THIS ONE IS IN DUTCH – This is the interview I did with Dolphins (Australian swim team) head coach Jacco Verhaeren. He started his career as a trainer at the young age of 19. He went on  (among other great successes) to coach Dutch swimmer Ranomi Kromowidjojo to two gold and one silver medal at the London Olympics of 2012. He then took the head coaching job down under. It turned out to be quite the clean-up job. While Tokyo 2020 should have been the highlight of his Aussie tour, the Corona crisis and family commitments threw a spanner into the works. I spoke with Jacco about doping scandals, familiy matters, and why Australians are better swimmers than the Dutch (that last one really hurt). 

NUMBER STATIONS… It’s the weirdest thing you’ve never heard. But you will hear them here. In this episode of the Skinny White Boy KastPod, that originally was published on 20 June 2005, you will learn everything about the greatest mystery of short-wave radio. Music from Anne Davis… And some other stuff. Nothing too ostentatious.

After months of preparation and lots of mishaps, Dutch backpackers Jordy and Daniel are ready to embark on their sea voyage home, on board of the ship they bought to escape the corona virus in Australia. A few issues remain: the anchor system doesn’t work and neither man has much sailing experience.

Right at the start of the corona crisis, 29-year-old Dutchman Jordy van der Voort bought the boat: Samara, a 47 footer ferrocement ketch. He was soon joined by 24-year-old fellow Dutchman Daniël Wiessing, who was sold on the idea straight away as soon as he saw the name of the boat because he recently met a Swiss girl named Samara for whom he has “deep feelings”.

Adventure was beckoning and plans for an elaborate nautical trip were made. The interest in their journey and their plans was astounding, requests came from fellow Dutch backpackers from all over Australia who wanted to join the sailors on their trip to the Netherlands, and the international yachting community unleashed -wanted and unwanted- advice on required equipment, on the matter of piracy, and on the only two -seasonal- sailing routes to the Northern Hemisphere; via the Panama canal and other via the Suez Canal.

Now they are ready to clear the decks and start their first leg: from the Gold Coast to Cairns, into the Coral Sea. Jordy and Daniël are looking forward to this next stage of their adventure but admit they are also afraid of what is coming: the first time in the open waters, the first time raising the sails. Excitement, adventure and danger, when boys turn into salty men with beards in their own corona inspired ‘coming of age tale’.  — The Dutch version of this story (also available here as a podcast) as well as this one were produced for Australian Broadcaster SBS

THIS ONE IS IN DUTCH – Na maanden voorbereiding – en helaas talloze reparaties – gaan Jordi van der Voort en zijn zeilmaatje Daniël Wiessing dan eindelijk de woele baren opzoeken. Het idee om terug naar Nederland te zeilen werd tijdens de coronacrisis ‘geboren’ en op het schip Samara gaan de twee kajuitjongens het avontuur aan. Echter: niet zonder slag of stoot. Ik heb even gecheckt of het allemaal wel gaat lukken… Om eerlijk te zijn, ben ik nog niet helemaal overtuigd! Ik blijf de mannen volgen! Deze korte rapportage heb ik geproduceerd voor SBS Dutch.

SKINNY WHITE BOY IS BACK! With Walter Winchell in the historical sound bite. It’s the guy that is often credited with inventing the gossip column. Unlike Skinny White Boy… My alter ego is just credited with ranting uncontrollably about road signs that say “Shoulders Drop Off” — The question is, do they really? This 3rd installment of SWBK was originally published on June 12 2005… Oh and music from Circus Mind and also Club Veg  — So one of these is NSFW. You guess which!