Salty Podcast #61⛵ Brit Sails from United Kingdom to the Caribbean

What does it take to transform from a military officer into a global sailor chasing the horizon? Captain James Canning's journey aboard his Regina 43 sailboat Archila reveals the realities behind the sailing dream – equal parts adventure, challenge, and unexpected wildlife encounters.

From his early days learning on small dinghies in central England to navigating the treacherous waters near Gibraltar where orcas systematically attack sailboats, James shares candid insights about his transformation into a blue water cruiser. After 17 years in the Royal Air Force, one charter holiday rekindled his passion for sailing, eventually leading to his 2018 purchase of Archila, which he jokingly refers to as "going into self-induced bankruptcy."

The conversation takes us through his Atlantic crossing preparation, where Brexit complications and COVID restrictions shaped his route through the Canary Islands and Cape Verde before the 2,200-mile ocean passage to Grenada. Despite losing his parasailor early in the journey and surviving a mid-Atlantic whale impact that damaged his rudder and skeg, James completed the crossing in 14 days using only wind power. His twin genoa setup and calm problem-solving under pressure demonstrate the resilience required for successful ocean voyaging.

Most compelling is James's encounter with the infamous Iberian orca pod that has sunk multiple sailboats near Gibraltar. His practical advice for navigating these waters – staying within the 20-meter depth contour – offers valuable insights for sailors planning Mediterranean passages. Similarly, his enthusiastic endorsement of copper coating as "one of the best investments" for hull maintenance provides real-world wisdom for boat owners everywhere.

Whether you're dreaming of your first sailboat or planning your own ocean crossing, this episode delivers authentic experiences from someone who's living the dream while facing its challenges. Listen now and discover why Captain James believes the simple advice to "reef early" might be the most important sailing lesson of all.

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Transcript

Meeting Captain James Canning

Capn Tinsley 0:04

Good evening . Joining us tonight is James Kenning , captain of Sailing Yacht Archila , a Regina 43 sailboat . James has done what most only dream about sailed to many countries of the world and counting a life powered by wind , determination and adventure . We're about to dive into what it really takes to chase the horizon and live the dream . But first , if everybody would please like , subscribe and share , it really helps us bring you more incredible sailing stories if you do that . I'm Captain Tinsley of Sailing Vessel Salty Abandoned and Island Packet 320 , and this is the Salty Podcast , episode 61 . Welcome , james .

James Kenning 0:49

Hello good evening .

Capn Tinsley 0:51

Good evening . Thank you for being here .

James Kenning 0:53

My pleasure .

Capn Tinsley 0:55

Okay , so I found you on Instagram , right ?

James Kenning 1:00

That's right . Yeah , I've got a presence there .

Capn Tinsley 1:02

Okay , you've got a presence . Okay , so tell us a little bit about yourself . You're obviously not from the United States , so tell the folks where you're from .

James Kenning 1:11

So I'm British born and bred . I hit the big six zero this month , which is a little bit frightening . I'm sure no one will believe it looking at this youthful face .

James Kenning 1:24

That's right , I would never have guessed but in those years um my formative time I was royal air force and then contracting I first started sailing in a fairly traditional way and my dad taught me to sail dinghies . Um , I used to sail with him , but I was soon going to become an orphan , so I went solo raced and then when I went to university I pretty much stopped sailing . It just sort of dropped off my radar .

Capn Tinsley 1:59

Now , where did you do this sailing ?

James Kenning 2:03

I grew up in Oxfordford , which is a university town right in the middle of the country , right in the middle of the country , and my first introduction to sailing was on a small gravel pit that had been flooded , and it was called Dorchester Sailing Club . Oh wow , Sailing really literally could be everywhere . I started very small .

Capn Tinsley 2:29

Okay , all right , and I know you went to the Royal Air Force .

James Kenning 2:34

So I was commissioned in the Royal Air Force , did 17 years in that , in that , and towards the end , um took up sailing again and basically had one holiday chartering a boat , knowing nothing about big boats uh , it was a 34 Bavaria , I think that we chartered and to me then it was a big boat . No one had told me anything about prop walk or or these sorts of things , and and they just let they just let us go with it , and so it was quite a stressful week learning how not to do things and then , from there , caught the bug , got back into the sailing bug , a number of years chartering and then it would be in 2018 decided to go into self-induced bankruptcy by buying Archila . She's been sucking me dry of money ever since .

Capn Tinsley 3:34

So tell us about Archila .

James Kenning 3:39

So , archila , she's a Regina 43 . She's from a small swedish yard which not many will have probably heard of . But if you think , marlo , uh , halber grassy , um , it's a vat ilk . Um , she's a sturdy deck saloon , uh , 40 . Well , she's called a 43 . The Marina will charge me 46 foot . Waterline length is closer to 39 . Um , but she , she's good she's . I'll say she's a deck saloon . Um , she's fairly bulletproof .

Capn Tinsley 4:20

Um , you've got some great pictures . Uh , you're a photographer , right ?

James Kenning 4:24

Well , hobbyist photographer , obviously , I sort of make a few scraps of money selling pictures to some of the yachting magazines , but yeah . I'm not a professional by any means .

Capn Tinsley 4:38

I'm just going to . While you're talking and describing your boat , I'm just going to put some up here , because that is a beautiful boat so she , she is .

James Kenning 4:47

I mean , she gets a lot of um comments where whenever we go places , um , she's so that rigged . She's got a very , uh , very flexible rig so that , uh , in a sail is a self-tacking jib , so really good for shorthanded , especially if you're going anywhere into the wind .

Capn Tinsley 5:09

On the front .

James Kenning 5:09

there I have twin

From Dinghies to Ocean Sailing

James Kenning 5:11

genoas , which is my downwind rig when I'm not using a parasailer , and then a furling mainsail , which I swear at just about every time I try and get it in and out .

Capn Tinsley 5:26

Yeah , yeah , I have one of those too . Wait , this isn't your boat , is it ? Is that your boat ?

James Kenning 5:33

That is actually just a month or so ago and it's a charter vessel called Ria which operates with a sister ship , kronos , around the Caribbean at the moment .

Capn Tinsley 5:48

I love that picture .

James Kenning 5:50

That's not our fighter either .

Capn Tinsley 5:52

No , but it's a beautiful picture .

James Kenning 5:54

My big love in photography is actually wildlife photography .

Capn Tinsley 5:59

Okay , I think I do have a question about that .

James Kenning 6:02

It's really an easier thing to take because you know they're going to be there . But , given the choice , I'd be out in the field trying to capture wildlife . If I could do my life all over again , then , as a career , I would like to have been a wildlife photographer .

Capn Tinsley 6:21

Well , this is a beautiful picture of your boat . Is that a Takakat , that is yeah , I have one of those .

James Kenning 6:28

I love those . It's a Trukit from New Zealand Right . Very pleased with it , me too .

Capn Tinsley 6:38

And I like it because when I do a crossing of the Gulf I like to pack it up in the two bags and put it inside the boat absolutely .

James Kenning 6:46

Um , you know , if I'm doing , uh , an offshore passage , then I don't keep her on on the davits at the back . She's , she's packed up and goes in the bow yeah , because who wants it swinging around back there ? Yeah , yeah , I mean , it beats me why people would want to do that yeah , it seems like it wouldn't be good for the davits and this is us um . The boat has just been hauled . In the last uh couple of weeks she's out in uh grenada for hurricane season now is this after ?

Capn Tinsley 7:23

it looks like you just had had the bottom done .

James Kenning 7:25

It's so clean well , she has been um uh jet washed , but I'm the bottom is copper coated , which is one of the best investments I think I've made on the boat . Tell me about that . What is that ? So , copico , it's a hard resin based um antifoul which uh gets applied on and theoretically it should hopefully last 10 years oh my gosh um , it doesn't stop growth .

James Kenning 7:59

It it mostly stops any hard growth . But you still , you know , certainly in the caribbean , in warm waters , every couple of weeks you need to dive down and take a take a brush to it to get so do barnacles .

Capn Tinsley 8:14

Are they able to attach themselves ? Is that what you mean by hard growth ?

James Kenning 8:18

yeah , so I get very little hard growth . Um , I do need to reactivate it . There's starting to get a little bit of growth on her .

Capn Tinsley 8:28

It looks very shiny . I'm so jealous . I've got some whole envy . Wow , it's beautiful and of course , I love this picture .

James Kenning 9:02

Yeah , I mean the Swedes . They know how to build boats . They build good-looking boats . The inside of them , the craftsmanship is just unbelievable . The screen behind me is a shot of the lower saloon in the boat and the galley and there's just wood everywhere . It's beautiful and it's it's just very , very high quality . You know it's um , it doesn't creak like maybe some of the you know sort of med med intended boats like your production , bavarias or genoves or beneteau's with .

Capn Tinsley 9:43

Right , and I do not have a production boat , so I can appreciate that this is a wonderful shot . Is this done with a drone ?

James Kenning 9:56

No , I actually got my crew to be riding the other dolphin backwards just in front of that .

Capn Tinsley 10:02

What .

James Kenning 10:03

Clearly I'm lying . This is using one of the Insta360 cameras , so it's a GoPro Max , and the way I get these shots is , rather than trying to take a picture , is , I will put it onto video and then record it , and then , hopefully , you end up getting a shot like this , where , where the animal is is in the right position , you're in the right position , the sales drawing and then it does take an element of post-processing because you have to try and make a video still . You know better quality .

Capn Tinsley 10:47

So what a great shot . Let's see if there's any more . Nope , there's , that's it . So , um , okay , all right . So you , you got our Kyla . You bought her in 2018 . Is that right ?

James Kenning 11:06

Yep , so end of the season 2018 . And where ? So she was bought in a little river mouth called the Yelm on the south coast of Britain .

Archila: The Regina 43 Sailboat

James Kenning 11:32

I then took her back from . We took her back from the Yelm , which is close to Plymouth , to her home , where we kept her for a couple of years in the Solent , but that was it for 2018 . Basically , she then got hauled out for the English weather and I know a lot of the American listeners will be I know a lot of American listeners will be , especially those in the South will be wondering why do you haul a boat ? Well , if you lived in the UK , you'd know why because it can be pretty bloody , miserable weather .

James Kenning 11:58

They do that in say Michigan , yeah , so 2019 was really the first year we started sailing . It was also a year where we were discovering that all the systems that we thought were good probably weren't quite as good as the broker had told us . We had to replace all the sails , all the new electronics , because we got the blue screen of death on the chart plotters , putting in upgraded anchor , all those sorts of things . So that first year , 2019 , of sailing didn't really even get out of the Solent , which is one of the most popular sailing areas in the UK , but not really my idea of you know where to sail . It's busy , there aren't that many anchoring opportunities .

James Kenning 13:02

So , yeah , it was itching . It was itching to get out and wider . The next year , of course , we were hit by a little thing called Brexit in the UK and , because of all the tax rules regarding VAT , we made the decision to put the boat into France , so sailed across to Cherbourg , but this is now during COVID . So , again , the sailing opportunities were few and far between . And then the following year , when I brought our car back into the UK because everyone had bought a boat in the uk , there was nowhere to put her , so I did the season sailing up and down , uh , the southwest coast , which has got some beautiful areas you know along along the west coast .

James Kenning 14:02

Uh , but then nowhere to put her . So she had to be hauled out again and at that stage she just decided let's go to the sun . So the following season the boat was prepped to cross Biscay , go down the Portuguese coast and hang in the Algarve , which I think that must be 2022 .

Capn Tinsley 14:26

Okay , okay , okay . So how did you get to Caribbean ?

James Kenning 14:33

So in between .

Capn Tinsley 14:35

I guess first of all tell me the countries you went to in the Mediterranean .

James Kenning 14:39

So I've charted a lot in the Med and loved it , especially the Greek islands , but also really liked the Balearics . So Majorca , ibiza , formentera , menorca , greek islands .

James Kenning 15:00

I'm going to pull that up so the original intent was to take the boat into the Med and hang around in there for a while , but Brexit made it very difficult with regards to UK flagged boats being there , even with EU VAT , and so toing and froing , you know , as to whether or not to stay there . But in in the Balearics which again I charted there a number of years earlier a really love for cruising area , but it had got incredibly busy .

Capn Tinsley 15:44

Am I ? Am I close to it here on the map got incredibly busy . Am I close to it here on the map ?

James Kenning 15:47

So you're hanging over Greek . So if you're , put your arrow up a little bit below Corfu , across , go left Down and you get to . So you've got . Those are the Ionian Islands , oh okay , and they're a wonderful , really relaxed , easy cruising area . But because for British flag boats it was looking fairly difficult in terms of the bureaucracy that was going to get involved and because of and what is that ?

Capn Tinsley 16:30

what , what , what were they saying ?

James Kenning 16:32

they , they were insisting that , um , every time you go to a different port you have to go into an office and renew your transit log . It was just going to be difficult .

Capn Tinsley 16:50

Okay . Your transit log .

James Kenning 16:54

So a transit log is what you have to buy if you're a visiting yacht into Greek waters , and it was going to start getting expensive . People weren't quite sure how they were implementing the rules . It was potentially a bit of a risk , so I decided not to bother going any further from the Balearics and to turn around further from the Balearics and to turn around , head back out through .

James Kenning 17:33

Walker Alley and head to the Caribbean . So the route out of the Med . I'd wintered the boat in Valencia , which was a wonderful place to be . I mean , it's a fantastic city . It's got two marinas . I was in the northern one , which was originally built and developed for the America's Cup .

Capn Tinsley 17:56

Okay .

James Kenning 17:59

And very handy for getting to the Balearic Islands . So Valencia to ibiza was sort of about a 14 hour sail and , uh , to go across to say sola in mallorca would be 24 hours . So really handy for that . But the thing with the med is they

Early Sailing Adventures in the UK

James Kenning 18:23

. They often say you either have too much wind or you don't have any at all , and that is very true . So when it came to getting the boats out towards the Canaries to start the Caribbean push , basically all the way from Valencia to Gibraltar was pretty much a motor . It was fairly soul-destroying .

Capn Tinsley 18:49

And how long does that take ?

James Kenning 18:50

You said I think we did that in the space of three weeks . Wow , as I said , either the wind was blowing 25 knots directly on the nose or there was none at all , so there was a lot of hanging around in some of the ports . There's very few anchorages along that entire Spanish coast , so you have to go to marinas , so there's a lot of hanging around in marinas .

Capn Tinsley 19:27

That's fun too , though , isn't it ?

James Kenning 19:32

I mean , I prefer anchorages myself .

Capn Tinsley 19:35

I prefer to drop a hook .

James Kenning 19:38

My wallet prefers anchorages .

Capn Tinsley 19:40

Of course , yeah .

James Kenning 19:44

But yeah , so you know , we made our way through places like Cartagena and then through to Gibraltar and I mean , I imagine a number of your listeners and viewers will have heard of the orca problem in and around the Straits of Gibraltar . Probably , but I haven't so there is a particular group of orcas . They're called the Iberian orca . They're a subset of the wider orca killer whale . There's about 30 of them in this pod , and since COVID they started a habit of attacking the rudders of yachts .

Capn Tinsley 20:35

Oh , my goodness .

James Kenning 20:36

So over that time I think about five yachts have been sunk Right in here . So they migrate with the tuna and it's seasonal where the tuna is , so they they start off in the Straits of Gibraltar there and then they work their way up the coast towards the Bay of Biscay . So you can't fully be sure ever where they are and your only real defence is to try and stay shallow . You try and stay within the 20 meter contour , which is a little problematic around the sailing in this area because you get a lot of fishing pots . So it means that you effectively have to travel by by day . So you have to do it to go from Gibraltar to Porto , mau or Lagos on the western tip , southwestern tip of Portugal . You you really need sort of five days to do that or you take the risk of going in deep water . But those are the yachts that get attacked , and I say that five have been sunk , hundreds have been attacked and had their rudders disabled that is incredible very big issue okay , well , that's that's .

Capn Tinsley 22:04

I had asked you if you had any pirate stories . That's a . That's a pretty good story right there . That's a good tip of the day on the Salty podcast is to watch out for the… .

James Kenning 22:14

Yes , there's a lot of support networks out there now as well . There's one website called orcapt and they show heat maps of where they think the orcas are because scientists are studying them . I'm a member of the Cruising Association , which is it's open to all worldwide , but it is a UK based in its headquarters . They have an orca team and they've been doing studies , trying to correlate and find solutions so that neither boats or the orcas because they are an endangered species they are protected .

Capn Tinsley 22:58

Right .

James Kenning 22:59

Can't mess with them . But there are key areas where you can almost be certain that if you sail through there you're going to get hit . Through there you're going to get hit , and particularly if you if you look at uh tarifa there , that's marked on the map um , just , uh , just for west of that you've got the bay of barbati , you have barbati and um offshore . There is where you get some of the highest concentrations of the orca now you said they follow the tuna , so is that seasonal ?

James Kenning 23:34

Yes , so in the early season , around sort of April May , they tend to be in the straight there , okay , and then as the season progresses the tuna move up north and the orca tend to move up with them and so then another place is a hot spot yeah , it tends to be .

James Kenning 24:05

There's 30 odd individuals in this group of orca and it's 14 individuals that have been identified as what we think is just playing games . Um , no one knows for sure , but they think it's a way to alleviate boredom , and there's all sorts of theories as to how to deter them . You know , some people say drop sand over your stern because it disrupts their sonar , because they go in under sonar . Right , fishermen use firecrackers , though that's theoretically illegal . Right , the best thing to do , according to the scientists , is transit through there under engine and , if and when they do come up alongside you , if they bump you or you have an incident with them , engine on full and just head , if you can , to the shallows .

Capn Tinsley 25:12

Okay , wow , this is a first for me . I mean , I've never taken my boat over here , but that's good information .

James Kenning 25:20

So you came out of here and you went up to so I was looking for the safest or the least chance of meeting Orca , so I decided to push for the Canaries from that suburb of Portugal , so Porto Mau .

Capn Tinsley 25:44

Tell me if I'm on the right track here .

James Kenning 25:48

I can't see your map at the moment . Oh , I'm sorry , sorry about that I can't see your map at the moment .

Capn Tinsley 25:51

Oh , I'm sorry .

James Kenning 25:53

Sorry about that , I can try .

Capn Tinsley 25:57

Okay , so can you see it now .

James Kenning 25:59

So go , take your pointer to Lisbon and go south .

Capn Tinsley 26:07

Okay , closer in . Okay , do you see Albufeira ?

James Kenning 26:13

Yes , okay , go to the west of Albufeira . Okay , really , on that Trajectory , no , no , no , no . Sorry , you're right in the middle of the Atlantic now , so still on the Portuguese coast . If you zoom in that Portuguese coast , if you zoom in more or less where you are now . So you have Lagos and Porto Mal , and that is where I decided to stage from .

Capn Tinsley 26:42

Okay .

James Kenning 26:43

And so the first 70 miles , 70 nautical miles or so , were the ones where we're on high alert , really looking , okay , looking to make sure that we weren't going to be .

Capn Tinsley 26:58

Forgive my ignorance , but I'm trying to find the canary islands now , so there you go .

James Kenning 27:03

Uh , funchal , that is madeira , which I'd originally hoped to go to , but because I missed out on , because of the weather , windows failed to get there , so I had to miss that and instead , if you head south , zoom out and head south , then these are the Canary Islands and went into Arrasith . Okay , there we go . Yeah , on Lanzarote , which is a very barren um yeah , looks volcanic islands , but spectacular scenery okay , did you anchor here ?

James Kenning 27:45

so again , the canary Islands aren't really known for their anchorages . There are anchorages , but I was on the timeline . I went into Arrasif and then from Arrasif I then did a passage to go to Gran Canaria and Las Palmas . To go to Gran Canaria and Las Palmas , where I left the boat for a couple of months until waiting for my November departure with the ARC Plus rally .

Capn Tinsley 28:21

Okay , and then you went across .

James Kenning 28:24

And then yep , but we went down via the Cape Verde Islands . So there you go and you want to look for Salvacente and Mindelo . So Mindelo is the main yachting base of the Cape Verdes . It's got a good marina there . It has a chandlery . So when boats do go in there and they're broken and quite often they will be you do get a good chance of fixing things in there what's the depth around here ? So I mean the , the depth .

James Kenning 29:07

It's probably around , you know , in the deep areas , 3000 meters wow you do on on your way down , you know you do have to be wary , though , of occasionally there are some seamounts where you may not be going to , um , you know , run aground on them , but they could certainly throw out nasty waves and seas on them . So we were talking about going down into lanzarote in the canaries , and , uh , if you , if you just head north again , zoom into lanzarote , zoom into Lanzarote , so you want to go east to Arrasith , and then you can just see there , where the shelf comes up , it comes up very rapidly and there are a couple of seamounts that can get you unawares if you're not checking , zooming in on your chart plotter .

Capn Tinsley 30:14

Seamounts . Okay , wow , okay . You unawares if you're not checking , zooming in on your chart plotter see mounts . Okay , wow , okay . So you hung out here , you went home for a while and then how did you make it all the way over here ?

James Kenning 30:22

so , um , so we should probably head back to the , the 900 mile passage from Las Palmas down to Mindelo , because that was not without incident . Okay , and on the second night out , my parasailor , which I'd only had since picking it up in Gibraltar . The weather forecast was not as it promised and in trying to get it down in the middle of the night it did come down . We lost the halyard out of the mast winch and it dropped in the ocean and ripped to shreds , nearly took three fingers of mine up the marsheaf , but fortunately got that out out of the way just in time . Um , but that lost us , our , our main downwind sail .

James Kenning 31:25

So , but fortunately , my reserve is I have twin geno's which are permanently fixed onto my front state and that's what we then used , which , when we had wind is , it's an excellent rig . I mean , it's stable , it's fast . But you know , our kyla's quite a . She's a sturdy girl , she's pretty hefty and if you've got

Navigating the Orca Problem

James Kenning 31:53

less than 12 knots of wind , you know they . They just flap and bang and every time I could see the , the anti-chafed strips coming apart .

Capn Tinsley 32:07

Yeah , okay , so what did you do then ?

James Kenning 32:11

so we got into um . Well , the first thing we had to do was recover this stricken sail , which took us nearly two hours , drifting um 25 knots of wind . We basically got it out out of the the ocean and we unceremoniously ducked it down into the forward cabin . So we had a rearrangement of the crew quarters and uh , and then we we continued along . At this stage we didn't quite know what the damage was on the sail , so later in the trip we went in and had a look at it . It was beyond repair , so shed a few tears at that .

Capn Tinsley 32:59

What did you do Not ?

James Kenning 33:00

so much for the fact that I killed the parasailor , but for the fact that how were we going to get across the Atlantic without it , especially if we had light airs ? But when we came to leaving , basically we pulled out the Twin Genoa's and we set those , our course was determined on which way was exactly downwind and we stayed like that for 2,200 miles , basically , and took a pull down about 30 miles off Grenada okay , we had a very frustrating low wind scenario of trying to do that last last miles .

Capn Tinsley 33:51

So here it is . So you're right here . So we're right here and now you are .

James Kenning 33:58

And we move into Grenada , which is the southern , pretty much the . There we go , grenada .

Capn Tinsley 34:10

Here we go However . You came you came in .

James Kenning 34:15

There's always , however so we went direct , direct to Grenada so you went from here down .

Capn Tinsley 34:22

Now somebody was asking me the other day and I haven't made this trip , so I don't know . I may , who knows . But so when you're coming this way , what is the rule Like I know that you know a lot of when they go back , they go this way .

James Kenning 34:42

So boats leave . Typically you don't want to leave earlier than November December . To leave earlier than November December and the later you leave it into . I mean , some people go across in January and February because that's when the trade winds are better established . But even if you were going direct from the Canaries and not doing a stop in the Cape Verdes , you would still . The wisdom is to go south and the saying is go south until the butter melts . Yeah , I've heard that . Basically at which stage ? Where it's pretty much around the , the latitude of the Cape Verdes , and that's where the trade winds you hope kick in .

Capn Tinsley 35:31

Okay , and then you pretty much kind of go this way Well , no , so you're on the Canaries , there .

James Kenning 35:38

What you want to do is you want to actually drop south , so you'd be looking to drop south towards the Cape Verdes .

Capn Tinsley 35:44

Okay , I'm sorry , that's what I was thinking , you were saying and then you make your westing . Okay , and so you're basically going . I don't know what that heading is , but I mean you go west , basically .

James Kenning 35:58

Is it southwest ? It's pretty much west , okay , because you've taken a southern leg to start with , until your butter starts melting .

Capn Tinsley 36:09

Okay .

James Kenning 36:10

Once you then go , you're almost on a due west course , gotcha . You don't have to worry about great circles , roots . You know that's uh , that's um latitude . There's very little in it , so you just point for your target okay , so how far ?

Capn Tinsley 36:29

You said it was 2,200 ?

James Kenning 36:31

2,200 , I think is the crow flies .

Capn Tinsley 36:36

How long did that take you ?

James Kenning 36:37

Well , I think we got across in 14 days , all under sail .

Capn Tinsley 36:44

Okay .

James Kenning 36:45

What did happen , though , was Sorry . No motor , no motor . Wow nice Sorry .

Capn Tinsley 36:48

No motor .

James Kenning 36:49

No motor .

James Kenning 36:50

Wow nice what did happen was literally midway we had a rudder issue and first noticed that the rudder stock had dropped in the transom void . So we still had steerage , but we didn't know what had happened or what the damage was . There was a little bit of water ingress , so we jury rigged up the rudder to stabilise it . We got pumps ready , we went through all of our water ingress procedures . We tried to slow the boat so we reefed her fully down and we ended up speeding up . We're doing eight and a half knots . Wow , still under our head .

Capn Tinsley 37:48

And what were the ?

James Kenning 37:49

winds . We were probably having , you know , sort of 15 to 20 knots , mostly until the last day .

Capn Tinsley 37:59

So we have some . This is Hayden of SV Island Spirit and he said what caused the Halyard failure .

James Kenning 38:07

Well , it wasn't a Halyard failure , it just it came out of the winch jaws . So we've gone up to try and bring the sail down , to put the snuffer over it , and something happened . It got knocked and it just came out with jaws and that was it . It was under such load because we had about 20-25 knots of wind at the time . It just shot off instantly .

Capn Tinsley 38:41

He comments on your 14 days . Is that fast ?

James Kenning 38:50

We weren't the fastest boat , we weren't the slowest . I mean by handicap . Our Kylo was the , I think the ninth slowest boat out of the fleet of 96 . Even with our rudder issue and not having our parasailor 44 . But on handicap we came in fifth okay so .

Capn Tinsley 39:19

So I would say an island packet probably has a handicap too right , because it's it's not going to win any races . And uh , sv , island spirit . These guys also are in a island pack at 35 , so you know he's also a boat broker , so I bet he knows your boat type yeah but bear in mind .

James Kenning 39:40

You know that's 14 days . That's not from the canaries right , that's from mindelo , in the cape verdes right right um , so typically you know you , you would probably expect you know a decent cruising boat to get across in two weeks from the Cape Verdes . If you were going from direct from the Canary Islands , from Gran Canaria , you'd be looking at probably closer to three weeks area you'd be looking at , probably closer to three weeks , okay , yeah , so how long ?

James Kenning 40:47

did it take you to get to the cape verdez ? That , I think was um . Well , it was 900 miles , I think we did that in and that was from Six days maybe .

Capn Tinsley 41:00

Okay , from the Canaries , yeah , okay . And then from Portugal to the Canaries . Portugal to Lanzarote and that's Canaries , right , yeah , okay .

James Kenning 41:18

I think that was four days .

Capn Tinsley 41:22

Okay .

James Kenning 41:22

And I think that was four days . Okay , and I think that was top of my head . I think it was

Atlantic Crossing Challenges

James Kenning 41:28

about 800 miles , but no , it could have been 800 miles if we did . We don't do 200 miles days , but the fastest day I did was 180 miles which was good . Wow , which was good . Wow , that was when we had , you know , the wind right up the stern . We had the twin genoas out . We probably had about 20 , 25 knots . We were going in the right direction . It was a good feeling .

Capn Tinsley 41:59

Okay , all right .

James Kenning 42:03

So you made it into Grenada or grenade , made it into grenada um , very happy , um but then arranged to have a a haul out uh , because we we didn't really know what was what was wrong with the rudder hauled the boat out , looked at it .

James Kenning 42:22

The engineer said , yeah , okay , don't think this is too much of an issue , and we were back in the water in a couple of days . The next day , however , I was getting a lot of water . We were leaking about an hour a litre an hour . So we hauled out again and had a closer look and we had a crack on the skeg . And the engineer , once he'd looked at everything and we'd also had a split all the way up the leading edge of the rudder , so there was an open crack on the port side of the skeg and a compression crack on the starboard . He said the only thing that really could have done that was a whale impact . So that at this stage I said this to one of the crew I had on board he said oh yeah , I remember having a big jolt when I was on the helm , which he didn't tell me about .

Capn Tinsley 43:27

And this was halfway across .

James Kenning 43:31

Yeah , we were 1,100 miles in 900 to go . The nearest land was three miles away , but it was vertically down . So , yeah , we were 900 miles from from safety . So when we first saw that the rudder was , um , not not as it should be and that we had a little bit of water in grace , it was , uh , it was concerning .

Capn Tinsley 43:58

I bet , but you made it Okay we made it . And then we were hauled out for the second time . And where were you ? In Grenada .

James Kenning 44:12

In Grenada . So we went into . If you see St George's and you zoom in on there and you can start to see the beginnings of a marina there that is port louis marina , is that where you stayed ? So that's where we went into .

James Kenning 44:30

That's where the art plus rally finishes okay um and then uh , to get hauled out along the South coast there are . There are three main boat yards . There's Spice Island , marine Clark's Quart Down here , yep . So if you look at see where Le Fer Bleu is Not true blue but keep going East , right , okay . So go go north , not into fair blue , but just to the east . Yeah , go opposite the big dipper restaurant and there's clark's court boatyard and marina oh nice . Okay , this is a good tip , which is one of the for insurance purposes , is considered hurricane safe .

Capn Tinsley 45:28

Okay , yeah right .

James Kenning 45:30

So this is where I hauled out to have the the rudder repaired by an absolutely fantastic team of Palm Tree tree marine who are based at clark's court okay , good to know everything took ? Uh , because they closed down for christmas . The boat had to be dried out , then they had to do 17 layers of glassing on the boat , then the copper coat had to be reapplied in the areas on the rudder and the skeg . So it wasn't until the end of the first week in February that the boat relaunched .

Capn Tinsley 46:11

And when did you get there ?

James Kenning 46:14

I got there mid-December . Okay , so it was a bit of a frustrating couple of months and not really how I'd hoped Did you stay there or did you fly ?

James Kenning 46:25

home A little bit of both , flew home initially , then came back to oversee the works going on . I'm always a big I very wary of leaving um contractors alone . You know I mean , as it happened , palm tree guys were unbelievable in . You know , the professionalism in the way they were treating the boat . But I have had bad experiences in the past of um of contractors left alone . Oh yeah , I like to be there if any serious work is being done .

Capn Tinsley 47:08

There's a lot of catamarans in here .

James Kenning 47:10

There are a lot of cats there , in fact , where that white car is , that is exactly where my boat was parked at .

Capn Tinsley 47:17

Okay , hayden says a good yard Clarkark's .

James Kenning 47:22

we stored there for two seasons yeah there we go yeah , um , the only downside with clark's court is it is in the middle of nowhere . I mean there is nothing around there . Um , there's one restaurant on site , but that is it's not . It's not the best place , it's it closes all day . Sunday it closes about six o'clock .

James Kenning 47:53

Had I got the dinghy in the water then I would have been able to you know come over here that you're pointing out across the Bay , but my , you know the dinghy we're in a rush to get hauled out . She was still on the davits so I was pretty much stuck there living on the hard , a lot of mosquitoes and bugs , which was not very pleasant .

Capn Tinsley 48:18

So a million dollars later .

James Kenning 48:21

Actually you joke , but I was expecting the cost to be huge and it wasn't .

Capn Tinsley 48:28

Oh .

James Kenning 48:30

All of the work , including the lift out and the storage , came to less than 10,000 GB GB pound sterling , which I thought was actually a bargain , because normally anything with marine in it I was expecting it to be at least twice that and insurance covered a lot of it as well .

Capn Tinsley 48:57

Oh nice .

James Kenning 49:00

As did the insurance cover my parasailor , because it wasn't damaged by wind , it was damaged by water . I did have heavy deductibles on both , but it it took a bit of a sting out sure , sure , well , that's good news .

Capn Tinsley 49:17

Okay , so you made it back in february . Of what year is this by now ?

James Kenning 49:22

2000 this year we're now to 25 .

Capn Tinsley 49:25

Yeah , so that's where your boat is now so the boat's there now .

James Kenning 49:30

Um , she's actually hauled out in spice island marine . Uh , for the hurricane season . Um , again , it it's an insurance thing that uh , again it's an insurance thing that the boats have to be below 12 degrees something .

Capn Tinsley 49:48

Otherwise they're not insured . Yes , I'm right in the middle of . I've got a bullseye where I am for hurricanes .

James Kenning 50:01

But okay . So what's the plan next ? Um well , trying to work out what to do for the summer months . Um , back to the boat . Um , um , whether you know , in the future it's around the . I mean , what I'd really like to do would be the High Latitude Challenge and go pole to pole . So I don't know if you've heard

Caribbean Arrival and Rudder Repairs

James Kenning 50:33

of this , but it's the latest , jimmy Cornell , it's not a rally as such , but boats leave from Cherbourg and they time to go down South America , down to the Antarctic Peninsula , and then head up via Hawaii to do the Northwest Passage , before then heading back to via Greenland , to uh , uh , to share , book , to complete , complete the trip around .

Capn Tinsley 51:07

So that would be uh . And you know I I interviewed some folks on here that love , they love that , they love ice and snow and they sail to those destinations .

James Kenning 51:23

Yeah .

Capn Tinsley 51:23

And I'm like what is ? Oh I just love it , they love it .

James Kenning 51:28

You know , to be honest , our Kyler isn't the boat for that .

Capn Tinsley 51:33

Okay .

James Kenning 51:35

It would need to be an aluminium expedition boat .

Capn Tinsley 51:38

Okay .

James Kenning 51:41

Maybe I'll go boat shopping .

Capn Tinsley 51:45

Okay , so I do have some rapid fire questions . Favorite country to sail to so far .

James Kenning 51:53

Oh , I like Martinique in the . Caribbean . Okay , uh , it's got some beaut , so it's got great , great food , cause it's French . Um some lovely anchorages , it's got good marinas , good services . There I did like Martinique .

Capn Tinsley 52:16

Okay , um and uh . Hayden says uh , I've interviewed SV Touché . It's an island pack at 380 . And they go from Svalbard to Cape Horn , and they talked about the butter melting . That's how I first heard it . Okay , so , martinique , we already talked about your favorite anchorage , biggest storm .

James Kenning 52:48

Do you know , I haven't been caught out in a huge storm . Good answer , I like to think that's because of my passage planning . I've been in force eight winds planning . I've been in force eight winds , but I don't think I've had stronger than that . So yeah , I'm a virgin in that respect , with regards to really heavy weather . Okay , I have to ask force eight winds . What is that ? I think force eight is up to 40 knots .

Capn Tinsley 53:24

Oh , you have been in that . Yeah , well , that's challenging . Yeah , I'm not going to lie .

James Kenning 53:35

It's not officially Stormforce , no , it's not Hurricane , strength , but goodness gracious .

Capn Tinsley 53:42

Okay , I think they call it a near gale , I think . It'll ruin your day . First thing you do at landfall after a crossing Open a tin of beer .

James Kenning 53:57

Okay , favorite sailing movie oh , um , I'll come back to that one . Okay , there's a few of them out there uh night watch coffee or red bull do you know I don't do either . I have a bag of sweets so sugar , sugar .

Capn Tinsley 54:26

Okay , I'm a coffee gal .

James Kenning 54:34

Favorite snack on passage . I eat what's given to me . I eat what's in the snack pack . So yeah , I don't have a favorite , it's whatever's in there .

Capn Tinsley 54:45

Okay , Dream crew member dead or alive .

James Kenning 54:50

Ooh , I'd like to cross with Elvis . I mean , just , wouldn't it be great You've got entertainment . He'd have so many stories , it wouldn't really matter if he couldn't sail .

Capn Tinsley 55:09

Best answer on the Salty podcast ever . Okay , other than my partner , of course . Of course . Biggest fear at sea . I think I've heard a couple of them .

James Kenning 55:25

Waves , waves . Yeah , biggest fear at sea . I think I've heard a couple of them um waves , waves . Yeah , it's not the wind . It's not wind that that frightens me , but the waves no actually no , I changed . I changed my answer .

Capn Tinsley 55:33

It's lightning , okay , lightning scares the absolute god out of me okay , it just occurred to me that we did not bring up the anchorage we were talking about that .

James Kenning 55:46

Ah , that's true . We were talking about that earlier . I think we said I will . Although it changes daily , I will go for Chatham Bay on Union Island . Here it is , there it is , there it is , and it's Grenada or no . This is St Vincent and the Grenadines . Right , okay , it's the Southern Island . I had the best ever lobster from a little shack on the beach there .

James Kenning 56:23

And it's very sad because the owners there , since the Hurricane Beryl blew through and pretty much laid waste to a lot of the Grenadines and especially Union Island , the government have been withholding permission for what were wooden shacks to rebuild . They're currently in tents because they want to be able to sell the land off for hotel development there .

Capn Tinsley 56:53

Yeah , that's sad .

James Kenning 56:54

You know , it's really sad because it is such a beautiful area and part of you know why I love it . There is that it's just a beach and a couple of shacks .

Capn Tinsley 57:06

Yeah , and I'm told by a lot of different sailors that there are a lot of places like this in the Caribbean , yeah , places to pull in , but that is a shame , but they are still operating .

James Kenning 57:21

But in a tent , yeah , but they are still operating , but in a tent . Yeah , you know they , they were there in a tent . Um , it's amazing . You know how these people are are pulling , pulling through after the storm , you know I was there last .

James Kenning 57:37

It must have been April . I came through there and we're now so Beryl went through the previous June and the local residents in Clifton Harbour . They're still living in tents . They're still relying on government food being brought in daily for them to have hot meals . But one thing that really does help is cruisers going in there and spending their dollars right . It's putting much needed money into the economy and you know you go in . If you would normally anchor , then take a boy so that you , you know , give 20 , you know just on taking a boy . And there are , you know , give $20 , you know , just on taking a boy . There are things that cruisers can do there to help , just by being there and not being put off by the fact that it's still , you know , a lot of destruction from a hurricane .

Capn Tinsley 58:33

Right , right , Okay , yeah , and that would appeal to . I think that would appeal . Even a tent would appeal to us cruisers . You know , yeah , Drew says fire is his . Fire at sea is his biggest fear . And then he wrote I was working on a tug and we had a crankcase explosion and the builds caught on fire . That would be frightening .

James Kenning 58:52

Yeah , fire . Um , there's not a lot you can do . Is that other than hope you can launch the life raft in time if it's caught hold ?

Capn Tinsley 59:01

Right .

James Kenning 59:02

There's only one outcome that's probably going to happen . Okay , I mean , arkyla doesn't have lithium batteries , but that's the big scare these days is that lithiums that haven't been installed properly .

Capn Tinsley 59:15

Yeah .

James Kenning 59:15

We've got high fires .

Capn Tinsley 59:18

Okay , so one thing you'd never sail without .

James Kenning 59:23

Ooh , I was Okay . So one thing you'd never sail without GPS . Okay , of course I'm not into that whole sextant thing for me . No , you know , if the GPS fails I go to a second GPS and after that you go to chart . If the GPS fails , I go to Galileo or Glasnos .

Capn Tinsley 59:45

Okay , and like charts are the last on the list no , I still have paper charts . Yes , okay , and let's see Anchor down First drink . What is it ?

James Kenning 1:00:05

It's either going to be a beer or a gin and tonic or , if it's in the Caribbean , it could be a painkiller . Okay , or a beer , because that would be cold in the fridge .

Capn Tinsley 1:00:18

And that would be on your boat .

James Kenning 1:00:20

Yeah .

Capn Tinsley 1:00:20

Okay , All right . So Drew says . Luckily we were faced up to a barge and we all got on it and let the tug go . It was hard to watch it burn yeah , soul destroying yeah , um , if not sailing , what would you be doing ? Skiing , skiing , snow skiing , yeah , okay , well , that was a quick answer yeah , um either mountains or ocean for me that's right , you did say that one word to describe sailing yacht or kyla . One word beautiful , beautiful , that's for sure . Uh , sail changes at night . Love it or hate it .

James Kenning 1:01:06

I try not to the last one I did . Was it destroyed my parasail ? I hate it yeah .

Capn Tinsley 1:01:14

Okay .

James Kenning 1:01:19

Best

Future Plans and Rapid-Fire Q&A

James Kenning 1:01:20

wildlife encounter since you love wildlife ? Um , okay , this wasn't on our Kyla . This was actually a non-sailing trip up in Alaska and I was sea kayaking and a pod of orca came by . Oh , we're talking about orcas again , so you ?

Capn Tinsley 1:01:38

were on a kayak .

James Kenning 1:01:40

On a sea kayak . And then my second answer to that would be the other end of the earth , in the Antarctic Peninsula , again sea kayaking , and a seal just came up right next to the kayak , so that was pretty special .

Capn Tinsley 1:01:58

Did you have a camera with you ?

James Kenning 1:01:59

I did .

Capn Tinsley 1:02:00

Good , Because we haven't mentioned this . But if you go to , is it your Instagram ? You've got some beautiful pictures there of your boat . We just showed some of them . So you say you're a self-claimed amateur photographer Most ridiculous boat superstition you've heard .

James Kenning 1:02:25

Well , okay , I'm going to say not having bananas on board . And the reason I say that is because when we left the Canaries , my crew said we can't have bananas on board , something will go wrong . Well , first we lost a parasailor , then we got hit by a whale which cracked the skeg . So maybe it's not so .

Capn Tinsley 1:02:49

I always travel with bananas too , and I have had some things happen . I never attribute it to the bananas , though . Will you ever stop sailing ?

James Kenning 1:03:03

Do you know ? I think I'll get my ashes sprinkled off a sternum of a boat .

Capn Tinsley 1:03:09

Sweet , okay . Last question If you could leave the world with one sailing lesson , what would it be ? Tip of the day .

James Kenning 1:03:21

Reef early .

Capn Tinsley 1:03:24

Reef early . Yes , reef early , yes , reef early , and call for help early also .

James Kenning 1:03:33

Yeah , hopefully reefing early will negate the need to call for help , all right .

Capn Tinsley 1:03:38

Well , is there anything else you'd like to tell us ? We've been on here an hour and if anybody else would like to make some comments , we've had a few comments , which is nice , please do , but is there any other ? Final , your plans , your plans , what are your plans ?

James Kenning 1:03:54

Well , I mean not sure of the immediate plans , but you know the dream would be that pole to pole , you know , northwest Passage , antarctic Peninsula . I say when I went down to the Antarctic it was on a Russian expedition boat and I felt cheated because we had the Drake Lake . It was flat calm going around Cape Horn and all the way across . So I geared myself up to be as sick as a dog for however many days it takes to get across and it was just flat calm .

Capn Tinsley 1:04:37

And most people would consider that a blessing , but you did not .

James Kenning 1:04:41

Well , it was a blessing , but I felt cheated . So maybe I'd like to go and do that in an expedition sailboat .

Capn Tinsley 1:04:49

You wanted a good sea story . Yeah , gotcha , okay .

James Kenning 1:04:54

So , but after Grenada , you're going to Grenada , you're in the UK now so , when the boats refloated , get it back up through the Caribbean and then back across to Europe okay , so you're going to go north , and when is that going to be ?

Capn Tinsley 1:05:17

when are you going back ? You're still waiting for it at the end of hurricane season yeah . End of hurricane season so maybe I'll see you down there . Are you going to go to bahamas ?

James Kenning 1:05:27

yeah , you're going to go to georgetown we'll crack the , I'll crack my beer and whatever you're cracking okay .

Capn Tinsley 1:05:34

um , so drew says for a beginner buying a sailboat what is a good price to start at , or or a certain boat to look for ? My first response is how well are you at fixing things ?

James Kenning 1:05:46

I mean , you can't answer that question as it is . You have to say what you want to do , and my advice would be start small . Buy a dinghy , learn the fundamentals of sailing in a dinghy , because it does seem that to me , the best sailors are those who learnt on dinghies and then work your way up , take some lessons .

Capn Tinsley 1:06:10

Yeah , you can take some ASA 101 , 103 , 104 yeah .

James Kenning 1:06:15

I mean , I did the RYA courses to my yacht master . But charter boats to see what and get on other people's boats before you buy one yourself because that's good advice a boat is . It's not a good financial investment . No financial advisor will ever tell you to buy a boat .

Capn Tinsley 1:06:37

All it does is a vessel that you throw money at constantly yeah , I actually did a podcast on this with a boat broker and her first response was what do you want to do with it ? Are you just going to be day sailing ? Are you going to be , you know , going cruising ? So there's a lot of questions . So , drew , if you would like , I can hook you up with a good boat broker . There's actually another one on here , that's Island Spirit S here . That's Island Spirit SV , island Spirit . He's a boat broker and if he's not available , I have another one in the Keys . Where are you , drew ?

James Kenning 1:07:15

the other thing is to work out if you like sailing and , if you have a partner , if he or she likes sailing , because if they don't , then your dreams could come apart very quickly and you could have a very expensive bit of kit on your hands that you really wish you didn't have .

Capn Tinsley 1:07:36

It seems like it's always the men trying to get the women to go , and in my case it was the other way around , but there's a lot of men out there wishing they had a woman that would go like Island Spirit . They're a sailing couple and they both love it , so it's kind of hard to find that a partner when you get one , hold on to him or her .

Capn Tinsley 1:08:03

Right , drew , if you want to know more . I want you to a partner when you get one hold on to him or her Right , right , drew , if you want to know more , I want you to . I will hook you up with the right people . Email me at salty abandon at Gmail . Oh wait , it looks like he responded . I'm in Florida . What part of Florida ? I got people . I got people . I'll send you to Florida's a big place , but email . I got people . I got people . I'll send you to Florida's a big place . But email me at saltyabandoned at gmail and I will steer you in the right direction to start your search . So okay . Well , if anybody wants to follow James , you're on Instagram at S-V-O sailing archaic sailing archaic at sailing archaic at on uh instagram or the website where all the cruising stories are fully laid out is wwwsailingarchaelacom .

Capn Tinsley 1:09:08

I'm going to put that up here . Make sure I spell it right . And then on Instagram it's at sailingarchaela . Okay , there it is , we'll have to see . So you're going back at the end of hurricane season , correct ?

James Kenning 1:09:37

Let's see what happens .

Capn Tinsley 1:09:39

Okay , oh , so he's in the Tampa area . Cool , cool , cool , okay . So email me , drew , we'll talk , we'll chat . Okay , well , james , it's been a pleasure .

James Kenning 1:09:49

Thank you for having me .

Capn Tinsley 1:09:55

I want to stay in touch with you and I might even see you down there and maybe even interview again after you've gone through the whole Caribbean . You probably have some good sea stories Hopefully it won't be expensive ones . You probably have some good sea stories .

James Kenning 1:10:05

Hopefully won't be expensive ones .

Capn Tinsley 1:10:06

Every story with a boat is expensive one way or another are you pretty good at fixing things yourself certainly the last few years , I've got a lot better .

James Kenning 1:10:18

Yeah , when you start doing ocean passages is when you start to really learn your boat . I think you know , you . I have literally unscrewed every single panel in the boat to see where everything is .

Capn Tinsley 1:10:34

Uh , how it , how it can be fixed and did you do your walk arounds every day when you're out at sea ?

James Kenning 1:10:41

yeah , um , uh , very important . I mean , on doing that one of the things , I found that my general lines were almost chafed fully through . So , yeah , it's , uh , it's important yeah , so you looked at everything there's no worse thing to find than a split pin ring on the deck .

Capn Tinsley 1:11:06

Right , yeah , yeah , and you know I was sailing Phoenix . By the way , I'll be interviewing Sailing Phoenix at 7 pm Central . He's in Hawaii . It'll be 2 pm Hawaii time . So , if you guys want to , I'm doing two today , so come back at 7 pm central and I'll be here with sailing phoenix , who has just skyrocketed viral . He's become so viral . He now has two million followers on instagram and he talked about that . He would find all kinds of things , but , um , anyway , thank you so much , james . It's a pleasure talking with you and I will see you again soon .

Capn Tinsley 1:11:44

We'll see you in the Caribbean soon . Sounds good .