Max grew up in Falmouth, UK, and is now touring the world on his rebuilt S&S Swan 37. Follow his incredible adventure with an ever-changing crew.
Max grew up in Falmouth, Cornwall, and was introduced to sailing by his stepdad, boatbuilder Dave Cockwell. At 20 years old, he sailed away from Falmouth on his 22' wooden sloop Flying Cloud. He cruised through Europe on a shoestring, and after building a homemade self-steering gear in Portugal, he set sail across the Atlantic for the Caribbean. Over the next two years, Max completed a single-handed North Atlantic circuit, sailing back across the Atlantic to Falmouth and simultaneously falling in love with offshore sailing.
Following the trip, Max and a group of friends dedicated a year to rebuilding Elixir, a S&S Swan 37, in his stepdad's boatyard. In the middle of winter, they left to sail across the freezing Bay of Biscay, and begin Elixir's circumnavigation. Their journey had its challenges: they faced a violent Saharan sandstorm, were seized by armed men off Venezuela, and Max was jailed in Mexico for 30 hours. But there were incredible moments too, visiting remote indigenous communities in South America, isolated islands in the South Pacific, and the weeks and weeks spent offshore, cut off from the rest of the world.
Four years later (2025), Elixir is half way through the journey, in New Zealand.
Max is a Commercially Endorsed Yachtmaster, and has funded the voyage by working as a professional yacht captain, writing for sailing magazines such as Yachting World and SAIL, and building an online following of over 700,000 (under the handle of Un.tide). The goal has always been to share the experience of sailing with as many people as possible, and so far over 50 different crew members, from 15 different countries have sailed on Elixir since she left the UK.
Up until New Zealand, the only piece of navigational equipment onboard Elixir was a depth sounder, and Max is very excited to update her with some new Raymarine kit!
A huge improvement has been made to the safety of Elixir by installing Radar and AIS, not only is it now much easier to spot nearby traffic, but radar can be used to spot incoming squalls too. The addition of chartplotters mean that the crew are no longer reliant on Navionics on their phones, and wind instruments mean that everyone knows when it's time to take a reef. The original windvane self steering gear takes some time to set up, and struggles to hold a course when motoring in light winds. The installation of an electronic autopilot makes a huge difference when Elixir is becalmed for days. All of these instruments combine to make watchkeeping much more safer and straightforward, especially for inexperienced crew, and it helps a lot with explaining the principles of sailing.
The second half of Elixir's circumnavigation involves sailing from New Zealand to Indonesia, across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and North through the Atlantic back to the UK. See more from the voyage at www.un-tide.com.
