Perfect Conditions End Race Week with a Bang!

Over a thousand sailors party everynight after racing close to 200 boats during the day. - (c) Copyright 2009

    PERFECT CONDITIONS END RACE WEEK WITH A BANG Locals, visitors unanimous in praise for competition, weather and event organization CHARLESTON, SC (April 19, 2009) –  With numerous battles on tap this morning between 174 race boats across the 13 divisions that made up 2009 Charleston Race Week, mother nature ordered up a sparkling [Read More →]

Black Diamond Finishes Off-Shore Yacht Race

The Black Diamond crew is back safely in Toronto (My self, Paul Thornton, Rick, Mark and Monica Doedens)…We had a lot of fun, and a great race. We were competing against professional sailors, hard core amateurs, and locals with knowledge of the gulf stream, and lots of ocean racing experience. As you know we just [Read More →]

Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Race

Fort Lauderdale Yacht Club flag pole, with the State of Charleston Flag on the lower right. Club burgee at top.

Roxane the kids and I have safely brought the boat back to Fort Lauderdale from the Bahamas after 2 months of sailing those beautiful islands. I am currently racing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. We have five crew which includes myself, Paul Thornton and the Doeden’s of PCYC.  This race is a [Read More →]

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

They love the little island in the middle of the pool.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida will be our staging area for the Gulf Stream Crossing. Saturday December 5, 2008 We left Cape Canaveral after dinner on Friday evening and motor-sailed through the night, doing our regular four hour shifts at the helm. The water was calm and the wind was light once again.  Our goal was to [Read More →]

Cape Canaveral- Kennedy Space Center.

nasafamily1

Cape Canaveral, December 4 – 5, 2008 We left St. Augustine at 3pm enroute to Cape Canaveral. We decided that it would be best to do our longer distance traveling at night, while the kids sleep. Traveling at night also gives us the opportunity to arrive at our destination during daylight hours. The winds were [Read More →]

Jacksonville to St. Augustines, Florida

A St. Augustine fort all light up.

Dec. 3rd, 2008 Florida is experiencing a bit of a cold spell this week. We actually had to turn the heat on in the boat last night! We can’t complain too much considering that we left much colder temperatures in Canada. In Jacksonville we were at a marina located on the Intracoastal Waterway. We had [Read More →]

The Kennedy Space Center

Shuttle Hanger.

Dec 5th, 2008 We stopped the boat at a marina so we could rest over night. Then we rented a car, so we can go to the Kennedy Space Center. They had cool games all the way to the stars and all between. You could walk through a rocket ship! We also watched a show [Read More →]

Arriving in Jacksonville, Florida

Just arrived to Jacksonville, Florida, Palm Cove Marina.

  We left the house this morning at 3:30AM, and arrived without problems to the boat by noon. We are just getting organized, and resting up. Tomorrow we plan to do some grocery shopping, and possibly head out. Our next stop is St. Augustine, Florida.   Below is a picture of our head sail furler. [Read More →]

Arriving at Cape Canaveral, US Submarine.

US Navy Submarine we saw this morning coming in to Cape Canaveral.

US Navy Submarine we saw this morning coming in to Cape Canaveral. Dec. 4th, 2008 When we arrived at Cape Canaveral we saw a US Navy Submarine. It followed us from the sea into the harbour. The radar beeped randomly, we did not know what it was. We thought we were going to hit a [Read More →]