So last week the Canadian Yachting Association sent out an email to announce that they have organized a screening of the new Disney movie Morning Light. No less than 15 people forwarded that email to me, so there is no shortage of enthusiasm in the sailing communittee, that’s for sure

I am going to be taking to the kids from the Boy’s and Girl’s Club Leader’s in Training group to see the screening and I was hoping to get some financial help with tickets. Two of my team mates have already offered to donate $50 toward tickets. Is there anyone else out there that would like to help get the kids in to see the movie?

Drop me an email if you would like to help out with this.

On Monday this week the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston held a send off event for Greg and I and it really was a special event for me.

Hard to play the hardened sailor when you have such a cute group of kids send you off…

Here is a movie that George put up. Great stuff!

Here are the photos from Geoff Webster. Awesome as always!

This past Tuesday the sailng team re-christened the mighty 680 as “Boys and Girls Club of Canada”.

As many of you will know I have been working with a group of kids at the club over the past few months, and over that time I have really come to appreciate the good work that the club does for the community.

Earlier this month I had the idea to rename the boat for the kids at the club. Our hope is to help raise awareness and hopefully funds for their work in the community. Harold Parsons is the Executive Director of the Kingston B&GC and he suggested that the national office might be interested in taking on this project at the national level. After a flurry of emails, we finalized the deal.

We had a great launch event with lots of family, friends, as well as some of the kids from the club. Ben was good enough to make the offering to King Neptune, and I think we has an auspicious start to the season.

Sorry to update you with a press release…. More tomorrow.

The Minimus Sailing Team and Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, are proud to announce the christening and naming of world class sailor Nathan Baron’s Open 6.5, on Tuesday May 13th at 4:00pm at Collin’s Bay Marina.

The Minimus Sailing Team has chosen to help promote the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada by naming the boat after this important national child and youth serving organization. Skipper Nathan Baron remarks “This sailing project has been supported by the Kingston community, and we are very proud to be able to give something back to the community. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada does so much to support children and we are very excited to help promote the Clubs and their important programs both locally at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kingston and at Clubs across the country.”

“We are delighted to be a part of this exciting initiative,” said Pam Jolliffe, President and CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to bring much-needed visibility to the positive impact that Clubs have on the lives of 200,000 young people in Canada annually and to generate new support for Club programs in the Kingston community and across the country.”

This summer the team will be sailing from Annapolis Maryland USA, racing in the Bermuda Ocean Race (BOR), a double handed (two-crew) race from Annapolis to Bermuda. This unique race is a mix of coastal navigation as well as testing offshore skills of top skippers on the North American East coast. Crew Greg van Rossem commented: “The BOR is a very tough race on its own, but as an element of Nathan’s training for the 2009 Mini Transat, this will be a very important event.”

The launch comes after a winter re-fit on the boat, making various improvements and refinements to the extreme yacht called an Open 6.5 or Mini. Boat Services Kingston have donated their time and expertise to help the Minimus Sailing Team get the boat into top shape for this season’s racing.

The christening of the boat will be open to the public at Collin’s Bay Marina at 4:00pm Tuesday May 13th. Children from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kingston will be on hand to help christen the boat. Please come down to support the sailing team as well as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.

About Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada is a leading provider of programs to children and youth that support the healthy physical, educational and social development of 200,000 young people and their families each year. In 700 community locations across Canada, Clubs offer after-school programs in physical recreation, technology, the arts, personal growth and more. Many Clubs also provide meals, emergency shelter, family support programs and other supports to children, youth and families at risk. Boys and Girls Clubs have been helping young Canadians to discover, develop and achieve their potential, for over 100 years. To learn more, visit www.bgccan.com.

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So this week at the Boys and Girls Club Session I announced that the group are going to be following the Artemis Transat, and I promised the kids that I would post all of the information and links that we looked at last night.

For those of you who are not lucky enough to be part of the LIT group, tonnes of good video an d links here.

The Artemis Transat

The Artemis Transat main website is here. The video that we watched is here. For those of you who don’t know about the race, it is sailed in Open 60s and Class 40s, singlehanded, from Plymouth England to Boston USA.

Follow a Skipper:

Here are the links to the videos of some of the skippers that we looked at. When you are trying to decide which team you are going to be rooting for, think about the different experiences and hardships that they have had to overcome and also look at their race record. Who do you think is going to be at the top of the fleet? If you want to follow a skipper that is not in this list below, go right ahead! Here is a list of all of the teams.

Dee Cafari Aviva Ocean Racing. Here is the video we watched.

Vincint Riou Here is the PRB website. (This one is in French). Here is the helicopter video that we watched.

Johnny Malbon Here is the Artemis Ocean Racing website. Here is the video that we watched.

Samantha Davies Here is the Roxy Sailing Website. Here is the video we watched.

Mike Golding Here is Mike Golding’s website.. Here is that crazy time lapse video that we watched.

Following the race:

When we get closer to the race, we will be able to go the Artemis Transat website and watch the skippers as the race across the Atlantic towards Boston. As soon as the race tracker is up, I will let you guys know.

After the start you should try to visit the tracker once a day to see how your boat is doing.You can also try “googling” them to see what news you can find on news websites. ONce we are into the race, I will show you how to check the weather that the boats are sailing in.

Have fun with it guys, and I will see you on Tuesday at the club before we go to Kingston Sail Loft.

This Wednesday the LIT group are going to selling smoothies to help raise some money for the Mini campaign. We will be hanging out in the front hall of the Boys and Girls Club selling strawberry and banana smoothies from 3:00pm to 5:00pm.

Members of the public are welcome to drop by for a quick beverage and see what’s happening at the club and chat about sailing with some really cool kids.

Here’s a map to the club. Hope to see you there!

View Larger Map

Back in January the sailing team quietly announced a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston. It has taken a little time to see the details of this relationship develop, but we are now in full swing and I am just dying to tell you about all the good stuff we have planned.

I will be working with a small group from the club called Leaders in Training, a group of kids that are 10 years old or older and who have been identified by the staff of the club as being great candidates to be strong leaders in the future.

Over the next few months, and hopefully to the end of the campaign, I will be working with this group and talking about my sailing and what it is like to lead a team to the Mini Transat.

The LIT group are going to be a busy bunch over the next few months. We have a great program put together for the group, where they will learn about sailing, the mini, and what it is like to live in a tiny boat all by your self. They will also get to see the inner workings of the team as we prepare the boat, get ready for racing and make plans for the coming years and follow the races that we have this year.

For me, the chance to work with the Boys and Girls club is a real joy. My friend Jim Brown introduced me to the club, and from my first visit to the club I realized what an amazing service they offer to the community. All ages of kids can get help with their homework, play sports in the gym, have a hearty meal and generally hang out in a warm and caring environment. They certainly live up to their tag line: “A good place to be”.

I’m delighted to be working with this group of kids and the club in general. I’m sure that I will be writing more about the B&GC so stay tuned! In the mean time check out their site to learn more and get involved!