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Matt wins the OCC’s Jester award for 2012

Matt was recently honored by the Ocean Cruising Club in their annual awards for seamanship on the worlds oceans. Each year the Jester award is handed out to a deserving single-handed sailor.

You can read all about the award and this years recipients in this press release:

http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/images/Bulletin/occ_awards_for_2012.pdf

Congratulations to Matt and all the other 2012 winners!

Back on Land

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

Matt’s Homecoming Photos

An amazing homecoming event was held on Saturday under sunny skies with a perfect breeze to let Matt sail into Annapolis Harbor past a large crowd, fireboat, marching band, bagpiper and lots of media.

The following photos were taken by Mark Duehmig. They are licensed for feature news articles but not for resale. Please credit Mark Duehmig.

These are very high resolution photos, please give them a moment to load.

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Directions to Matt’s Landfall Event

Matt will be arriving at the Annapolis City Dock at around 12:00pm.

The City Dock is here: City Dock

Parking and Transit information can be found here: Downtown Garages and Parking

Hope to see you all there tomorrow! But if you can’t be there in person you can watch it right here on a live video stream. Just check this site tomorrow at 11:30am EST.

If you’d care to watch from an iPad or iPhone, please go to http://www.livestream.com/t2ptv