Messing About In Sailboats

A Great Act Of Seamanship

Congratulations Conrad Colman for being awarded the Berrimilla Seamanship Trophy for an Outstanding Act of Seamanship. From RORC "Last presented in 2005 to Berrimilla, the Seamanship Trophy is not annually awarded but earned by those who perform outstanding acts of seamanship. This year the winner is one who stood up and faced the situation that nightmares are made of. A Two-Handed entry in the Global Ocean Race, Cessna Citation was leading the fleet in Leg Two when Sam Goodchild went forward to complete a sail change in rapidly deteriorating conditions, unclipped to save time. By the time he saw the wave coming it was too late for him to do anything to save himself and in seconds he was swept into the water. To make the crisis yet more critical Sam was also not wearing a lifejacket and his layers of foul weather gear and boots started to fill with... Read more →

Matt Rutherford Being Interviewed On His Return to Annapolis

Video of Matt Rutherford's interview by Gary Jobson taken by Peter Black on Matt's circumnavigation of the Americas. Matt's an entertaining guy and what a great sailor. Read more →

Fortitudine Vincimus - By Endurance We Conquer

I read today in Sail Magazine online about Matt Rutherford who is on his way to circumnavigating America alone in 27' sailboat. He is currently on his way out of the Northwest Passage. Not quite how I would spend my summer but this guy is a true adventurer. You can read his blog soloamerica.org here. (BTW Most of his posts finish with the motto above). It's a great read. My favorite line "My morale is a bit bruised, but my inner-Shackleton is as strong as ever." His adventure is in support of CRAB, Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating. You can donate here. Read more →

Around Alone Video Trailer - The Incredible Voyage of Dodge Morgan

NIce little teaser video for the new film co's "Around Alone", a documentary on Dodge Morgan's solo circumnavigation. Dodge Morgan was clearly a real character and then some, as this guest post by Bruce Hansen recounts. I am sure this documentary is well worth watching. Just watching this short video brings home why so few people have sailed around the world through the Southern Ocean. Brrr! Read more →

Around Alone - Guest Post by Bruce Hansen

I am delighted to share a wonderful account about Dodge Morgan, brought to you by Bruce Hansen. Bruce is the author of a new sailing blog, A Voice Cries Out In The Wilderness. This blog will be well-worth following. As you can tell, Bruce is a fine storyteller. Dodge Morgan was truly larger than life: Jet pilot, journalist in Alaska; newspaper publisher; inventor; entrepreneur and above all a Great Sailor. He passed last September. Here's his story. =================================================================== His most frightening moment came when he pulled the next-to-last bottle of beer from the bilge. Dodge Morgan circumnavigated alone 27,000 miles around the world on his sailboat American Promise in 1986 after five months at sea in a record-shattering time of 150 days, 1 hour and 6 minutes, cleaving the previous record in half. The captain white-knuckled it as Promise righted herself after getting flattened by exploding wind at least 11... Read more →