Creating and sharing ocean sailing stories and adventures

Listen to the podcast

The Ocean Sailing Podcast is designed for people who love to cruise, race or explore the worlds oceans. Its also for those yet to experience the joy of sailing and those no longer able to cast off their dock lines and head for the open sea. Join now and listen free to the Ocean Sailing Podcast episodes.

Come ocean sailing with us

Step up and join David Hows onboard the Beneteau 45 foot yacht 'Ocean Gem' for the ocean sailing adventure of a lifetime. Whether its a 600nm ocean passage down Australia's East Coast, a 200 yacht regatta around the Whitsunday Islands, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, a Tasman Sea crossing or circumnavigating Tasmania, why not join us as a paying crew member in one of the limited spots available for each adventure. Find out more about offshore sailing onboard Ocean Gem. Check out our crew testimonials to see what others have to say about their adventures onboard Ocean Gem with us.

Episode 61: Tony Allan - Tasman Sea trimaran capsize, 20 days in a liferaft

After competing in the Solo Tasman Yacht Challenge 1974, Christchurch man Tony Allan was sailing back to New Zealand from Mooloolaba, Australia, when his boat, Rebel II, capsized two days into the journey, leaving him adrift in his life raft for 20 days. As Tony wasn’t expected back to Lyttelton for another 12 days, had no form of radio contact and, suddenly, after a life-time spent on water, was now afraid of the sea and how he would survive?

This is an inspiring story of survival as Tony battled through nightmares, hearing voices, loneliness, and absolute vulnerability. Tony’s is the longest-known survival on the Tasman Sea in a life raft. Tony kept himself busy during the days lost at sea, his mounting depression, and how he rationed the little food he had. Tony had to deal with the realities of living in a slowly-sinking raft and being constantly soaked by the sea and tells of his and his extremely lucky rescue.

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Upcoming sailing adventures

Whether your next step is an ocean race or offshore passage, we have a growing calendar of exciting events;

Southport to Middleton Reef, Elizabeth Reef and Lord Howe Island Passage: 2 - 8 Dec 2018
Lord Howe Island to Pittwater Passage: 8 - 14 Dec 2018
Southport to Auckland Tasman Sea Passage: 8-22 Mar 2019
Brisbane to Hamilton Island Race: 2-8 Aug 2019
Rolex Sydney Hobart Race: 25 Dec 2019 - 2 Jan 2020
Tasmania Circumnavigation: 7 - 21 Jan 2020
Hobart to Picton Tasman Sea Passage: 23 Jan - 5 Feb 2020

Check the full sailing calendar for all adventures

Previous sailing adventures

Check out the photo gallery of our past adventures to get a taste of what ocean sailing is all about. From offshore coastal passages to ocean races, multi-day regattas and Tasman Sea crossings we have covered more than 25,000 nautical miles and competed in more than 400 races in the past 7 years.

View gallery

Check out the highlights, lowlights and lessons learned in my 2018 Solo Tasman Yacht Race Challenge on my Beneteau 445 called Ocean Gem. The 1,502nm race took me 10 days and 55 minutes to complete.

Run every 4 years since 1970, the Solo Tasman Race is the second oldest solo race on the planet. Its across a piece of water that can be nasty to cross on a bad week.