Covert Castaway Liveaboard Sailing

Join us, Holly and Stephane, in the eighth season of the Covert Castaway podcast as we talk about the liveaboard cruising lifestyle, directly from the stunning Bahamas. In this episode, we introduce you to fellow cruisers Ray and Sarah from Kismet, sharing their captivating backstory, sailing dreams, and experiences. This 'at anchor' podcast offers an intriguing dive into the world of sailing and life on water amid the gorgeous Bahamian setting. ==== Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience meeting new people and sailing as liveaboard sailing cruisers on our performance catamaran SV AWEN, our Outremer 52. Join us as we meet wonderful new people in this lifestyle.  ⭐️Check out our new catamaran sailing blog! https://sailingawen.com  YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@SailingAWEN/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sailingawen/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SailingAwen/ FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sailingawen/

Food! Today we talk about how much food to bring and what kind and we share some of our cooking methods to minimize time, effort, and dirty dishes. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers on our performance catamaran SV AWEN an Outremer 52. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. ⭐️Check out our new catamaran sailing blog! https://sailingawen.com  YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@SailingAWEN/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sailingawen/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SailingAwen/ FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sailingawen/

Do you leave with full tanks or not? Today we talk about transatlantic passage preparation and how much fuel and water we think we need and the different philosophies, pros/cons of each.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.  ⭐️Check out our new catamaran sailing blog! https://sailingawen.com  YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@SailingAWEN/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sailingawen/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SailingAwen/ FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sailingawen/

Today we talk about our transatlantic passage prep around weather routing and what we use for communication, including Starlink. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.  ⭐️Check out our new catamaran sailing blog! https://sailingawen.com  YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@SailingAWEN/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sailingawen/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SailingAwen/ FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sailingawen/

Massive update in this week's episode, lot's to talk about as we prepare for our passage to...surprise reveal in this episode! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

We sit down with the Larsson's from Colorado to talk about sailboats and skiing as they wait for their new performance catamaran. Note: this episode was experimenting with the DJI wireless mics and our headsets so the audio isn't perfect. We strive to improve and have different guest mics on order now.   Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

This week we talk about our sailboat warranty work and neuvage for our Outremer 52 catamaran.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

Let's talk about the Mediterranean wind; it's windy and unpredictable. We are learning a lot about trusting weather models and what we can do to stay safe in high wind conditions.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

We are fresh from the Cannes Yachting Festival and wanted to share some tips since it's boat show season. We saw some amazing sailboats and yachts at this year's show and lots of changes in the new sailboat market. #boatshow Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

This week we are hosting the O'Kelly's during part of our sailboat shakedown. What wonderful guests!!! We sat down to chat over coffee and talk about boats! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

Discuss the adventure finding and keeping sailboat insurance for cruising. It's not as easy or cheap as it once was so update your budget!   Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

The not so glamorous side of getting a new sailboat is working out the kinks and shaking off the cobwebs as we finish getting our Outremer 52 ready for shakedown.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

First night at anchor unsupervised on our Outremer 52 catamaran after a week of learning the systems, the nuances of the sail plan and how she works.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran. 

WE GOT OUR BOAT! Woo Hoo. We talk about our first day on the boat and how the initial handover went. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.       

Well, we got the final invoice for our sailboat since handover is next week and wanted to go through all our final options and decisions.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.           

The new North Sails go on AWEN and we take our Outremer 52 out for the first test sail to see how she likes them!  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.

Splash day for our new boat! We were excited to see Awen in the water and getting her mast put on, it's starting to look like a real sailboat and we are just two weeks away from handover.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

The joys of nomadic life include all kinds of unexpected surprises, we share some of them as we wait out the last few weeks waiting for our sailboat to be done.    Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.

My mom has a lot of questions about offshore sailing and all the possible ways to die on a sailboat so I invited her on a podcast to ask me anything!   Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.

Today we talk about our approach to sailboat maintenance, tools, spares, and parts and how we are accumulating and managing our equipment and making sure we set good discipline for maintenance longer term.    Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to being liveaboard sailing cruisers. Join us as we talk about what we‘re learning as we sell our stuff, quit our corporate jobs, say goodbye to our family and attempt a circumnavigation on a sailing catamaran.

Medical preparation, training, insurance, telehealth, and what to know about marine medical packed into this episode!  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

We finally get to France and get to sail on the O52 catamaran live in the flesh! Not much wind, but definitely left an impression.    Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

We chat with Catherine from Wild Travel Story about their sailing adventures and tips for living healthy and sustainably on a boat. Check out their book, The Hunter & The Gatherer. She shares great stories from their years cruising.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Our first impressions of the Outremer 52 now that it's been launched and sailing on the water! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

We give an update on recent travel to Melbourne and Bali and now we're preparing to go sailing and get our new catamaran, the Outremer 52, which will be out of the factory very soon! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

We speak to our neighbor Tom who works at North Sails and has the best job in the world. He shares about materials and R&D for 3Di sail building.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Happy New Year everyone! We wanted to kick off the year with an update of what's been going on and share our plans for the year ahead.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Our Outremer 52 catamaran is in the mold! And other exciting sailboat updates as we explore Melbourne, Australia.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Today we breakdown the major navigation options to consider between weather forecast, route planning and weather routing. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Today we cover communication systems and options for liveaboard sailing and circumnavigating, including Starlink. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

How much redundancy is needed to sail around the world on a performance catamaran?  We explain our philosophy and the options we have selected as backup based on our cruising plans. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

We share a summary of the training sessions we have gone through over the years and emphasize what we believe is useful in the context of a couple sailing together where one person has more experience than the other. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.  

We're excited to talk about our new Outremer 52 Performance Catamaran. If you check our Sailing Awen YouTube channel you'll even get to see cool pictures and animations. We also share our experience from the Cannes Yachting Festival and from our first sail on an Outremer 55. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Life is a journey... You make decisions, you change your mind and you end up somewhere for reasons you had not thought about. We share our story about a 'home base' hoping it might help others. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Today we share the factors that define a performance catamaran and what considerations mattered most to us in narrowing down what we wanted in our second sailboat. We spoke to a professional on the topic and describe our decision process. This episode is the audio-only version of our video on our Sailing AWEN YT channel, so you can check that out in all it's glory by heading over there!   Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Our friends from The Blue Saga share their electrical propulsion experience with their custom performance catamaran and what it's like sailing with an electric motor. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

In this episode, we share our full story, our sailing liveaboard adventure in the last two seasons and how changed our minds about our catamaran. This is an audio-only version of our story posted on our Sailing AWEN YouTube channel. Be sure to check that out and subscribe. We have exciting news to share in the coming weeks, so don't miss it!!! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

How do you pack light and live light on a sailboat when you plan to live aboard? This week we talk about the art of living simple and light.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

This is an update on our previous podcast about visas, Schengen time and residency when it comes to traveling and sailing in Europe and the Mediterranean. You would think the rules would be straight forward, but really it's shades of grey.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

Warning: this episode gets a little geeky on electronics systems for sailing but wanted to share what we are learning about B&G and essentials for a new sailing catamaran.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

Nikki Henderson, sailing instructor, team leader and Clipper Race skipper, shares advice for couples about how to work better as a team and set a positive culture on the boat. I was able to spend time with Nikki during Outremer Week in her classes and during the regatta days and her advice was remarkable!!! Thank you Nikki for sharing your experience and being a great source of inspiration. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

What learning and training is needed to safely sail and live on a sailboat and what do you need to know to diagnose problems and manage risk on the water? This week we summarize our 9 days of classroom and on the water training including diesel, electricity, weather, maneuvers and sail changes, celestial navigation, survival and safety - and a regatta during Outremer Week. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

Deciding on a sailing and rigging plan is one of the most critical and expensive decisions to make on a performance catamaran. We will share the different options and why making this choice can be so difficult.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

We are getting schooled on what it takes to sail a performance catamaran. Hear all about what we are learning and the training programs we are taking advantage of as we make the shift to sailing a lighter boat and deciding on our new sail plan.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

We get started with the team that will help us through the new production process and visit the International Multihull Show in La Grande Motte to meet our points of contact for electronics, sail plan and other major aspects of our new configuration.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

The boat switcharoo from a comfort to performance boat, how did we get here? It's not because we want a racing boat, it's for other reasons that we dive into further. Today, we do a summary of our revised sailing philosophy as we approach the build out of our new boat for around the world sailing - and it's not really about performance as it's currently defined.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes, celebrate victories and transition to the sailing life to explore the world.  

We're back to kick off Season 5 living out of suitcases and without a boat at the moment! Lots to cover about our life on the road the last couple months and we are so excited to gear up to tackle the boat building process once again! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to becoming sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we make mistakes and celebrate victories while we sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy and commission boat(s) and explore the world.    

TONS! That's how much we have to update you on in our Season Four Finale. And...we have a major update on our boat situation as we get ready to roll into Season Five. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

If you live in the US, this episode will blow your mind. We share our experience getting medical checkup and dental work done while sailing in Turkey and the out of pocket costs walking in off the street as a liveaboard.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

Ever wonder what it's like to sail as a family? Today I sit down with Anwar, Sarah, Omar (11) and Tamara (15) to talk about their liveaboard cruising experience. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.

We decided to list our catamaran while here in Turkey so we talk about the process of choosing a broker and other considerations on selling it now versus waiting. We also reveal a little more about our new boat! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and explore the world. Join the conversation on our Sailing AWEN facebook page or drop us a note at sailingawen@gmail.com.