Lessons Learned with Apparent Winds

In Episode 31 of UK Sailmakers' Lessons Learned, host Buttons Padin catches up with Tripp Brower, executive director of Apparent Winds, aboard the 75 foot aluminum ketch Resilience in Mo'orea, French Polynesia, just in from Fakarava in the Tuamotus. Tripp explains how Apparent Winds grew from a planned two year circumnavigation into a 10 year expedition focused on collecting and sharing stories of community led environmental and cultural preservation, and on making "affordable science" possible by offering researchers low cost access to a capable sailing platform and accessible tools like a 6,000 meter drop camera. He traces the route from Maine to Grenada, across the Caribbean to Panama, out through French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga to New Zealand, and back north this season through the Marquesas and the Tuamotus, with relationship building as the foundation for the work. Tripp covers the partnership behind the 12.5 million square kilometre Moananui Sanctuary, a NOAA research charter in American Samoa this October focused on coral, and introduces the crew. He also gets into how the ketch rig is handled shorthanded, his passage making advice ("don't sink" and "leave the dock"), and what is next: a refit in Whangarei, New Zealand, and a separate Chile to Antarctica expedition. Follow along with Tripp and the crew at @apparentwinds on Instagram and the Apparent Winds Expedition on YouTube. 00:00 Introduction 01:02 Mo'orea Update 01:34 Mission and Affordable Science 04:46 Deep Sea Tech and Data Gaps 06:30 Route From Maine to Polynesia 08:53 Biggest Lessons So Far 10:32 Meet the Crew 12:28 Resilience the Boat 14:29 Sails and Ketch Handling 15:42 New Passage Making Advice 17:53 What's Next: Antarctica and Beyond 19:45 Wrap Up and Where to Follow Like and subscribe to the UK Sailmakers YouTube channel to be notified when more great content from our channel is uploaded. The Lessons Learned Podcast is also available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.