Ryan's Sailing Adventures Around the World

The East Coast

2008-07-16T08:09:00.002-04:00

Fidelity, has been making fabulous time up the east coast. North Carolina, Virgina, Atlantic City and currently NYC have been the ports of call!

Stay tuned, b/c the boys will be back in Pickering soon!!

Bahamas

2008-07-16T08:07:00.002-04:00

At the End of June, Sam and Karen travelled to Grand Bahama Island, and spent time with Ryan, Davis and Seamus. Everyone had heaps of fun at Lucaya. Seamus also had a friend Briar come down for a visit! When the boy's decided to leave Bahamas, it was time to head back home!

CUBA

2008-07-16T08:02:00.003-04:00

In Mid June Ryan's cousin Jeff travelled to Cuba to visit the Boat! Although he was there for a short time, they had a fantastic time!!

CAYMAN ISLANDS

2008-06-05T20:45:00.003-04:00

Ryan and Davis are in the Caymen Islands.
Thay made awesome time, and should meet up with Davis' fam tomorow.

Good work guys, HAVE FUN!!!

Bocas Del Toro, Panama and San Andres, Columbia

2008-06-03T16:48:00.004-04:00

When the visitors were gone the group sailed to Bocas Del Toro. They had some engine troubles so they had to spend more time in Bocas than planned. Maggie left from Bocas, and had a fabulous trip with the boys as she got to visit, Curacao, Aruba, Caracas Venezuela, Cartagena Columbia, San Blas Islands (Panama), Colon (Panama) and Bocas Del Toro (Panama).

Ryan arrived in San Andres Columbia yesterday. They will leave to sail to the Caymen Islands where their next set of visitors, Davis' family, will arrive.

Panama May 10th -17th

2008-06-03T16:28:00.005-04:00

On May 10th My dad and I arrived in Panama to visit Ryan, Davis and Maggie. For our first night we rented a room at the Veneto hotel, as dad's flight had been delayed for about 7 hours.

When I arrived, Ryan was at the airport to pick me up. We decided to bus into town and go to the swimming pool at the Veneto. Public Transit in Panama is on a school bus. Many of them have been spray painted and fixed up with sirens and lights. The bus cost 5 cents to ride. When we got into Panama City, Ryan took me to a store to buy a swim suit, as I had left my luggage in storage at the airport. Everything was VERY Cheap in Panama and my swim suit cost 8 dollars. After having some drinks and chillen by the pool for the afternoon it was time to head back to the airport to pick up Dad. The bus ride was quite the adventure. Picture 3 people to a seat, and Ryan had 5 people to a seat at one point. The bus was packed with more people than you can imagine. The driver was crazy and it was an adventure for sure. We met dad, and went to the hotel.

The next day we awoke, and travelled by coach bus ($2.50) across the country to Colon, where Ryan's boat was located. It was raining when we arrived at the Panama Canal Yacht Club, so we chilled in the clubhouse, drinking dollar beers, and eating lunch. When the rain stopped Ryan took the luggage to the boat and Davis came back to pick, Maggie, Dad and I up. That evening we went grocery shopping and provisioned for our trip to Bocas Del Toro, and we would leave the ancorage on Monday morning.

Monday came along and dad wasn't feeling very well. He decided that he should not sail to Boca and he would meet us there by plane. That wasn't an option so we decided to go back in to Panama City and get a room at the Veneto. A/C and comfy beds would help dad we thought.....

We got a cab to drive us to Panama City, and this was an unbelievable story................................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................................

Ryan, Maggie and I got into the backseat with a two year old child (the driver's daughter) and dad was in the front seat. We thought the cab driver was going to drop the kid off, but I guess decided it wasn't neccessary. Maggie held the baby for the first half of the trip, and was even asked to change her diaper. I told the cabbie to pull over and change the diaper herself. So she did. About 45 minutes into the trip the child would not stop crying....it was very annoying! The cabbie pulled over and asked us if anyone had a driver's license. I said we did, but at home in Canada. She didn't care and asked us to drive. Ryan hopped in the front seat and began to drive a cab, across Panama while the cabbie held her daughter in the backseat. I wish I had a pic of Ryan driving the cab!!!! Close to Panama City she began to drive again, and took us to the Veneto. Dad went to bed, and we hung out at the pool. At the hotel there was wine and tapas for free on the 17th floor between 6-8pm. It was fun and the bar tender left the bottles when he cleaned up.

On Tuesday we had to take my dad to the hospital. He ended up with severe food poisioning and was re-hydrated through IV. Thanks to Maggie's dad for helping us decide which hospital to take him too!

On Wed, I was sick, so I must have eaten something bad too. Fortunately my sickness didn't last as long as my dad's.

Thursday, we decided to do some site-seeing! Ryan, Dad and I went to the Panama Canal Museum. The exibits were in Spanish, but it was still interesting. We also saw a Rembrant Art Exhibit.

Friday the five of us travelled to the Panama Canal. We were at the Miraflores Locks. The museum was awesome, and the best part was we got to see 2 ships go through the canal. The first was a US submarine, and the second was a Disney cruise ship. We then switched hotels to be closer to the airport for our departure on Sat.

Although we didn't get to sail on Fidelity, it was great to hang out with Ryan, Davis and Maggie.

Pics from Panama

2008-06-03T16:18:00.000-04:00

More Pics

2008-06-03T12:17:00.002-04:00

At the Panama Canal we saw a US sub. We also saw a disney cruise boat make its way through the canal, and who would have thought we would see Mickey Mouse in Panama???

Pictures from Panama Continued...

2008-06-03T12:12:00.001-04:00

Pictures from Panama Continued

2008-06-03T12:07:00.000-04:00

The Rental Car, Saba, The Grenadines and the Boy's in Grenada

2008-04-06T20:31:00.001-04:00

REPORT FROM RYAN

2008-04-06T18:12:00.002-04:00

After the conclusion of the Heineken regatta we took care of the necessary boat work and took the main sail to get repaired. While waiting, we noticed that there was a big storm in the North Atlantic that was hitting the islands in 4 days. If we waited for the repair, we would not have been able to get to Barbados by the 1st to pick up Matt Cordeau and see the islands on the way down. With a last minute decision we picked up the sail, which is still usable with a reef in it and set sail for Saba. Our goal for Saba was to climb to the highest peak (3000 ft) and get the stamp in the passport. We did in fact make it to the top and see most of the island which was absolutely beautiful. From Saba, we continued south east to Guadeloupe before the big storm hit. Once we arrived we realized that the Island was extremely large, and public transportation was hard to find. We rented a car, which made accessing the surf spots a breeze. We surfed Port Louis, which had the biggest surf it has seen in years, so we were quite fortunate. We decided to hang around till the 24th so we could meet up with a friend that raced with us in the Heineken regatta. After hanging out with Dan for a day, we decided to push off to Dominica. This sail was quite rough but only took 8 hours. On this sail our engine stopped charging the batteries which would eventually become a serious problem. Not being able to charge the batteries means that we would not be able to start the engine once they get below a certain charge. We got a local mechanic to fix the problem which was a huge relief. We could now use lights and keep our food cold.

Due to the large size of Dominica, we decided that a rental car was the best way to see the whole island. After getting the car we made our way to one of the Islands natural waterfalls (Trafalger Falls) and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. After looking at the map of the island, we thought that the drive through volcano would be cool to do as the only drive through that we had encountered before was Mc Donalds. This turned out to be amazing. We then cruised the North Coast of the Island which was extremely lush, covered with Palm Trees, greenery, rainforest, and single lane roads. This was definitely the coolest drive that we had ever made. Our plan was to depart the next day and make the trek to Barbados. When we woke up we noticed that one of our friends from the BVI was anchored right in front of us. After reminiscing, we pushed off for Barbados. This sail took 35 hours and was quite rough. We ended up ripping our genoa so we were limited to our main sail. We arrived early morning on the 1st, just in time for Matts arrival. We spent the next couple of days touring Barbados, getting the boat back in shape and checking out its famous surf spots.

We departed on the 4th and headed south west to Grenada. Along the way, we decided to stop off in the Grenadines to check out the scenery and enjoy a swim in the Tobagao Cays. This was an area with a lot of little islands and a huge reef. Very cool spot to spend an afternoon. It was another 10 hours to Grenada which is where we are currently anchored.

So whats next…….We are heading to Caracas(Venezuela) tomorrow which is probably going to be a 3 day sail, then push off to the ABC islands to pick up Maggie on the 15th. From there we will work our way west to Panama to go through the cannal and meet up with family. We’ll keep you posted.

BARBADOS

2008-04-01T14:43:00.001-04:00

ARRIVAL in BARBADOS!!! not much news other then a tear in the genoa....

quick news

2008-03-31T15:16:00.002-04:00

Ryan and Davis have just spent time in Guadalupe and Dominica . They are currently in transit to Barbados!

Exciting news is that Maggie will be joining the boys mid April and Karen will hopefully meet up with the crew in Panama on May 10th!

Article on Sailing Anarchy about the Boat Ryan and Davis sailed on at the Heineken Regatta

2008-03-11T21:13:00.002-04:00

Tame That Tiger
Heineken Regatta 2008, Flying Tiger 10What happens when 3am trash talk at the bar 4 weeks ago turns to the idea of chartering a race boat for 2008 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta? 9 people, ranging from the age of 21 to 61, a Flying Tiger Ten and enough stories to keep the trash talk at the bar for at least another year of racing stories? Yea you'll get a few, party stories, why not?

Crackin off with a big bang, we hit up the usual Thursday practice day, Budget Marine Commodore's Cup. We had a great debrief the night before, although I think there was more talk about the peeler bars, then the actual racing. Sure enough, we figured out what we were all going to do on the boat, and how to do it, so we pretty much had already won... Ha... Spinnaker 3, great class, gotta love racing a 32 foot boat with a fleet that consisted of boats like Yani, Storm and Oyster Catcher... In fact we figured out EASY the boat just one size up from us... the rig cost more than our entire boat. So, how does the Flying Tiger (FT 10M) rate? Well, Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) believes that this boat rates faster than a Mumm 36, a boat that on PHRF owes the FT 10M 18 seconds a mile. What??? Well let's just sail it fast and see how it goes...

After Thursday's regatta, maybe we should worry about going downwind. But hey its a asym boat that most of have little experience, and we got the owner on the boat racing, great he can race it for us, our crew included previous overall winners of this very regatta, ex Americans cup sailors, some young blood skiff and dinghy sailors , and 130 lb German (the owner).

The racing was long, tiring, filled with many stories from the night before, as well as the occasional shrimp session... and occasional broachfest... Wind was a steady 15-25knts all weekend, around the island race brought in some nice north east swell but primarily easterly's, the inshore races had some good geometrics, and of course the bands, babes and booze all lead to why this regatta continues to be one of the main staples of Caribbean racing. The boat, can't say I've sailed a better boat, in all conditions, this boat rocks, hitting 18.7knts on the Friday, followed by a nice scream on the Sunday of 19.9knts, those designers and Chinese got a good thing going, keep it up. With a revamp of the CSA rating systems, I believe the Flying Tiger could be competitive in the Caribbean regattas, or going on what my old man says, who happens to be the oldest sailor on the boat at 61, "we didn't have a snowballs chance in hell with that rating".

So where do we go now? Well first off is too the prize giving celebrations, one were we won't be going on the podium, but we'll party like we did. The band warms up as I write this, and I heard later that this "shaggy" man will be performing, if his name is a cursor for how the weekend should wrap up, well we should be in for a good night, and if it looks a little dismal, well there's always Golden Eyes and Club Bliss after party...

Anarchist Watts2434
Chris Watters
03/10/08

St. Maarten Heineken Regatt

2008-03-09T20:08:00.003-04:00

Ryan and Davis have just finished racing in the Heineken regatta.
http://www.heinekenregatta.com/
I'm sure they are at the final party/concert right now!

They will begin to island hop for the next couple of weeks!

Some New Photos

2008-02-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

ANTIGUA

2008-02-13T00:23:00.002-05:00

Ryan and Davis went ot Nevis and played golf on Thursday the 7th.
They arrived to Antigua on Friday the 8th, and have been spending time with Auntie Anne, and Uncle Peter. The are down visiting family friends, so it was a great opportunity for Ryan to see some family. Ryan and Davis have been staying with my aunt and uncle, and they are having a great time.
Tomorrow (the 13th) they will attend a cricket match, and will head back to the BVI's on Thursday to pick up a charter.

They are having a FANTASTIC time.....

Back to Sea...MAYBE

2008-02-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

Ryan and Davis plan to sail to St. Martin, and then Antigua.
Hopefully Ryan will be able to meet up with my aunt and uncle in Antigua!

Happy sailing...

GOODBYE ANDREW

2008-02-04T09:27:00.000-05:00

Andrew has returned to the north....
All the best Andrew!! We hope that you have enjoyed yourself the past few months!!

SORRY FOR THE DELAY

2008-01-21T21:35:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos from when the dad's were visiting. (Florida to Bahamas)

A NEW CREW MEMBER

2008-01-17T20:43:00.001-05:00

This past Monday, Davis Winters (a friend from Class Afloat and Dal) arrived in the BVI and will be joining Ryan and Andrew.
They are planning to spend a bit more time in the BVI's. Andrew's sister and brother-in-law will also be coming for a visit this month!

2008-01-17T20:40:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from the BVI's. This is when Maggie and Mike were visiting over New Years!

North Sound, Virgin Gorda

2008-01-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

The four of us departed Jost Van Dyke on the morning of the 2nd after a great dinner with Mike D's family. We sailed on the North side of Tortola to Josiah's Bay where we anchored and paddled in for a surf session. After catching some waves, we picked up anchor, and continued to the Bitter End Yacht Club where Ryan worked last year. Needless to say, it was a great night. The next day we taxi'ed over the hills to the Baths (a formation of huge rocks). The sight was amazing. We departed BEYC on the 5th and headed into Road Town so Mike could catch the ferry to the USVI. Ryan and Maggie then headed to Cane Garden Bay to catch some of North Swell that was rolling in. The 7th was a sad day as, Maggie had to return home for school. Andrew and Ryan are still in Road Town awaiting the arrival of the new addition to the crew, Davis Winters who arrives on the 14th. We hope everyone had a great holiday season.

BVI

2007-12-31T12:52:00.001-05:00

The first goal has been accomplished....... British Virgin Islands for New Years.....
Ryan and Andrew had 2 guests arrive to San Juan Puerto Rico. Mike D from Trinity/Dalhousie and Ry's girlfriend Maggie. The four sailed to Culebra which is part of the Spanish Virgin Islands and Ryan spent his bday there. They left Culebra on the 30th and arrived to Soapers Hole in the British Virgin Islands around dinner time. Today they will sail approximately 5 miles to Jost Van Dyke in the BVI, to hit up the best New Years party...(well they call it Old Years Night there) at FOXY's. Our family spent New Years there in 2003 and it was awesome. http://www.foxysbar.com/home.html

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2007-12-29T09:56:00.001-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RY!!!!

Have a Good One!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2007-12-25T00:54:00.001-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS RYAN and ANDREW!!

Puerto Rico

2007-12-24T15:05:00.001-05:00

Ryan and Andrew are in MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico. Mayagüez is located on the west coast of the island. It is the fifth-largest city and is considered one of the most important cities on the island. The city itself is centered around the impressive Spanish-style Plaza Colon, a tribute to Christopher Columbus, whose stature stands in the middle of the square, surrounded by 16 bronze statues.

They have a 75 mile sail to get to San Juan, where their next set of guests will be arriving.

A GOOD DAY IN TURKS

2007-12-19T22:33:00.000-05:00

Ryan sent me a message today and it looks like he had a fantastic day in the turks and Caicos...... this was part of his message to me.......

"So I had a sick day today. Woke up, and saw two dudes loading boards on to a boat next to us and I asked if the waves were up and they said yeah, so I hopped in with them. We surfed an exclusive outer reeef break and it was just the 3 of us. It was amazing. This boat had twin 250's on the back and the surf was real good, but super shallow over some gnarley reef. I offered to do some work on the boat they work on and made some scrilla after the session and had a wicked lunch, gratus. Turns out the dude was the captain of the Quiksilver crossing boat, and knows a lot of pros. Pretty sweet day. Oh yeah, I made 200 playing poker last night and went all in against a dude that won the World Poker Tour. I won the hand and doubled up on him. We are heading out tomorrow morning after we check out and take care of a bit of stuff"

Tomorrow they will head on their longest sail, to make it to Puerto Rico.....Good Luck guys, I hope the weather isn't too bad and that you make it to shore in time for Xmas......Looking forward to hearing from you when you make land!!!

TURKS and CAICOS

2007-12-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

After 3 days of sailing they have made it to Turks and Caicos. Ryan said there was some rough weather on the way down, but probably the most frustrating thing was that the wind was on the nose the whole time.

GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND

2007-12-05T14:02:00.000-05:00

Ryan, Andrew and the dad's made it to the Bahamas. They are in Lucaya where my dad spent the winter of 04-05 with our catalina 34 (Mayhem). We have had good times there and I am sure they will have another great day or so at Lucaya............ 2 Red Strip for 5 dollars......(can't go wrong)

West Palm Beach

2007-12-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

They have made it to West Palm Beach.
The dad's will be heading down on Monday to help with the crossing to the Bahamas, and to have a nice visit! I'm jealous that I can't go!!

Cruising Through Florida!

2007-11-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

Thus far Florida has had its fair share of highs and lows. Our first stop was Jacksonville Beach. Luckily the waves were up, so this allowed us to fit in our first surf session. The waves were great, and it was nice to get back in the water. Our second stop was at St. Augustine. We certainly made the most of this historical town. It turned out that the waves were going to be up the next morning, so we took the dinghy at an early 6:00am across the ICW over to the beach. The waves were breaking quite close to shore and there was an extremely strong current, so we decided to keep moving on to Flagler Beach, which was calling for 7.5 feet. After a 5-hour cruise, we set anchor and motored to shore. Ignoring the no trespassing signs, we tied up the dinghy at an abandoned dock, hopped the fence, and headed to the beach. When we got back to the dinghy, our luck took a turn for the worst. We were greeted by a police officer and landlord hovering over the dinghy. They preceded to interrogate us, and realized that we were up to no harm. Luckily we got off with a warning, but were told that we could have been arrested. The next morning we pulled up anchor and headed south to Daytona. We pulled into Caribbean Jacks, a modern marina with a pool and restaurant, and took full advantage of the facilities. We decided that to keep moving down the coast and anchor to avoid the steep marina fees. As we continued our adventure south, our luck once again took a turn for the worst. Our engine died on route and we were unable to start it so we instantly dropped anchor. We decided that the problem was with our fuel pump so we went ashore to the local engine shop and picked up a new pump. After installing the new pump, we realized that this was not the issue. The next morning we had to tow the boat a good two miles with our dinghy to a marina in Ft. Peirce. We consulted the engine shop once again, and told them that we needed a mechanic. A few hours later, two mechanics showed up and worked away for 3 hours finally solving the problem. It was then that we got hit with the $850USD bill. It was quite a bummer. We managed to get our sail picked up in Ft. Peirce to get it repaired as well. It is now Friday, and we are waiting for our sail to get dropped off to us in Stuart, FLA. Our plan is to get to West Palm Beach tomorrow, fix up the rest of the boat issues, and wait for our dads to join us for the crossing to the Bahamas. We are quite excited to have our first guests. We will keep you posted on the crossing.

Daytona Beach

2007-11-26T18:33:00.001-05:00

Ryan and Andrew are in Daytona Beach!

Andrew on Jeckyell Island

2007-11-23T13:57:00.000-05:00

Andrew behind the Woodwork!

2007-11-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

Cruising Down the ICW

2007-11-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

Leaving New York City

2007-11-23T13:51:00.000-05:00

Rounding Cape Fear

2007-11-23T13:49:00.000-05:00

November 20, 2007

We left Beauford midday Wednesday with the sun shining and our spirits up, happy to be back on the open sea and out of the long, slow, winding intercostal. We set the rod with Andrew’s brand new “spoon” lure which literally looks just like a spoon and a substantial hook. They told us it could catch anything; tuna, shark even dolphin.
We were sailing along nicely heading off shore, because the wind was coming strait from were we wanted to go, with the engine off, both our sails up, traveling at about 5.5 knots, with auto 4000 at the helm. Happily Andrew and Ryan were reading eating and enjoying the occasional dolphin who decided to come up and say hello. When all of a sudden we both jumped up to see the rod bouncing around, to my excitement I thought we had our first fish, wrong. The rod had some how snapped up and was now being chewed up by our wind generator. I pulled the rod down and reeled it in, that was it for the spoon today. Little did we know that this was only the first and most insignificant of things to break on our rounding of Cape Fear.
As night feel the winds started to pick up to 15 knots and a substantial swell rolled in. We climbed on deck to put the first reef in the main (“Reef” to tie part of the sail down to de-power). We started up our four hour watch cycle so we could get some sleep. Around 2 am the wind really started blowing even with the reefed main the boat was still over powered. We furled (“Furl” same idea as reef but rolling) way part of the jib which was sufficient until about 7am when the nice sail took a turn for the worst. Winds picked up to 30 knots gusting 35 according to the VHF forecast. Andrew woke Ryan up for his watch then jumped on deck to put a second reef in the main as well as furled the jib in even further.
At this point sleep was hard to come by, with the substantial heel and massive up and down climbing of the boat over the mountains of water. The waves were higher then the spreaders and now stated breaking filling the cockpit with white water soaking everything. Auto 4000 could no longer handle the monstrous waves and we had to hand steer, soon after auto 4000 died completely not allowing us to ever leave the wheel making this much more strenuous.
The wind started shifting to the North West bringing in a nasty cold front, temperatures became unbearable. The Salus 1800 suits were mandatory with sweaters gloves and toques. After eight ours of struggling on a starboard tack approximately 100 miles of shore we decided to tack over and head closer to shore were we hoped the waves would die down. During the tack disaster struck, a huge gust came ripping the jib sail through the middle. We were forced to furl it in all the way, leaving us with only the reefed main, making the boat extremely difficult to handle in the enormous waves. The winds kept building. All of a sudden everything seemed to die completely and then all I saw was white. The first of three squalls hit. The squalls were filled with what felt to be bullets of hail which made us have to look away from the waves and drive blind.
During the second squall after we thought nothing else could go wrong. Andrew yelled “RYAN, RYAN” to wake him up. Our trusty wind generator had been ripped of the back of the boat and was now being dragged by its wires. The wires were severed shooting electric current down the shaft and as we tried to pull it back in we would get a vicious zap. Eventually we muscled it back on board and put it down below in the mess of all the stuff falling of the shelves and don’t get me started on leaks.
We decided to pull down the main entirely to prevent it from ripping as well and started up the engine. With no sails up the boat became extremely unstable and sleep was now impossible, falling from on side of the birth to the other.
Even with the engine at full steam we were hardly moving, trying to fight constant 35 knot breeze. These wind held up for over 35 hours.
Finally, Friday midmorning the sea started settling. Eventually the sun poked its self out of the clouds, a few birds flew over to give us company and we could finally get some rest. We hadn’t eaten properly since the storm started only a few granola bars and a box of Oreos. Andrew whipped up a batch of spaghetti on the still very rocky boat, it tasted awesome. Then calls were made on the sat phone to home and Anika, mildly telling them how we were and what we had just conquered.
We pulled up the main again hoisted a small spare storm jib. We decided to head for Savannah Georgia were we would fix up the boat. We motor sailed the rest of the day and night until we noticed our diesel gage was empty. We must have used a lot more fuel fighting the storm than expected. There was still 30 miles to go. I shut her down to save what fuel we had left for docking. The wind had now died to virtually nothing and with out the genoa jib our speed was a messily 1.5 knots and fighting the Gulf Stream. We changed plans again deciding we just needed to get to the nearest marina, which was still 20 miles away, at 1.5 knots still 13 hours of sailing.
We kept good moral and slowly crept into Hilton Head. We took a direct coordinate to the channel. When we saw land and what we thought was the channel we set a close haul course directly to it. Where we were headed was actually a false channel and the real one was 10 miles directly into the wind. When we found the proper chart and plotted our location we realized there was an extremely shallow shoal ranging from 6ft to a half a foot of water and protruding 5 miles off shore directly in our way. From were we were located to go around the shoal could have added another good five hours putting us well into night fall, meaning we would have to navigate the channel in the dark. After studying the chat toughly we found a really narrow unmarked area that showed to be 6ft deep through. There was no choice we had to try. We sailed as close to the shoal as possible then decided to start the engine to pass through the most critical part. With Andrew on the helm and Ryan yelling compass bearings from the Nav station down below, we managed to get through at some points only having 4ft of water. This was the most stressful part of the trip. Being stuck on a shoal over night in the ocean could be catastrophic. Later the dock mater said we were crazy and that he has never known a boat to go over the shoal.
Once into the channel we still had 6 miles to go and the sun was falling rapidly. Now inland the wind died completely and the boat stopped moving at all. We drifted until dark. There was no choice but to use the last of the diesel.
In the dark narrow channel there was little room for error the tale end with us swaying of coarse and getting hard stuck in the mud. With no diesel to pull us out, only 100 yards away from the marina we called it a night at least we were safe out of the channel and in clam water, Sunday.
We thank everyone for there prayers and hope they continue as they are very well used and needed here on Fidelity.

FUN IN THE SUN, well FLORIDA anyway

2007-11-22T23:15:00.000-05:00

Congrats gentlemen!!!

Ryan and Andrew have made it to St. Augustine Florida.
They spent some of the day surfing! We are all proud of your accomplishment so far!
(((((Post your story!!!!!)))

JEKYLL ISLAND

2007-11-20T22:13:00.000-05:00

Approximately 35 miles from Florida, Ryan and Andrew are spending the night on Jekyll Island!
I have been told that they have written up a story for the blog and will post it when they get to Florida! (hopefully within a few days)

Hilton Head

2007-11-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

After some very rough sailing, the boys are in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
They will continue through the intracoastal waterway as they need to fix one of their sails.
Looking forward to seeing some photos....send them soon!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW

2007-11-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

Hope you have enjoyed the day!!

NORFOLK VIRGINIA

2007-11-08T21:31:00.001-05:00

November 8th 2007 6:50pm
They have reached Norfolk Virginia....
hopefully more news to come!!

Atlantic City and Back to Sea

2007-11-07T16:13:00.000-05:00

It's 4pm on Wednesday November 7th. We just had a quick 2 minute call from Ryan on the sat. phone. They spent a couple nights in Atlantic city and are now at sea. They have passed Cape May, New Jersey, and are currently offshore of the Delaware Bay. They will make their way to Norfolk Virgina, and enter into the intracoastal waterway.

Ryan said that they have had some pretty rough sailing at points while the wind was 30 knots and the waves 12-15 feet.

Happy Sailing Boys!!!!!

2007-11-04T22:07:00.000-05:00

NOVEMBER 4th- Ryan and Andrew are still in NYC. They plan to start sailing again tomorrow!

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

2007-11-02T23:48:00.000-04:00

NOVEMBER 2nd - We heard from Ryan and they have reached New York City. They are staying at the West 79th Street Boat Basin. He called from Times Square and all is well. They will get their Sat. phone tomorrow and go to West Marine to pick up materials for some repairs....(sorry to hear about the leak :( in your cabin Andrew )

Hope to see some pictures soon boys.

The Voyage So Far

2007-11-02T11:52:00.000-04:00

October 27th - After a 23 hour sail across Lake Ontario the boys arrived to Oswego NY. Here they would have to take down the mast on the boat so they could go through the Erie Barge Canal.

October 28th - the boys motored to Brewerton NY

October 29th - In Herkimer NY

October 30th - In Rotterdam NY

October 31st - Happy Halloween: In Castleton NY

The only big news we have is that they are VERY COLD....they are happy for the Survival Outfits provided by Salus Marine!!

Day of Departure

2007-11-02T11:27:00.000-04:00

On Friday October 26th my brother Ryan and his best friend Andrew left Frenchman's Bay in Pickering Ontario to start a sailing adventure. Their goal is to sail around the world, in about 2 years and this blog will follow them through their voyage. I am planning to keep it updated but hopefully the boys will send me info to post as well....