Podcasts are proliferating across the digital airwaves these days, offering aural entertainment as experts discuss every imaginable subject in varying degrees of depth and expertise. For those a little slow on the digital uptake, a podcast is a radio-like talk show (many podcasts originate on the radio spectrum) that is streamed across the Internet and the episodes, like a Netflix series, can be accessed whenever the listener likes, on devices like smart phones, tablets and laptops.
There are dozens of podcasts directed at boaters and boat owners. They cover the waterfront: some discuss boats and maintenance tips, others offer travel and fishing advice, some talk about boating gear and products, some are directed at sailboat owners, some mix in music and talk and one popular site takes a famous historical nautical event–a famous sea battle or an infamous wreck–and discusses it in detail.
Here are a few of the podcasts we’ve listened to recently.
Homegrown in Annapolis
Chesapeake Bay boaters can tune in to The Boat Show every Wednesday from 2-3 pm on WNAV (1430AM and 99.9 FM).
Hosted by Capt. Rick Franke, who also writes the Boatshop Reports blog on interesting and unusual boat renovations around the Bay for proptalk.com, the show focuses on the local marine industry, with guests ranging from Americas Cup sailors, fishing experts to local government officials discussing marine-related topics.
Tune in live if you’re local, or livestream via WNAV’s website. Just ask your digital assistant: “Alexa: Play WNAV.”
Boating Industry Overview
Boating Industry magazine recently released their Boating Industry Insider podcast, hosted by the publication’s content director, David Gee.
Recent episodes took a look at the future of marine radio communications, discussed the increase in recreational fishing during the Covid-19 crisis, and asked experts to explain why paddleboarders were seeing an increase in fatalities while boating deaths overall have been declining.
You can stream the podcast from iTunes, stitcher.com or soundcloud.com.
SuperYacht Radio
No matter what your LOA might be, listening to people talk about those super-duper behemoths of the sea can be fascinating!
SuperYacht Radio is based in Mallorca (of course) and broadcasts a mixture of music, industry and community reports, and interviews with yachtsmen and yacht builders from around the world.
Recent episodes featured discussions on “The Role of the Captain,” and “Telemedicine at Sea.”
You can stream all the SYR programs at yachtcast.me, where we also found a half-dozen other boating podcasts that looked interesting, including Yacht Femme, which features interesting women working in the super yacht industry, and The Luxury Travel Marketer, which looks at high-end destinations around the world.
You can download the free SYR app from Apple or Google stores.
Going Loopy
Like hiking the Appalachian Trail all the way from Georgia to Maine, some boaters dream of navigating The Great Loop, the 6,000-mile circuit that includes the Eastern Atlantic seaboard, Florida, the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and the St.Lawrence and Hudson Rivers.
Naturally, there’s a podcast for those with that dream, or fantasy! The show is produced by America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association, or AGLCA (greatloop.org) and you can find all the episodes from their weekly podcast at the website.
Recent episodes included “Wintering in the Florida Keys,” “Emergency at Anchor,” and “Cruising the Chesapeake Bay.” (The latter episode was hosted by Rex Noel, cruising editor for Waterway Guide.
AGLCA Radio can also be downloaded from iTunes and other podcast distributors.
Maritime History Podcast
The Maritime History Podcast is an episodic survey of world history, viewed through a lens with a nautical focus. Formatted as a chronological narrative history, the show covers many aspects of the past related to ships, naval activity, maritime trade, and how the oceans have played a role in the human story. It also examines the modern advances of nautical archaeology and how modern science can help shed light on the past.
Each show runs between 40 minutes and an hour. Recent episodes include discussions of the Battle of Salamis and Artemesium, while earlier episodes discussed the naval forces of ancient Greece, Egypt and Mesopotamia.
You can find and listen to all the episodes at the podcast website, here.
On the Wind
On the Wind is the podcast offshoot of the 59° North blog, operated for years now by a couple of serious offshore sailors. There are currently more than 300 episodes of the podcast to listen to, many of them fascinating interviews with renowned sailors such as Nigel Calder, Gary Jobson, and Sir Robin Knox-Johnson.
Other recent episodes include “Gut instincts and sailing offshore,” “Heavy weather sailing,” and “Trans-Pacific and Sunken Songs.”
Download and listen from the website (here) or subscribe at Spotify.
