If you were planning a passage from Miami to Bimini or Cat Cay across the Gulf Stream in the 24 to 72 hours when would you go? Have a look at a couple of these weather sites and do some armchair sailing.

Good Morning Friends,

Just wanted to touch base with all of you and let you know my status.

I’ve got a busy day today to getting ready to step the mast and launch. The boat will be launched on the high tide around 3:30.

I’m doing pretty well. Dirty and tired but alright. The marina I’m at is not really set up for me and there are no real showers or anything so that is a mission for later today. I feel a large contrast between myself and all the pretty people in Coconut Grove.

I’m at burger king right now bumming a hotel internet connection, so my communication may be sporadic. I’ll just be working on the boat for most of the day.

I’m trying not to use too much data on my phone in the US because it is very expensive. I am reading incoming mail but am trying to keep my usage down. Watching the weather.

THanks again for all of your help and enthusiasm. I wouldn’t be here without you.

Warm regards,

n

From MST 680

” alt=”Nathan’s proposed course around the Bahamas” />

Nathan and the his boat, Boys and Girls Club of Canada complete the first of 2 ‘road’ legs of his Bahamas qualifying trip. Now Nathan will prepare his boat, watch the weather and determine the most favourable window for setting off. Of primary concern is getting across the Gulf stream to Bimini. Although a relatively short passage, if the wind is uncooperative, i.e. blowing with any strength from 340 to 90 degrees true, the passage can turn treacherous as the wind whips up a steep, boat-breaking, bone-jarring chop against the strong Gulf stream current. Keep your eye on the weather. Nathan is! More soon…

Nope. Apparently they loaded the powerboat with a forklift.
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” alt=”This is for real. On the way to Miami.” />

Nathan save $$$$… sleeps in boat in parking lot
Nathan is finally on his way to Miami - well sort of. He is sleeping in his boat for a second night in the parking lot of a Wal Mart in Scranton Pennsylvania.

There were some last minute hick-ups in the travel plans and suddenly Nathan had no vehicle and no driver. Ever resourceful, Nathan shared his problem with his team and our community in the hopes that someone would have some ideas. Not long after he put out the calls, several options emerged. This is a critical skill for anyone who takes on a big project with more enthusiasm than money. Well done Nathan!

Ultimately, David Wilby of Pride Marine came to the rescue and was able to drive Nathan and his boat to Pennsylvania last night where Nathan meets his next ride all the way to Miami with his friend Caj (still researching a last name).

The story doe not end here. Unfortunately Caj was held up and Nathan is now spending another night on the boat. In good spirits, Nathan’s explained over the phone to his wife Alison that “it will be better tonight. It should stay above zero degrees inside the cabin tonight”. Apparently, last night was a full-on “mini” winter camping experience. Thank goodness the Starbuck’s across the street opened at 7:30 am! Who knew winter camping and an early morning Starbuck’s run would ever be part of the same story.

The thing I like best about this little story is how this project has inspired our community to help in whatever ways they can - some with money, some with time, some with ocean sailing experience, some with powerful tow vehicles, etc. The best part is that none of these specific forms of community support could ever have been predicted in advance when Nathan first shared his dream with us, but somehow it all works out and we are making it happen. Marvelous!

The next leg of the Journey should be straight forward - drive to Miami and set up the boat.

We will let you know when he arrives and can share stories of warm breezes and palm trees.

On Friday the Classe Mini released the first version of the Transat 6.50 entry list, and I was releived to see my name under the DCQ entrants.

There are seven foreigners competing for DCQ spots and two compeitors have already qualified. So now it’s a race for the remaining compeitors to get all of their qualificaitons out of the way. (For foreigners, the first to fufil all of the qualification obligations, goes to the top of the list.)

We have a lot of work to do, but we are trucking along, right on schedule.

Next up: 1000nm Qualification sail. More on that in a bit.

Transat 6,50 Marintime de Bahia (aka the mini transat…) NOR was posted yesterday as was the entry application. This means we finally have the dates for the MT:

Skippers must be in La Rochelle by September 3
Race Start: September 13
Second Leg: Start on Oct 3
Expected arrival in Brazil:– Oct 21
Awards in Paris on Dec 2009

Link the the documents (PDF) is here.

Very exciting times for me as we see things coming together for our time in Europe. More on this in a bit.

This Saturday we entered the boat in the Santa Claus Parade, which was totally a blast. Once again the Leaders in Training from the Boy’s and Girl’s Club stepped up to help organize things for the parade.

The kids were troopers as it was a really cold night, but it was even worse for us as we were way up on the deck of the boat as we made our way down Princess Street. Nothing a few blankets and hot chocolate couldn’t fix, but it was pretty darn cold out there.

I’m not much of a Christmas person, but I have to say that it was a fantastic way to get into the spirit of the season.

Once again, a big thanks to the LIT group, John for driving, George and th Girls for helping to decorate the boat, Alison for helping with all of the logistics, Pride Marine for loaning us their truck, and the the Downtown Kingston Business Association for putting on a great event.

Last week was crazy busy with activities at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club. The Leaders in Training group have been taking on more and more responsibility over the past few weeks and I am really proud of them as budding leaders in their community.

On Wednesday last week we ran a “Sailor Boot Camp” for the kids at the club. In the gym at the club we set up three stations: a spinaker hoist, a stacking race and an emergency preparedness drill where they had to pretend they were sleeping below and get dressed and on deck to deal with a problem, fastest time wins. The LIT group helped to get everything set up and then helped run the stations.

I want to send out a big thanks to George Jackson, John Curtis and James Brown for their help running the stations and encopuraging the kids to get through all of the activities in record time.

A few weeks ago I got a call from Jim Brown at work. He was calling to give me the good news that Empire life were coming on board as sponsor, contributing $2500 toward the campaign. Super good news! This past Friday I had a chance to meet with a few of the Empire Life executives and have a chance to chat with them about the project.

Empire Life is no stranger to corporate giving and supporting the Kingston community. They are just wrapping up a United Way fund raising campaign and separately support the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston among many other things. Empire is unique in Kingston, in that they are a national company with a big local headquarters here, not Toronto or Montreal. I really like that they are out in community and trying to help out. Kingston is definitely better for it.