Off The Press

Recent press, interviews, excerpts, and partner features. Tap a card to read.

Born to Race, Built to Fail
Loose Cannon (Substack)

Born to Race, Built to Fail

Feature article · March 2026

A Beneteau First 47.7 delivery goes wrong in a gale: floorboards floating, pump cycling every 15 seconds, batteries dead. The cause — adhesive grid separation between hull and liner — is the same failure mode that sank the Cheeki Rafiki with four crew aboard. Essential reading for anyone buying or delivering a production offshore boat.

Paying for Miles, Not Margaritas
Latitudes & Attitudes — Issue #59

Paying for Miles, Not Margaritas

Feature article (PDF) · May/June 2026

How to build real offshore skills through professional berths instead of expensive margarita charters. James Evenson reviews five world-class offshore programs — John Kretschmer, 59° North, Morse Alpha, Sail Libra, and Koru Expeditions — plus the Three Rules and the Partner Test for anyone serious about ocean passagemaking.

Stacking the Deck
Latitudes & Attitudes — Issue #58

Stacking the Deck: A Mental Model for Hurricane Survival

Feature article (PDF) · March/April 2026

Hurricane survival through the lens of energy physics, not tactics. Why mangroves beat marinas, how storm surge actually works at the molecular level, and why the decision that saves your boat happens days before landfall — not at the dock. Includes the Boot Key Harbor and Vuda Marina case studies.

Sail-World
Sail-World

Sailing Zingaro Explains Use of PredictWind

Feature article · Online

Sail-World covers how James Evenson integrates PredictWind into offshore passage planning and real-world decision-making aboard SV Zingaro — the weather routing tools and workflow that underpin 85,000 miles of offshore sailing.

The Law of Compounding Chaos
Latitudes & Attitudes — Issue #57

The Law of Compounding Chaos

Feature article (PDF) · March/April 2026

How small, individually manageable failures stack into catastrophic offshore incidents. James Evenson breaks down the chain-reaction nature of offshore emergencies and the command mindset needed to interrupt the sequence before it becomes unrecoverable.

Loose Cannon Q&A
Loose Cannon (Substack)

Q&A: A New Offshore Manual Without the Fluff

Interview · November 2025

Loose Cannon's Peter Swanson interviews James Evenson on why he wrote Be The Captain, how it compares to Chapman's, and what bluewater sailors actually need to know that most sailing books won't tell them. The Q&A that launched the book.

Loose Cannon Excerpt
Loose Cannon (Substack)

"Be the Captain" Excerpt: Lying to a Sea Anchor

Book excerpt · November 2025

A published excerpt from Be The Captain on sea anchor deployment — the practical, field-tested guidance on how to actually use one correctly when conditions get serious offshore. First, have one. Second, deploy it correctly.

Where the Sea Meets the Earth
Latitudes & Attitudes

Where the Sea Meets the Earth

Feature article (PDF)

James Evenson on 23 years of liveaboard life and the disorienting transition to land — from sailing to the Forbidden Island of Mai'ao to raising a daughter in a marina, and the moment the math on offshore family life stopped working.

SAIL Magazine Eulogy for Zingaro
SAIL Magazine

Eulogy for Zingaro

Feature article (PDF)

SAIL Magazine's account of the night James Evenson's catamaran was ripped apart by tripled-up waves 170 miles south of Hawaii — going overboard in a gale to lash the hull together, and being rescued by the Coast Guard cutter Oliver Berry after three hours of hand-bailing in the dark.

ZINGARO The True Spirit of Cruising
Latitudes & Attitudes

ZINGARO: The True Spirit of Cruising

Feature article (PDF)

Latitudes & Attitudes profiles SV Zingaro across years of bluewater cruising — Easter Island, Pitcairn, the Forbidden Island of Mai'ao, and 5,080 miles from Polynesia to Panama. What genuine offshore cruising looks like without the Instagram filter.

Spectra Watermakers
Spectra Watermakers

Freedom to Explore — Brand Feature

Partner feature

Spectra Watermakers features James Evenson and SV Zingaro as a real-world example of extended offshore independence — how reliable watermaking enables true passagemaking freedom when you're weeks from the nearest marina.