrying them to the island resort where they were to vacation hit a reef in the middle of the night, forcing the two to take charge of the situation and fight for their lives. The two share the harrowing tale with me. Bianca also wrote the story up for the December 2020 issue of Latitude 38.

Erden Eruç is an accomplished ocean rower who is the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation by human power and the first to row the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. In the spring of 2021 he launched his boat from Crescent City with the goal of reaching Asia and climbing Mount Everest. He stopped in Hawaii to fix some gear and better time his crossing. That’s where I caught up with him before he departed on the next leg of his adventure. During his crossing , he’s partnering with the Ocean Recovery Alliance to raise awareness about plastic in the ocean. He’s currently in the Pacific and you can track his progress at westboundrower.com

Ryan Foland, together with John Arndt, the Publisher of Latitude 38, recently launched a new sailing podcast called Good Jibes. The podcast, hosted by multiple members of the crew at Latitude 38, features stories and tips from west coast sailors and is focused on community, cruising, and racing. Ryan and I talk about the show’s origins and where its headed. Ryan grew on the water in Southern California and spent most every summer anchored off Catalina Island.

My parents, Sid and Rebecca Shaw have been sailing together for over 50 years. Starting in the 60s as a newlywed couple aboard their 33-foot ferro-cement ketch and then later aboard their 35-foot Hallberg-Rassy, they cruised all around the world. We talk about how they got into cruising and what kept them at it. From learning to sail in Florida to a near sinking in St. Thomas, they share stories from their time together at sea.

When Lin met Larry Pardey in Newport Beach in 1965 he was just starting to build Seraffyn a 24.4-foot Lyle Hess designed cutter. The two quickly became inseparable and went on to sail more than 200,000 miles together, circumnavigating twice. Together they wrote twelve books on sailing and inspired many would-be cruisers with their “go simple, go small, go now,” philosophy. Larry passed away in 2020, but Lin continues to sail, and she shares in this interview sailing stories from the past and the present, including an inspiring tale about the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors.

My wife Lauren Keane and I share a love of adventure. I brought sailing to the marriage. She introduced me to long-distance, back-country hiking. To celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, we traversed the High Sierra Trail, a 72-mile hike across Sequoia National Park that took seven days and ended on Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48. Lauren joins me in this episode to debrief the trip and discuss the similarities and differences between backpacking and cruising.