#shane freeman

[shane511-blog]

First across the International Dateline 1/1/17

First across the International Dateline 1/1/17

I don’t know if that headline is accurate, but until someone tells me this is not the case, I will hold it to be true. For most of us, the usual means for crossing the international dateline(when longitude shifts from 180E to 180W(or vice versa), is via plane. Sailing east means sailing into a rapidly advancing UTC/GMT/ZULU clock.  Dusk encroaches a little earlier with each “day” of easting. When…

View On WordPress

[shane511-blog]

Episode 16 : Sarongs, sun & sextant in Bass Strait – not! 81 weeks to go: The picture above is of Robin Knox Johnson in Bass Strait on Suhali in November 1968 as he competed in the first Golden Globe race.

[shane511-blog]

If your name is lee, I am nervous

If your name is lee, I am nervous

I had planned to follow up the Wilsons Promentory trip last week with a passage this week to Stanley on the NW coast of Tasmania. It’s about a 400 mile round trip. I didn’t go as a strong low pressure system will deliver northerly winds of 40 – 50 knots tomorrow and Friday, at the time I would be nearing Tasmania’s northern coast.

Windyty graphic of the low system brushing Tasmania later this week

View On WordPress

[shane511-blog]

Episode 13 - It's what you learn after you know it all that counts...

Episode 13 – It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts…

85 weeks to go: Whilst what I just wrote was “85 weeks to go” , the reality is that within 8 weeks I will be leaving Australia for the UK. In episode 11 a few weeks ago I wrote how the prospect of this imminent departure was clearly focusing my mind. Well I’m just noticing now that it appears to be focusing the mind of friends and family around me as well. Increasingly more people are asking me…

View On WordPress

[shane511-blog]

Lost at sea...

Lost at sea…

96 weeks to go:There is something deeply tragic in our reading of sailors “lost at sea”. The human body literally can disappear without trace – lost apparently – in the ocean. The phrase “lost at sea” conjures up those very primal fears we all share about being un expectedly in ocean waters, floating and out of reach of a fellow human being. Inevitably succumbing to the cold. In August last year…

View On WordPress

[shane511-blog]

Episode 8 : Out sailing again!!!

Episode 8 : Out sailing again!!!

97 weeks to go: I haven’t worked for 4 years. After 35 years of working I like this current state of not working. However, after 6 months of pretty much 5 days-a-week working on the refit of Mushka, I’ve got to say that it was all starting to feel a lot like work again. And I wasn’t much liking this. It was becoming a chore. A necessary chore, but still a chore.

In my last episode I summarised…

View On WordPress

[shane511-blog]

Episode #4: Jury Rigs, Mast Removal, and Fuel Tank replacement (108 weeks to go)

Episode #4: Jury Rigs, Mast Removal, and Fuel Tank replacement (108 weeks to go)

There is no doubt that a solo, non stop, unassisted sail around the planet is one of the more hazardous pursuits in life. What I do know though from my ocean sailing experience is that planning and preparation can mittigate potential hazards. Events such as these – Vendee Globe and the Volvo Ocean Race for example, have extraordinarily high attrition rates. Typically half the field either does…

View On WordPress