Westsail Story Podcast

An audio storytelling about Westsails and their caretakers. 
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    Jimmy's Admiralty model of the U.S.S. Constitution
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    Jimmy's Admiralty model workshop
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    Jimmy's Admiralty model workshop
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This Podcast is an audio storytelling about Westsails and their caretakers. That includes current and former Westsail owners, as well as various Westsail Personalities. These are the daysailors, circumnavigators, and sailmakers and engineers; the everyday adventures and the impossible dreams of the Westsail community. The dreamers, the doers, and retirees. 

Got an interview recommendation?
Send me an email at jake@highs-lows.com

Episodes 10: Kern Ferguson - Sail Fabrics

Hello and welcome back to the podcast. This is another episode with Kern Ferguson, a sailmaker who started his career in the Westsail loft. This is a technical episode, where we begin to explore elements of sail design. To begin exploring sails, though, have to first understand the importance of the materials that they are made from. Here, we begin by talking about sail fabrics. This includes how the strands are oriented in relationship to their load bearing capacity, the various kinds of materials that sails can be made from, and the attributes used for assessing their effectiveness and application. 

Exploring aspects of sail design is becoming a little mini-series and I look forward to exploring more of this topic with you all in the future!

Enjoy the episode!
Jake

Episodes 9: Harbor Partin

Harbor Partin is the third owner of Selah, hull number 413, and located in Destin, FL. His grandfather first built the boat from a kit and it has been handed down through the generations. He now runs it as a charter sailing yacht. You can find him at www.fairwindssailingco.com/
 
Take care!
Jake

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Episodes 8: Kern Ferguson

Kern has quite a story! He's a sailmaker that got his start in the original Westsail loft! After leaving Westsail Corporation, he started his own sailmaking buisness and has been involved with Westsails and their caretakers ever since. In this episode, we chat about his life and background in sailmaking, as well as other adventures, including the time he spent as an Alaskan bush pilot. Enjoy the episode!
 
Take care!
Jake

Episodes 6 & 7: Mark Mills

Epidsodes 6 and 7 are with Mark Mills, hull #686. He's the third owner, and lives aboard Second Wind in Mobil Alabama. He's been a great help to me in my own preparations for my 2019 Atlantic crossing and has a lot of experience working on and around boats. In this episode, we spend a bit of time learning what it's like living on a Westsail! 

Take care!
Jake

Episodes 3-5: ​Jimmy Quast

The next few episodes will be an interview with Jimmy Quast. Jimmy and his wife Cynthia are the original owners of Hull 198. They bought it as a bare hull in their 20's, sailed it down to the Caribbean, and then proceeded on about 20 years of adventures. While down there, the boat was beat up in a hurricane, complete with 2 foot holes in the hull. Jimmy rolled up his sleeves and built the boat... again. He now has one of the most beautiful Westsail on the East Coast of the USA.

This interview runs nearly 3 hours and so is split up into a few episodes. The arrangement is as follows: 
1) Early days and building the boat 
2) Life in the Caribbean
3) Return to the Chesapeake and personal outlooks on life

Jimmy also builds Admiralty models, including one of the USS Constitution, which took him 8 years to complete. His newest project is shown here in this profile photo. If you'd like to see a few more photos of Jimmy, his boat Odyssey, or his Admiralty projects, check out my site at highs-lows.com/westsail-story-podcast

Take care!
Jake

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Episodes 1 & 2: Bud Taplin


For the debut episode, I catch up with Bud Taplin, Westsail's first production manager. He's got a lot of history about these boats, and his business, Westsail Parts Store, has kept these 40 year old boats on the water all this time. In fact, he has so much history, we had to split this episode into 2 different episodes. Standby for access to Episode 2!

In Episode 2, I finish up the chat with Bud Taplin, Westsail's first production manager. In this half, Bud just departed from Westsail to start his own boat building business and then on to starting the Westsail Parts Store. If you haven't listened to Episode 1 yet, I highly recommend you start there! 

To visit Bud's company website, Westsail Parts Store, access it here.

Enjoy the episode!
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