Provisioning and storage of food and medical kits for an ocean crossing ("Finding Dory V" - Webinar #3)

As part of our "Finding Dory" webinar series, in the next webinar, we will look at food provisioning and storage, and the content of an onboard medical kit.

This time, we are joined by our guest presenter, Carlota Texeira who is part of the the Viking Explorers Rally organizers. From her base in Las Palmas, Carlota has supported transatlantic sailors for the past ten years, with her local knowledge and experience. So, in the upcoming webinar, she will share some of her key recommendations:

FOOD PROVISIONING AND STORAGE:

Fresh Produce Guide

Boat pantry divided in each group of food (e.g. cans, dry goods…)

Storage of fresh produce and cans

Pest proofing

Using fridge and freezers

Using a high-pressure cooker

Waste management at sea

FIRST AID KIT:

Maintenance, storage and things to remember.

Content of the kit divided in medical supplies and medicines for each need.

So, join our third (free) webinar of the season, on Monday June 8 at 20:00 Rome (CET) time (=18:00 GMT).

Our webinar will be held on “ZOOM” and consist of +- 60 minutes of presentation, followed by 30 minutes (or more if needed) of open Q-and-A/discussions/shared experiences amongst the participants.

Our webinars are free for all “Finding Dory” members. We will record the session and publish the link to the recording afterwards to all members of our community.

The instructions on how to join this webinar, are distributed to "Finding Dory" members only, rather than widely distributing the link via social media, mainly to avoid spammers to join in, and disturb our webinar.

So, if you want to participate in the webinars, first join the "Finding Dory V" community. Via our flotilla's Telegram chat group, we will send you the details for each webinar. Instructions on how to join the growing "Finding Dory" flotilla on Telegram, you can find in this Noforeignland blogpost.

About Carlota Texeira:

Carlota is a sailor and cruiser. She has crossed the Atlantic and lived in the Caribbean for six years. Based in Gran Canaria, Carlota has been supporting transatlantic sailors for the past ten years with her local knowledge and experience. She is one of the organizers of the Viking Explorers Rally, a transatlantic event that departs every January since 2018. She is also actively involved in the development of the Viking Explorers Club, a global network designed to support sailors with exclusive benefits, trusted partners, and a strong international community. Carlota is also featured and recommended in the “Superyacht Services Guide”, a trusted resource in the global yachting industry.

About Peter Casier:

I will moderate for this webinar, as part of my role as "facilitator" for the "Finding Dory" flotilla. Since I retired from my job in the UN, I am a quasi full-time instructor-coach-trainer supporting fellow cruisers and new boat owners. I am also a regatta sailor on "bigger" boats.


"Finding Dory V", is a social community of cruisers who plan to cross the Atlantic (East-West and West-East) during the next season (2026-2027). It is the 5th year we organize this "free-to-join" adhoc group of yachties, bonded by one common goal: "to cross the Atlantic together, safely". In the last season, we had over 400 yachts participating in our flotilla.
"Finding Dory" is organized in collaboration with "Noforeignland" (NFL). How to join the Finding Dory flotilla and get the details of our webinars? Join our Telegram chat channel - details in this post on Noforeignland. That post also has all details on the background, purpose and setup of our flotilla.

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Preparing your yacht and crew for an East-West Transatlantic crossing ("Finding Dory V" - Webinar #2)

 

Earlier this week, about 30 cruisers participated in our first webinar of the new "transatlantic season". That webinar gave a generic overview of "what to expect during your E-W transat" in terms of weather, possible stop-overs and destinations, timing for your crossing, etc... We also had a cool and interactive "Q-and-A" session at the end of the webinar. So..., here is the announcement of our next webinar for our "Finding Dory V"-flotilla..

As it is still early in the season, now is the right time to look at preparing your boat and crew for the upcoming transat, and possible issues you can anticipate during your crossing.

We will look at typical sail configurations (and the challenges for each), standing and running rigging, safety, communications, water-food-electricity-crew management, watch systems, crew selection, typical "points-of-failure" on yachts while on passage (and how to anticipate those potential risks) and "The Skipper's Rules on board"... None of these topics are cast-in-concrete, but rather serve as "things to consider" as you prepare for your transat.

So, join our second (free) webinar of the season, on Monday June 1 at 20:00 Rome (CET) time (=18:00 GMT).

Our webinar will be held on “ZOOM” and consist of +- 60 minutes of presentation, followed by 30 minutes (or more if needed) of open Q-and-A/discussions/shared experiences amongst the participants.

Our webinars are free for all “Finding Dory” members. We will record the session and publish the link to the recording afterwards to all members of our community.

The instructions on how to join this webinar, are distributed to "Finding Dory" members only, rather than widely distributing the link via social media, mainly to avoid spammers to join in, and disturb our webinar.

So, if you want to participate in the webinars, first join the "Finding Dory V" community. Via our flotilla's Telegram chat group, we will send you the details for each webinar. Instructions on how to join the growing "Finding Dory" flotilla on Telegram, you can find in this Noforeignland blogpost.

About Peter Casier:

I am the facilitator of the "Finding Dory" community and will present this webinar.
I am an RYA Offshore Yachtmaster and instructor with 8 transats and 17 open ocean passages under my keel.

Since retiring from the UN three years ago, I spend most of my time on the open ocean, in regattas, or coaching/training others, be it people new to sailing, new boat owners, or cruisers preparing for their first open ocean passage...

"Finding Dory V", is a social community of cruisers who plan to cross the Atlantic (East-West and West-East) during the next season (2026-2027). It is the 5th year we organize this "free-to-join" adhoc group of yachties, bonded by one common goal: "to cross the Atlantic together, safely". In the last season, we had over 400 yachts participating in our flotilla.
"Finding Dory" is organized in collaboration with "Noforeignland" (NFL). How to join the Finding Dory flotilla and get the details of our webinars? Join our Telegram chat channel - details in this post on Noforeignland. That post also has all details on the background, purpose and setup of our flotilla.

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Introduction to sailing the Atlantic East-West ("Finding Dory V" - Webinar #1)

"Finding Dory" is a (free-to-join) social community of yachties who plan to cross the Atlantic (East-West and West-East) next season (2026-2027). "Finding Dory" is organized in collaboration with Helena and Steve from "Noforeignland" and is free for all cruisers (skippers and crew) to join.

This is the 5th season we organize and support this adhoc flottila of cruisers. Actually, the previous season ("Finding Dory IV" - with a fleet of over 400 boats) is not over yet, as about 100 boats are doing their W-E transat at this very moment.

For the upcoming season, we are starting the group early to give everyone ample time to prepare for their transat. As part of this preparation, we organize a set of free interactive webinars assisting the aspiring "transat-ers" in preparing their boat and crew for a safe passage, with a wide range of topics like "safely navigating the orca territories", "insurance", "weather routing", "fishing while on passage", "Provisioning and cooking", "fleet tracking", etc...

So... here we are: announcing our first webinar of the season, an introduction to crossing the Atlantic East-West. #exciting!

As the first webinar, it is a bird's eye overview of what to expect for an E-W transat, the main challenges and magic moments, introduction to the weather and routings and some key pointers in preparing the boat and crew.

So, join our first (free) webinar of the season, on Monday May 18th at 20:00 Rome (CET) time (=18:00 GMT).

Our webinar will be held on “ZOOM” and consist of +- 60 minutes of presentation, followed by 30 minutes (or more if needed) of open Q-and-A/discussions/shared experiences amongst the participants.

Our webinars are free for all “Finding Dory” members. We will record the session and publish the link to the recording afterwards to all members of our community.

The instructions on how to join this webinar, are distributed to "Finding Dory" members only, rather than widely distributing the link via social media, mainly to avoid spammers to join in, and disturb our webinar.

So, if you want to participate in the webinars, first join the "Finding Dory" community. Via our flotilla's Telegram chat group, we will send you details for each webinar. Instructions on how to join the growing "Finding Dory" flotilla on Telegram, you can find in this Noforeignland blogpost.

About Peter Casier:

I am the facilitator for the "Finding Dory" community and will present this webinar. I just finished my 8th transat a week ago, so things are still fresh in my mind :-)
If not cruising, on open passages or sailing in a regatta myself, most of my time is dedicated in coaching or training others: People new to sailing, new boat owners, or cruisers preparing for their first open ocean passage...

"Finding Dory V", is a social community of cruisers who plan to cross the Atlantic (East-West and West-East) during the next season (2026-2027). It is "free-to-join" adhoc group of yachties, bonded by one common goal: to cross the Atlantic together, safely. "Finding Dory" is organized in collaboration with "Noforeignland" (NFL). How to join the Finding Dory flotilla and get the details of our webinars? Join our Telegram chat channel - details in this post on Noforeignland. That post also has all details on the background, purpose and setup of our flotilla.

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The US, their wars and global politics - My views

My views on the role the US plays on the international stage today are pretty simple to outline:

Up to the Great Depression, in the 1930-ies, the US economy was pretty much centred inwards: the US domestic market. Up to then, the US was not a world-power, and had hardly any affluence abroad.

The Great Depression hit the US very hard, and shook it fundamentally...: a large Western country, unable to feed its own people. To me, WWII, just after the Great Depression, was a pivotal time in the US economy and its global politics: Sucked into WWII, the US learned that by ensuring a US global presence, through its global military and political presence, it could ensure their global economic presence: assuring they had a wider steady input of natural resources (oil, minerals, basic products) and a much bigger output towards the global consumer market, far beyond their national borders.

This lesson-learned was not new, by the way: this was how the English global Empire was built and maintained between the 18th and 20th century: A global economic power importing basic supplies and exporting goods, duly supported by a global military land and sea force.

And as WWII was the point where the English Empire started to crumble, the US Empire was born almost "naturally" to fill that vacuum: through continued global military dominance, global political influence, ensure a steady and stable domestic economic growth.

And as of WWII, the US did everything in its political and military power, to ensure its economic interests were preserved. Unfortunately most of the US economy is dominated by and serving large US mega-companies, who -in turn- also finance US political parties ensuring US (and thus global) politics were steered in the way those companies want. The fuzzy "border" between the US mega companies and US politics makes an interesting subject by itself, resembling legalized bribery.

After WWII, the subsequent global cold war between the US and "the communists" was not an ideological war, but an economic war, ensuring US political, military and thus economic influence was ensured. Be it via public and visible wars or military actions (Korea, Vietnam/SE Asia, Cuba, Panama, Grenada, the Balkans) or subversive/proxy wars (South and Central America, Africa, and later on, the Middle East), the US did everything it could, to ensure and maintain its dominating position on the global stage, purely for economic profits. Global politics, military and subversive (or even humanitarian) actions were just "a means", to serve its own economical interests.

As such, no matter which war the US was involved in, since the 1950-ies, it looked first at their own economic interests. The politics, of "spreading of democracy", "war on terror" or whatever other reasons they might give, none of that matters. It is their economic interests which dominated all, learning from the Great Depression that their limited domestic market could not sustain the economic growth and gain they needed.

Though defeated in SE Asia, and despite some (temporary) gains in subversive actions in South and Central America in the '70-'80-ies, the big turn-around (according to me) was the 2003 Iraq war: Fed by blunt fake and false propaganda, Iraq was invaded under false pretences: that war was purely for Iraq's oil resources and its strategic location in the Middle East.

Followed by Libya, and various others wars (either successful or failed attempts like Syria), the US ended up where we are now in 2026: Venezuela and Iran.

Neither of their unilateral military actions in Venezuela nor Iran are about "democracy", turning "dictatorships into power to the people", nor "imminent military threats". It is all about economic power and economic dominance, where their military, political (or even humanitarian) actions merely serve that one single US goal:
To ensure an imperialistic dominance of the world's economy, to ensure an economic dominance, so that a 1930-ies "Great Depression" will not happen again, AND to ensure it financially "feeds" the big US companies' global dominance, knowing these companies are the main funders/sponsors of the US political parties.

In my view: all global imperialists, be it the Roman, Christian, Byzantine, Spanish, British, Communist or US empires, are due to fail eventually. The only difference is nowadays through a fast-connected world, empires fail much faster than ever before.

As such, the US empire, despite its current military, political and economic might, will eventually fail, like all other imperialistic powers failed before.

Picture via BBC (Anadolu via Getty Images)

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