Sailing Alaska and Life Part 6 “Flying all the canvass” By Captain Jesse Osborn

There are few things more satisfying to a sailor than flying all the canvass. Every stitch of sail, drawing and pulling your craft. Your own private cloud tacked to your deck like a giant cluster of balloons that magically draw you along your chosen path. Each scrap of cloth held in status. They tug at […]

Sailing, Alaska And Life part 5. “Chasing a dream” By Captain Jesse Osborn

What brings food its flavor? What takes life from blah to bliss? Exactly what is it that puts the twinkle in the old mans eye? Take 2 kids any age above 10. Hand one a 20-dollar bill, asking nothing of him. Hand the other a shovel and tell him if he digs a big hole […]

Sailing Alaska And Life Part 4 By Captain Jesse Osborn. “Beauty of the deep.”

Stress is relative to prior experience. As is Joy. As is Love, as is Passion, as is fear as is pleasure. As is beauty. Beauty… How to describe, how to paint that…. I see it. Its painted in my head. It plays like a dance with the prom queen for me. But I didn’t find […]

SAIL REPAIR CLASS

SAIL REPAIR CLASS STARTING THIS MONDAY! Captain Osborn is teaching a sail repair class at AVTEC Maritime Center in Seward Alaska. The dates are Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, October 15, 16 and 17. From 5 PM to 9 PM. The cost is $150.00 for all 3 nights. There is a 6 person maximum for this […]

Sailing Alaska And Life Part 3 "GUEST AND CREW" By Captain Jesse Osborn

GUEST AND CREW By Captain Jesse Osborn I once chose my friends from a crowd of strangers…. A fellow student who sat nearby, or laughed at the same jokes, or rode the same bus. A kid whose parents knew mine or lived down the street. We grew up with those kids or others […]

Delivering a dream. A sail I’ll never forget. By Capt. Jesse Osborn

The delivery of the Alaskan Rover June 2010. A Sea story. By Captain Jesse Osborn. On the 6th of June 2010 I stepped aboard the deck of a beautiful steel schooner Aptly named the Alaskan Rover. 57 feet overall, gaff rigged and laden […]

Sailing, Alaska And Life. Part 2. By Captain Osborn

Any problem that happens while you are tied to the dock, are a gift. One rainy afternoon in Southeast Alaska, I was moving Empiricus out of her slip. I had an appointment in the morning to haul her out for maintenance and wanted to stage her near the lift the night before. My father came […]

Sailing, Alaska and life. Part 1 by Capt. Osborn

Captain Jesse Osborn on Alaska Sailing and Life. Part 1. Following a lengthy discussion with my son recently, regarding the ever-increasing world of a teenage young man, he asked me this question. “Why do you love sailing so much Dad?” The following series is an expansion upon the answer I gave him that day. Sailing […]

Crew cohesive

Heres a photo of Dan and Will while on approach to Kodiak. Much was learned as the crew came together and plans were hatched for many things from gear stowage to shift assignments and rigging enhancements. We sailed a strict schedule in rotation. 2 hours on, 2 hours off and 2 hours standby. Right about […]

The shakedown run to Kodiak. Leg 1 of the Circumnavigation

The final welds were made only a few hours before our departure. We left the dock out of sheer principle to leave on time! Instantly feeling better, we spent the first night at the “Notch” and awoke refreshed. Then we tuned the running rigging and did some practice reefing before setting out for the Gulf […]

EMPIRICUS EMBARKS

A site dedicated to purpose filled life, exploration under sail and the philosophy behind it all