Showing results by author "John Passmore" in All Categories

When COVID-19 struck the UK, the government advised the over-70s to "shield" while the country went into lockdown. One old man went sailing instead. Single-handed and self-isolated, retired journalist John Passmore used the pandemic to achieve an ambition that had eluded him for 60 years. For 3,629 miles, he disappeared into a world of perfect solitude, adventure, and adversity, arriving back 42 days later, short of water and with shredded sails, to find himself celebrated on national radio as the embodiment of everybody’s lockdown dream. This is his story.

Here, for the first time, is a complete and chronological account: everything from levitating the dog and navigating by smell to meeting his wife Tamsin through the Lonely Hearts column of Time Out and attempting to run away to sea and raise a family on a 27 foot boat.

A podcast to go with the oldmansailing blog and the Old Man Sailing books. This is what happens when you have a dream at the age of eleven, take a lifetime to achieve it - but get there in the end. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Voyage #1 was a success–even though nothing happened. It turned out that listeners liked the easy style–the sideways view of a singlehanded ocean crossing in a small boat without long-range communications. No news, no weather forecasts. Just one man and his boat in the middle of nowhere. So here is The Voyage #2–and this time something did happen: A knockdown, a broken rudder, 1,500 miles with the steering held together with string...

The Old Man Sailing Instant podcast is updated every time a new post appears on the Old Man Sailing blog. This means the episodes consist of only one recording rather than a selection of archive material. Consequently, are shorter - but they are bang up to date! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is what it is like to sail an ocean alone. Not the world-girdling marathon of the Southern Ocean racers or the “cruise in company” as part of a trade-wind rally, but what it is really like to set off for 3,496 miles from the British Virgin Islands to Falmouth in the UK, totally alone. That means no contact with the shore, no high-frequency radio or satphone. No weather forecasts, no texts from loved ones. No news…Just complete and uninterrupted isolation for 44 days. In other words, this is singlehanded ocean sailing at its purest: One man in a world shrunk to its bare essentials.

Quand la COVID-19 a frappé le Royaume-Uni, le gouvernement a conseillé aux plus de soixante-dix ans de se « protéger », tandis que le pays était mis en confinement. Au lieu de quoi un vieil homme a pris la mer en solitaire.