Author Archives: Mike Evans

As the crew nears the halfway point, the high winds finally mellow, leading to a more pleasant ride for our seven amateur sailors. We also learn how the watch schedule operates onboard Pommes Frites.

In this Crossing Extra, Captain Mike talks about the five worst things that can happen on a sailboat and how to prevent them from happening in the first place.

In this Crossing Extra, we hear more from each of our seven amateur sailors about why they are excited to make this Atlantic crossing in a brand new sailboat.

EPISODE 3: Checking in with our sailors as they continue on in 30-knot winds and celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. We also get a glimpse of how Guy has provisioned the boat for such a long passage.

EPISODE 2: In this episode of The Crossing, we’ll check in with our sailors after they have just departed Madeira on their journey across the Atlantic. We’ll also step back in time and recap the journey from Brittany, France to Madeira, Portugal.

In this Crossing Extra, Captain Mike talks about the process to select and design the Pogo 50.

EPISODE 1: In the first episode of The Crossing, we meet the seven amateur sailors who are making the journey, learn about their level of experience, and also get a read on the initial weather forecast and the route from Madeira to Puerto Rico. Meet the amateur sailing crew and hear about their sailing experiencesContinue reading “The Crossing: Meet the Crew – Episode 1”

Tuesday, November 23rd: Departure and weather planning. The forecast unexpectedly improved today. Weather in the Northern Atlantic can be broadly split into two categories: hurricane season, and winter. In the former, the weather systems travel Northwest across the Atlantic, slamming into the Caribbean and Eastern United States. But most boats like ours transit the AtlanticContinue reading “The Crossing”

Captain Mike Monday, November 15: Relaxed morning getting everything setup before leaving.  Fuel, food, coffee, projects.  Big winds from the North, pushed us quickly South.  Tuesday, November 16th – Thursday, November 18th:  Still struggling with hydrogenerator.  What a pain.  Had to be careful about electricity consumption.  Huge winds had us sailing storm headsail and triple reefedContinue reading “Nazaré to Madeira”

Sunday, November 14: Vicente from North sails drove 2 hours from Lisbon to see if he could repair the sail. Prognosis was cautious but optimistic.  He took the sail with him with vaguely hopeful comments about being able to repair it, and not so vague curses about sailors with knives.  Finally had time to relaxContinue reading “Touring the Nazaré Funicular”