Our resident YouTube fanatic finds herself charmed by a couple's unpretentious tales of their cruise from the Baltic to the Aegean.

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A Green Heading is a new YouTube channel following the travels of 30-somethings Leo Stephan (German) and Pernille Hvolgaard (Danish) aboard their 1986 Hallberg-Rassy 352.

Leo is the son of Aleko Stefan, whose very well travelled Nicolson 32 Beduin has appeared in the pages of PBO from time to time.

After earning his master’s degree in oceanography at Southampton, Leo accepted a job in Copenhagen, where he met Pernille, who, following her master’s in international business and politics, was working as a strategist for the government.

Initially living aboard simply to save money and minimise their environmental footprint, it was not long before the couple started dreaming about taking their home on an adventure.

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But despite having been raised in a Greek fishing village by keen sailors, Leo admits to treating his early sailing experiences more as opportunities to sleep between surf stops than a chance to learn about seamanship and boat maintenance, which he now regrets.

And far from being a Danish mermaid, Pernille is more comfortable around actual horses than white horses.

She jokes that the best sea legs on Dory Man belong to their Danish-Swedish Farmdog Kai, who has lived aboard with them since he was a puppy.

What impresses me most about these two is how far they’ve come with so little, making relatively few upgrades (mainsail, autopilot, liferaft, AIS) before setting out on their journey from the Baltic to the Aegean, which they completed in just one season, anchoring out on average six out of seven days.

In particular it was fun to see them anchoring in the centre of Lisbon, and using a single stand-up paddle board to get the three of them back and forth to shore.

Their video-making style is unsurprisingly basic, but rapidly improving.

They do a bit more telling than showing at times, which may put off some, but I find it refreshingly authentic, and appreciate their well informed and thoughtful takes on topical issues such as ocean health, fisheries policy, orca encounters and migrant rescues.

It’s also fun watching Leo’s antics on his kiteboard, and Kai’s reactions to them. I especially look forward to seeing my beloved Sporades cruising grounds through the eyes of a local.


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