
Chris Barnes sails the 110 foot 1851 Schooner America
07/14/17 • 71 min
In this episode my guest host Andy Lamont talks with Chris Barnes on his Panama stopover about his 17 years of cruising adventures at sea. Chris's story is riveting from start to finish with tales of meteorites, bushfires, hurricanes and an adventure filled life on the ocean
Chris started dinghy sailing when he was young on the Portsmouth Harbour in England and then crossed the Atlantic in 34 days from England to Barbados in the yacht 'Robert Spray' modelled on Josua Slocum's original design. Chris spent several years skippering yachts for various owners, including sailing the 110 foot Schooner 'America'. 'America' was built in 1851 and is the yacht The Americas Cup is named after.
Chris shares insights into the rise, demise and rise again of 'America' including a period where she was left to rot in a shed 50 years ago, before a full rebuild was commissioned to restore her to the full glory we know today. Chris tells a great story of Atlantic crossings, boat yard mishaps and doing up to 9 knots boat speed in 15 knots of wind in a yacht more than 150 years old. Chris's adventures continued to Africa and eventually Australia where tragedy struck his family, as summer temperatures hit 46 degrees celsius (115 F) as Australias "Black Saturday" bushfires swept through his new hometown taking his home and more than 200 lives that day.
Visit Ocean Sailing Podcast for offshore sailing opportunities and podcast extras and follow us on Facebook.
In this episode my guest host Andy Lamont talks with Chris Barnes on his Panama stopover about his 17 years of cruising adventures at sea. Chris's story is riveting from start to finish with tales of meteorites, bushfires, hurricanes and an adventure filled life on the ocean
Chris started dinghy sailing when he was young on the Portsmouth Harbour in England and then crossed the Atlantic in 34 days from England to Barbados in the yacht 'Robert Spray' modelled on Josua Slocum's original design. Chris spent several years skippering yachts for various owners, including sailing the 110 foot Schooner 'America'. 'America' was built in 1851 and is the yacht The Americas Cup is named after.
Chris shares insights into the rise, demise and rise again of 'America' including a period where she was left to rot in a shed 50 years ago, before a full rebuild was commissioned to restore her to the full glory we know today. Chris tells a great story of Atlantic crossings, boat yard mishaps and doing up to 9 knots boat speed in 15 knots of wind in a yacht more than 150 years old. Chris's adventures continued to Africa and eventually Australia where tragedy struck his family, as summer temperatures hit 46 degrees celsius (115 F) as Australias "Black Saturday" bushfires swept through his new hometown taking his home and more than 200 lives that day.
Visit Ocean Sailing Podcast for offshore sailing opportunities and podcast extras and follow us on Facebook.
Previous Episode

Pittwater, Australia: A stunning location for a family cruising holiday
Cruising Pittwater (15nm north of Sydney) has got to be one of the top 10 cruising spots in Australia. With deepwater anchorages right up to the shoreline, free moorings, white sand beaches, private secluded bays and the 150 square kilometre Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park littered with hiking tracks, cruising the Pittwater, Cowan Creek and lower Hawkesbury River area is simply spectacular.
This episode is about our 2-week family sailing holiday on our Beneteau 445 yacht 'Ocean Gem' that included our 700nm return delivery trips sailing from the Gold Coast in Queensland, to Pittwater, New South Wales earlier this year and 8 days of fantastic cruising we enjoyed. We share the highs and lows of the the delivery trips and lots of sailing tips and recommendations about its magical cruising spots.
Visit Ocean Sailing Podcast for offshore sailing opportunities and podcast extras and follow us on Facebook.
Next Episode

Paul Ridley: Rower turned sailor from the Arctic to the Caribbean
Guest host Andy Lamont talks to Paul Ridley - rower turned sailor. He took up rowing in 2005 and within 4 years rowed 3,000nm across the Atlantic Ocean. Facing the worst nature had to offer, he was blown backwards 200 miles after a bad storm. Next came the Arctic Ocean, the only ocean that had never been rowed across. In August 2012, a team of four young explorers completed an unsupported, non-stop, record-setting voyage in one of the exploration world’s last great firsts. After 40 days and 1,000 miles, Collin West, Neal Mueller, Paul Ridley & Scott Mortensen powered their way along a dangerous section of the fabled Northwest Passage.
Paul then purchased a Lagoon 38 and took up cruising with his wife, sailing from the UK to Spain, Porto, Lisbon, the Canary Islands, Antigua, the Caribbean and the Panama Canal with plans to head to the Galapagos, Marquesas’, Tahiti and then Australia next.
Visit Ocean Sailing Podcast for offshore sailing opportunities and podcast extras and follow us on Facebook.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/ocean-sailing-podcast-567555/chris-barnes-sails-the-110-foot-1851-schooner-america-71961201"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to chris barnes sails the 110 foot 1851 schooner america on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy