Things have been non-stop since I got back. It’s a good thing. In some ways it’s easier to adjust when you’re busy because you adjust without thinking about it. It took a week before I could sleep for more than a couple hours at a time and I struggled with sleeping in a bed. I do miss the ocean and have been sailing every couple of days. I raced on a boat in the NOODS that came in first overall (not because of me). So I’ve been slowing weaning myself off sailing as if it was an addiction. A good addiction. I’ve also been planning my next trip and writing a book. This is the first time I’ve ever written a book and it’s going to take a huge amount of effort, but then again I like a challenge. I’m also trying to start a non-profit called “tools for schools”. Tools for schools is a non-profit that gives school supplies to schools in third world countries that can’t afford chalk for their chalkboard. The idea is the more educational tools a school has the more diverse the education will be. I’m not trying to end world hunger or reinvent the wheel; I’m just trying to get basic school supplies to underfunded schools in impoverished nations. So between writing a book, speaking engagements, planning another trip to the arctic and starting an international non-profit I’m pretty busy these days.
The next trip (if I can raise the money) will be a trip back up to the artic. The idea is to have a few crew, one of which is a friend of mine who is a polar scientist. He will bring scientific instruments and we will sail to the extreme northern regions of the Northwest Passage and collect scientific data in places scientists usually don’t get to go. So it will not just be a trip to the arctic, it will be a scientific expedition. We will also shoot a documentary and raise money for a non-profit. So all in all I’m trying to sail back to the arctic on a scientific expedition and shoot a documentary that focuses on climate change and raise some money for charity. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Just to clear one thing up. A local newspaper miss quoted Don Backe about the amount for the resupplies. Then Fox and the Washington Post did the same. So the cost for the resupplies and sat phone minutes was around $8,000 not $40,000. The entire trip cost around $35,000, all things included. At this point we have raised over $100,000 for CRAB and the number is still rising. So thank you all for your contributions. Until next time.
Anyone who wants to help sponsor the next trip or help me get tools for schools off the ground please shoot me an email at rrutherford42@gmail.com
FORTITUDINE VINCIMUS
Hello brave Matt!
It’s a great pleasure to read you again.
Please do not abandon your faithful readers.
And start as soon as possible a new maritime adventure.
The stories that only really interest me are those told by lonely sailors traveling by sea.
Soon I will send you a private message.
Please read it with care
Good, great, winds.
Dude you did somthing original (it can’t be un done) why you doing the book and video thing????
of all the things i learned from your incredible voyage, that the wa po couldn’t accurately report your expenses is the least surprising!!! jealous hater agenda? so sorry you had to take the time and effort of correction after all you’ve had to endure!
Check out Crayons to Computers in Cincinnati. They provide free school supplies to kids in the Cincinnati area. This may be a good model for the program you plan and may help with some contacts. Good luck and fair winds.
Matt, please don’t get caught up in the man made global warming scare mongering scam.
Jerry, really, you shouldn’t be calling global warming a scam just because you personally refuse to believe what you don’t like to hear. Keep driving your big ol’ truck and leave the windows of your home open with the A/C running on full steam as you most likely will anyway, but just be quiet about it if you don’t get it.
Matt,
Glad you cleared that up about the resupply. That made no sense to me. BTW, you have good presence on camera. And I thought you’d look at least a little shattered by the whole experience, physically and mentally, but you don’t seem to be. I’ve got to say, that food you were eating did the job.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about the mysterious bulkhead problem with your boat. Maybe I’ll have to read about it in your forthcoming book.
Mike,
Thanks for keeping the site going.
Matt did an interview on NPR recently. Check it out at: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/09/152352311/solo-sailing-the-americas-pushing-the-extremes
Thanks,
Marlowe
Hi Matt: Not sure if you are reading these lately.
But I came across a website that has some interesting Mariner type electronics.
One item was/is a 5.5Volt 600MA “hand wind” generator USB type. for charging Cel-phones, MP players etc. It is about $3 bucks. There are waterproof players ,
anemometers also on the site.. I am not sure If it is allowed to put that kind of
website address here .. but it’s “DracoTec”
Hope this might be of some casual interst.. If you can charge a cell phone or other
electronics for a 3 dollar outlay.. I’d say it’s worth having a couple in the bag
Cheers.
Hi brave Matt!
I just sent you a message that begins with these words:
“First of all I thank you for the pleasure I had reading your diary in which I learned a lot. It was so exciting and moving to be a part of this big adventure of yours.
Congratulations once again for your incredible performance!
I don’t know if you have seen it, I have paid tribute to you on my blog “Estrela d’Alva” publishing your portrait next to Bernard Moitessier’s and Joshua Slocum’s.
Look! http://estreladalvacabofrio.blogspot.com.br/2012/04/matt-rutherford-venceu-netuno-e-eolo.html
I am now waiting with excitement for your new sailing adventures!”
Tell me please if you received it.
good winds
Fernando