Good News came from France this week.

I received word from the Classe Mini that my 1000nm qualification was approved by the committee. This is great news as I have the paper to prove that I am now halfway through my Mini Transat qualifications!

The boat is once again at Boat Services Kingston and I am starting to get my head wrapped around the work list for the spring. On the list: Bottom paint, splicing and replacing some running rigging as well as changing some block positions. Nothing major luckily.

John Clark and Andy Soper have my sails at the Kingston Sail Loft for a check up and some tweaks. I’m so grateful for their ongoing support.

The schedule for next season seems to be coming together and I think we are going to have an interesting year. More on this soon.

Here are some details on an upcoming Able Sail Kingston fundraiser. Clive is an excellent speaker. I’ll be donating a ride on the mini for the silent auction. Hope you can make it!

Type of event: Speaker with Silent Auction, raffle and dessert and coffee will be served
Date: November 19th
Time: 6:30pm-9pm
Venue: Queen’s University, 103 Stuart Street, Kingston Hall, Red Room (second floor)
Ticket price: $20: They can contact you or direct them to me (Lauren Peddle at 613-583-6148 or 6lp8@queensu.ca)

This is a charity event for Able Sail Kingston, a program which offers sailing programs for Kingston’s community of disabled persons. The event will include a speech by Clive Webber, an active member of the Kingston Yacht Club and Able Sail Program. Clive embarked on an incredible journey, circumnavigating the globe at sea and has returned to share his experiences, anecdotes, and photographs in support of the cause. We will be holding a silent auction, draw, and dessert tasting supported by local Kingston businesses.

Also, if anyone would like to donate funds, silent auction items, or desserts you can give them one of the attached letters. There is a general one, one specifically for desserts, one specifically for silent auction items, and one specifically for funds.

Better late than never…

The Whig published an article I wrote on the last trip to the Bahamas. You can find it here.

Morning all,

As part of my training I do a daily “Weather Briefing” which I find is a good way to stay on top of what is happening meteorologically. I keep all of my notes in Evernote, and have decide to publish that notebook so folks can go and see what I think is going to happen. I’ll be keeping track of whatever weather is relevant to me, so things may move around a bit…

You can find my notes here.

For the geeks in the crowd, here is a widget that you can use to re-purpose my notes.

From Drop Box

On Sunday I drove down to New York state to meet Caj who drove the boat back from Florida. It was an easy trip across the border and the bridges. (Ok backing into the driveway is never easy…)

I’m in the process of emptying everything out and getting her ready for some paint and some rigging work. Should have her back in the water in a couple of weeks.

From MST 680

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Just wanted to let folks know that got the all clear from my doctor this morning.

I had a rather nasty bump on the head on the last leg coming across the Gulf Stream and I was a little more nervous than usual about. It’s bloody hard to diagnose the severity of a head injury when you are by yourself. (When you are alone you can’t really monitor pupil dilation, change in sleep patterns, etc.)

The doctor said I probably had a mild concussion and whip-lash and suggested physio or chiropractic to deal with the stiff muscles in the neck.

Makes me want to get more medical training…

More soon.

n

From MST 680

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Ola!

Sorry for the small pause in communicaitons from me over the last couple of days. I’ve been recouperating…

Since arriving in Miami I’ve been enjoying the good life ashore and trying to eat and sleep as much as possible. I must admit to feeling pretty beat up (you’ll see why in a minute) and I am really enjoying the couple days I’ve had over the weekend to recover. But this is all over tomorrow as we haul the boat and get her ready for the road again.

The leg from the Bahamas Bank to Miami was luckily not quite as ominous as Greg made it out to be. Crossing the Gulf Stream is never comfortable, but it wasn’t that bad even with 20-25 knots NE wind. (Which luckily diminished to 15-18 knots as I approached the US coast. The harbour was busy with commercial traffic outside and hords of pleasure boaters once I got inside the harbour.

In the early evening I had a terrible sleeping accident. I was trying to catch a 20 minute cat knap in the quarterbirth and had the step/ nav seat around my shoulder height. As I fell asleep, I must have been holding myself in place, because when I finally succumbed I slid across the bench and hit the leeward side of the cabin hard jarring me awake and bouncing my head off a bulkhead. Just another day of life inside the washing machine…

Ann Marie and Ray were waiting for me at Shake a Leg and after getting tied up and getting a couple of ice cold bottles of water into me, I spoke to a group of kids that were at shake a leg for the day and had some questions for me. The kids were super and it was an excellent way to be reintroduced to people again.

It’s been a nice couple of days as I nurse my wounds and clean up the boat. Having a couple of days to shift my head space has been good for me. Shake a leg is the perfect place to do this, as the community is so supportive and they know what it’s like to be up against a challenge.

As soon as I get back to Kingston I will get all of the photos and video up so you get the first hand experience. I always find it fun to go through all of this after a trip.

I wanted to send out a huge thank you to everyone who has sent messages of support and congratulations over the past few days. It’s been a very rewarding experience for me personally, but as always I am just the guy on the boat. the vast majority of the work is done back on the hard and as usual my team mates deserve more for cudos then me. I get to be the guy on the boat!

More when I get back to Kingston!

n

Here are a couple of posts. One is from Greg von Rossem and the other from Alison Fraser and John Curtis minimus team central.

Some of the toughest sailing of Nathan’s ocean sailing career awaits…

Nathan has approximately 131 nm to the finish of his 1000 nm, circumnavigation of the Bahamas.

I spoke with him early this morning discussing his final approach to Miami. He was in good spirits, and was well rested, looking forward to the final and perhaps the most challenging stage of this leg, IE Gulf Stream.

It has been blowing NE for days which means that the waves have been piling against themselves in the steady 2-4 knt current, like standing rapids. The crossing will be difficult as the waves will be short in length and steep in height, with no pattern.

He is well aware of what lies ahead and has taken the necessary precautions of strapping everything down, above and below decks. He sees the sense of accomplishment waiting for him at the other side.

With the forecast winds predicting 10-15 knots from the NE/E he should be able to maintain his current speed of 6 knts throughout which will inevitably increase once he is in the Stream. His ETA will be approximately 21 hrs, which should bring him into Miami around 1400hrs on Friday.

Let’s wish him well!

Greg

Second post

Nathan ventured onto the Great Bahama Bank last night and is gearing up to cross the Gulf Stream in the next day or so. Yesterday, knowing that the conditions would take a great deal of mental and physical strength, Nathan inhaled a big freeze-dried meal and put a bag of trail mix close at hand. He experienced choppy waves and strong winds last night and these, coupled with a 2-3 knot current directly from behind, made it very difficult to steer. These conditions also make it challenging to sail based on apparent wind angle. Nathan still has lots of food and water on board and is in good spirits. He is understandably feeling tired and is looking forward to a good nights sleep, one in which he doesn’t have to be tending to sails, lines and autohelms.

click on the link below to check his most recent position report
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=23.5035,-78.6509&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

From MST 680

Here’s a recent article from our friends at the Kingston Whig Standard.

Nathan Baron

View the course…

Nathan completes ‘first’ leg….

Here’s an up-date from minimus team central…

As you have all seen by now, Nathan has completed the first leg of his journey–fantastic! Something to be celebrated for sure! The wind remained light last night and he was beating into it, which made for a rather rough night. Today, he was slightly cracked off the wind and the breeze was bigger. He was still rocking and rolling quite a bit, but at least making more significant headway. Nathan said that for the first time, he felt a little sea sick today, likely because of the inconsistency in the wave action (short chop, long swells).

Weather updates from Chris Parker have been spot-on, which has been great for Nathan. Chris tells him that by Friday the wind will be around 30kts, gusting up to 40. In preparation for this, Nathan has checked over the boat and storm sail and has tried to grab some extra sleep and food. Nathan is in good spirits.

During the evening/night he tries to conserve power where possible, just to be on the safe side. Nathan reports that at this time in the trip, things are just starting to get wet to the point where they are unlikely to dry until after the trip. His changes of clothes are sealed up in zip-lock bags, so he has dry clothes to change into on “special occasions” (the plan was a new ‘outfit’ for the start of each leg). He is trying to keep the interior of the boat well organized and neat. He fine tuned his system after the Bermuda trip and was feeling good about the system he had developed.

Here’s wishing Nathan a safe night, we are all thinking of him!
Alison