Wow what a ride.

I’m not talking about some big surf down a wave, or a ride on a new boat. I’m talking about my first steps in sobriety.

A few months back, 97 days ago to be exact, I was confronted with a problem that I’ve had for a while, but which I could no longer avoid facing. My alcoholism. Being the hardy sailor I am (Ok you can stop laughing now…) alcohol has been a part of my life for almost 20 years. Over those years I have seen plenty of sailors with drinking problems, and many who had it under control but really liked to let loose when they had the chance, but could manage things responsibly. (I always thought I was the latter.)

But the time came when I wasn’t in control. Too many parts of my life were intrinsically related to alcohol and I was finding it really hard to break those habits. And when I tried I couldn’t.

So I made the VERY BIG decision to admit I had a problem and to face it head on. Since then it’s been a wild ride of counseling, AA meetings and some really serious soul searching on how to reinvent my life clean and sober. It’s been quite a roller coaster so far as I make the needed changes and to figure out why it was I drank.

Those changes have been huge for me. I have moved the boat to Collin’s Bay Marina for the summer. I have had to really look at my daily routines. I have had to find new ways to hang out with people socially. It’s even affected how I look at sailing it’s self. It really has been life transforming.

In these early days, I have been very careful about avoiding things that trigger cravings for me, and I have been really trying to put my sobriety first until I get things sorted out in my head. Unfortunately, this has had an effect on my sailing, but to make this dream of sailing in the Mini Transat come true I have to be vigilant and really pay attention to this right now. The cancellation of the 2010 race means less pressure right now. Everything happens for a reason they say, and I was dealt some damn good cards on this one.

So to all of my friends, I want to let you know that I am OK. I know it appears that I have disappeared all together. I am just trying to put the focus where it needs to be right now. Thank you to all those who have emailed, called and dropped by the house. I really appreciate your concern and caring.

Alison and I are enjoying the time together and are hoping to get out and do some cruising soon. She has been so unbelievably supportive and caring through this tough period. Both of our lives are going to better than we ever thought possible.

As always, thanks for your continuing support and encouragement. It has meant so much to me.

Namaste,

n

This is just a quick reminder that the Water Show is tomorrow! The weather looks perfect for hanging out in the garden and enjoying some great artwork with friends.

Hope to see you there!

Hello Friends,

The first and most important thing I want do is to thank all of you for your support in helping us to reach our goals over the past couple of years. Many people keep reminding me about all that we have accomplished over the last two years and I must admit that I tend not to dwell on the things that are behind us because we have so much ahead of us. That said, with your generous support since February 2007 we have accomplished a great deal:

* Purchase the boat.
* Purchasing all of the equipment to legally race offshore.
* Race the Bermuda Ocean Race and delivery/ practice trip back to the US.
* Complete the 1000nm Qualification (almost twice!)
* Almost 5000nm miles of sailing and practice.

One of the accomplishments that I am most proud of is bringing people together on a project that is more challenging than anything I have taken on in my life thus far. Rallying the community around the children at the Boys and Girls Club and working directly with those children has been especially rewarding. If we accomplish nothing else in this campaign, having had the chance to make new friends and work with such inspiring people would have made all of the hardship worth while.

That being said, the financial strain, both personally and to the campaign has been significant. To race the Mini Transat in 2009 would take a large infusion of cash. My estimates are that it would take in the neighbourhood of $20 000 to pay for transportation, logistics, race fees and replacement parts and equipment for the boat. At this time, it would be fiscally irresponsible to move ahead with competing in the Mini Transat this coming fall.

Given this situation, the team has decided to set our sites on the 2010 race. This will take a little pressure off us in terms of fund raising, and hopefully give our ailing economy a little time to recover so that corporate partners are again thinking about sponsoring amateur athletes like me. I also believe that the extra preparation time will allow me to refine both the boat and my sailing skills and manoeuvres.

Now that we have a bit more time, I am looking forward to the opportunity to strengthen our relationships with our sponsors and supporters. The sailing team has started many great relationships and I am looking forward to building those up and continuing the great work that we have started in the community.

We have so much more to give our community, our sponsors, and our individual supporters. I am really looking forward to showing people what we have to offer and to invite one and all to get on board this adventure that is bringing so much to our community, to our children and to individuals who dream of the sea and far off lands.

Your ongoing support and friendship are very important to me and to my team-mates. We will do our best to keep you up to date on what is happening and I am sure that we will be calling again for your help and support as we get closer and closer to reaching our goals. We want to engage you, excite you and involve you in a project that is bringing great things to our community.

I want to be a competitor in the Mini Transat, not just someone who is a good candidate to finish. I honestly believe that the boat and I will be a contender if we are properly funded and well prepared. I welcome the opportunity to find this funding and to further prepare both the boat and myself. While I am disappointed to not be headed to Europe this April, I am excited at the opportunity to be a real contender in one of offshore racing’s most gruelling tests. We: myself, the boat and the team, can be good enough to go and win this race. We will need your continued help and support.

So to finish, I am humbly asking that you keep up your support over the next year, so that we, all of us, can go to France and show the world what we hardy Canadian, Great Lakes, sailors are made of!

Many thanks for your ongoing support. We are stronger together and I am so excited to finish this with you. Let’s make it happen!

Nathan Baron, Skipper
Minimus Sailing Team

Direct: 613-453-0610
Email: nathan.baron@minimus-sailing-team.com
Skype: nathan.m.baron
www.minimus-sailing-team.com
www.withoutletters.com

Friday, February 27, 2009
Dateline: Miami - Shake-a-leg Yacht Club

After 9 days at sea alone in a 21 foot boat Nathan has completed his 1000 mile qualifying sail for the MiniTransat race.

This is the message from minimus race central…

“It is 15:42 and Nathan just called from his cell phone…he is within 15 minutes of arriving at the dock where he understands the folks at Shake-a-Leg have arranged a little welcoming thing for him.

I’m sure we all wish we could be on the dock to catch his lines!!!!”

We all congratulate Nathan on this huge accomplishment.

Here’s a forecast for Nathan’s return North. The question is how fast will the Gulf Stream elevator carry the Boys and Girls of Canada back to Miami?

Wednesday
Northeast winds around 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet. Intracoastal waters a moderate chop. Slight chance of showers.
Wednesday Night
Northeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet near shore and up to 4 to 6 feet in the Gulf Stream. Intracoastal waters a moderate chop. Slight chance of showers.
Thursday
Northeast winds 15 to 20 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet. Intracoastal waters choppy in exposed areas.
Thursday Night
Northeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Near shore…seas 2 to 4 feet subsiding to 2 feet or less. In the Gulf Stream…seas 3 to 5 feet. Intracoastal waters a moderate chop.
Friday
East winds 10 to 15 knots becoming 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 feet or less near shore and up to 2 to 4 feet in the Gulf Stream. Intracoastal waters a moderate chop.

Next leg a big one for Nathan and the Boys and Girls Club of Canada

Nathan rounded his third waypoint last night around 9:00pm and progressed slowly overnight. This morning he had 17-18 kts on the beam and boat speed was consistently between 7-8 kts, with the occasional surge 10 kts when riding a swell.

He is in great spirits but is looking forward to returning home to Kingston to see everyone and share his stories.

“Caz”, the man who took Nathan and the boat to Miami in early January called last night to see how Nathan was doing and when he would be in. Caz has a boat to deliver to Montreal and will be leaving Miami on Friday and offered to drive Nathan back to save him a little money. Caz would then bring the boat back to Nathan in the next few weeks when his schedule permitted. Although the timing is unlikely to work out, it was an incredibly generous and thoughtful offer…just another example of the enormous support that Nathan has received!

Many of you will have received an email yesterday that appeared to be from Nathan, encouraging you to support a company. Rest assured, Nathan did not send this email and we are working to find out the source of the email and put a stop to it. Thank you for your patience.

here is the latest position report
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=21.5037,-74.7516&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

John Curtis
Sport Law - Mediation - Conflict Coaching
613.328.4015

Leg Three - Ocean Way Point through Mayaguana Passage past Hogsty Island

“A” marks Nathan’s current position. What will the weather do once he turns North back to Miami?

View Larger Map

“Nathan has passed his first way-point, Hole in the Wall. He reports that yesterday was a beautiful day of ocean sailing with clear skies and winds between 18 and 25 knots. Now that he is so far off-shore boat traffic is limited to cruise ships which Nathan has nicknamed “floating disco balls”. These are much easier to see than the freighters he encountered at the beginning of his journey.

While making sandwiches yesterday Nathan had an unexpected visitor; a flying fish jumped on board. Preferring his peanut butter, Nathan tossed it back into the ocean. While at the helm during the night he was actually hit in the head by another of these flying fish! It too was promptly returned to the ocean.

The wind is light this morning, only 4 knots, and the next way-point is 181 miles away. ”

Nathan’s Position this morning.

Well it’s Saturday morning and I am sitting in the most pleasant apartment in downtown Miami with a view of the city and the Port of Miami.

I arrived a little late after a great flight out of Pearson International. I had the joy of flying Air Canada Executive class this time thanks to Roger Ware’s generous donation of air miles. I must admit to being a little apprensive flying out of Kingston after the recent news of a Dash 8 crashing into a house near Buffalo, but needless to say we made it safe and sound. It was truly great to be well fed and watered and have a little leg room on the three hour flight down here from Toronto which gave me plenty of time to think about the coming couple of weeks.

For the next couple of days I’m staying with a women name Kerry Gruson (Corrected, very sorry Kerry) who is on the board of directors at Shake a Leg Miami. Shake a Leg is a centre around for disabled sailors, but also serves as a very valuable link to youth in the area, which jives nicely with our connection to the Boys and Girls Clubs. I’ll be writing a bunch more about Shake a Leg in the coming couple of days, as I’ll move the boat there as soon as I can get her in the water.

Kerry is a very cool women. Although bound to a wheel chair, she is a successful Sonar sailor with really big aspirations. (I’m told that she hopes to sail in every navigable patch of water on the earth, and from I know of her, she’ll do it.) Kerry is a writer by trade and is very well connected in the sailing scene down here. She is the type of women who takes in “strays” whether it be cats or lonesome Canadian sailors looking for a place to crash. (There were three of the former and the latter at her place last night, crashing on couches, cots, and the balcony…) I feel honoured to be one of those strays.

In the next few days I’ll be making my way through a rather large job list, trying to get the boat ready to sail as soon as I can. I still have some repairs to do after the last trip. Although I had a chance to clean up a bit after the last trip, I realized quickly how trashed the boat was as soon as I open the hatches for the first time in a couple of weeks.

I have already lined up a talk to a group of Sea Scouts that are down here sailing a couple of J24s out of Shake a Leg, so I am sure that I am going to have a full dance card between working on the boat and chatting with folks about the project.

Coconut Grove is hopping, with the Grove Artists festival going on at the moment as well as the in water boat show. The weather is beautiful down here, 25ish degrees and sunny, and it seems that the whole world is down on the waterfront enjoying the sun. Really wish all of the canucks could be down here too. I’m learning that there is a reason that everyone heads down here during the winter.

Generally, I’m feeling good about things, although a bit apprehensive about getting offshore again. There are so many things to remember and even something as stupid as running out of AA batteries can cause serious hickups in my plans.

Gotta get to work, more soon!

n

PS: For all of those that are wondering, the batteries were were hovering at 13.8V, exactly where they should be.

Nathan continues trek around Bahamas

Alison from minimus team central reports…

Hello All,

John Curis and I had a great session at the B and G Club in Kingston tonight, what wonderful kids!

Nathan is having difficulty with power that unfortunately was not resolved over the course of today. Currently, he does not have enough power to use the auto-helm. After a variety of phone calls two plans have been developed:

Plan A: After talking with Rick from Quantum Energy, tomorrow once it gets light, Nathan will try to bypass the charge controller into the main battery which (fingers crossed) could solve the problem and then he will be able to continue sailing.

Plan B: If Plan A doesn’t work, Nathan will go into Arthur’s Town on Cat Island for assistance/parts/problems solving.

Nathan is in very good spirits. There is only a whisper of wind so he does not have any sails up and is using this opportunity to study charts, enter coordinates etc. Despite this latest challenge, his is feeling relaxed and optimistic.

Thanks for your ongoing support!
Alison