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OceanPlanet News - Post Vendee
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It's never easy to leave Maine.....
It is Monday evening, and I am sitting aboard the boat at North Cove Marina, Manhattan Island, New York City. The last time OceanPlanet was here was September 15, 2002, at the start of our first around the world race, the 2002/2003 Around Alone. It seems like ages ago (after all, it WAS over 55,000 miles ago!), and also like yesterday at the same time. A lot to reflect upon.
But the most easily remembered are the last two days of sailing from Maine, leg 1.1 of our winter trip/migration to the south. After weeks of the usual frantic preparation, we departed the wonderful marina at Robin Hood Marine Center Saturday afternoon. Even after working on the boat for several days in the ice and freezing temperatures, the beating upwind in 25kts in the snow was a bit of a shocker. When hoisting the mainsail, a lot of ice that had frozen into it came tumbling out, and we had to heave many of the larger chunks over the side. New crewmembers Donald and Helen received their first experience of Open 60 sailing by slamming upwind in a hard chop in thick snow flurries, Brrrr....! But both of our crew were real troopers.
A special note about OceanPlanet 1 and the OceanPlanet Foundation :
Donald (Lawson) is a motivated young african American sailor from Baltimore who has impressed me with his enthusiasm and desire. He has a lot to learn, but that is what The OceanPlanet Foundation hopes to continue to provide for young sailors like him. It will take a lot of support, help, and collaborative relationships to build up the infrastucture around this special boat to do it, and I'm working hard (as hard as I ever have) to pull it off. Please contact me if you wish to assist in this effort.
Thankfully the conditions mellowed (as predicted) after Sat. evening for the rest of the trip, which led us through the Cape Cod canal and then down the coast of Long Island on Sunday night. Now OceanPlanet is back in New York after over 3 years and twice around the world. Appropriately, several people appeared from nowwhere to have a look and say hi. Nice to be recognized!
So for all of you that are in the NYC area and would like to visit, we will be here all week. Come on down, as there will be some lighted boats/festivities here at North Cove Marina, and I'm also hoping to arrange a meeting of "friends of OceanPlanet" if we can pull it off on short notice. If you are around, drop me an email at bruce@bruceschwab.com.
The scheduled departure for leg "1.2" is Dec 3rd, when we will be joined by supporters David Fish and Kieran O'Carroll for the stretch to St. Augustine. With any luck at all, it will be much warmer than last Saturday....
Stay warm!
Bruce and OceanPlanet |
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