Stephen Ladd - Exploring Latin American Coasts and Rivers in a 21 foot yacht

01/21/23 • 60 min

Ginny met Steve at a wooden boat festival in the 1990's when he was selling his book, Three Years in a 12-Foot Boat. She thought something like, “The crazy things people do!” Fast forward to 2022 and retired City Planner, Stephen Ladd (who married Ginny) shares an amazing story of the 5-years they spent exploring the coasts and inland rivers of South America in a 21-foot yacht and gave birth to a baby during their travels. They sailed from Florida to South America following coasts and islands, then they got into the big river systems down there. Using those rivers they went up and over a big hump called the Guyana Massif, which is the highland between the Orinoco and Amazon watersheds.

Then they went up and over another big hump: the high ground south of the Amazon and north of Argentina. Then they crossed that second hump again, coming back northwards into the Amazon, but following different rivers this time. Steve's approach to minimalist sailing, and the challenges of getting off the grid, should inspire anyone with big adventuring dreams and a small budget.

Find out more about podcast content and sailing opportunities: https://www.oceansailingpodcast.com

Find out more about podcast content and sailing opportunities: https://www.oceansailingpodcast.com

Previous Episode

Neil Driscoll: Training the key to avoiding tragedy at sea

Neil grew up sailing in the UK and quickly became accustomed to the range of weather conditions that it serves up. By the time he was a few months old, he completed his first English Channel crossing. He fell into maritime training as a teenager at his local sailing club, before emigrating to Australia and launching his own Sydney based training company 'Above and Beyond Boating'. Unlike some of the monotonous "death by powerpoint" courses that are run, Neil decided to pioneer a different approach to training through real life scenario, video based training, that people could complete remotely. When COVID came along, this went from a great idea to the "only show in town" as the traditional classroom trainers, shelved most of their courses for 2 years. Neil shares some great lessons from his decades clocking up tens of thousands of miles at sea and provides some great insights into the simple safety things we take forgranted.

Find out more about podcast content and sailing opportunities: https://www.oceansailingpodcast.com

Next Episode

Honey I'm buying (another) 72ft Super Yacht at 90% below replacement value

David Hows is back with another ambitious tale and chapter of his exciting plans to expand Ocean Sailing Expeditions with the purchase of another 72-foot luxury expedition super yacht. The 3rd yacht to join Ocean Sailing Expeditions in less than 3 years, this is a great example of what's possible if you create a big vision and boldly go forward and execute on it (even when COVID gets in the way). This is your chance to get involved, get onboard and sail to places you could normally only dream of, at a fraction of the normal cost. David is releasing his unique and innovative shareholder membership program for the 2nd time in 3 years, for just 35 new members in total. This makes it easier for everyday sailor’s to join his team on a range of new passages, races and expeditions at 20-100% below the normal crew cost.

Find out more: https://oceansailingexpeditions.com/membership