Little Pepper Sprint

NORSA's Grand Ayatollah Steve successfully completed the Little Pepper Sprint in Culpeper, VA, on May 18th. The race was well organized and the weather was just fine as 400 or so competitors gathered in Mountain Run Lake Park. Steeper-than-would-be-expected Appalachian mountains provided a scenic backdrop for the event. In stage 1, Steven was one of a few competitors who opted to not wear a wetsuit; however, he found the 70F lake water to be nonetheless tolerable. The cycling stage was quite hilly as evidenced by racing speeds between 5 and 36 miles an hour. Utilizing his nifty cycling computer (and confirming with another competitor), Steven discovered that the race was in fact 16 miles in length, or 1 mile longer than was listed on the race website. In stage 3, runners ran across the Mountain Lake Dam and finished to an enthusiastic crowd. Steven finished 16th of 28 in his age group and 146th of 237 in the overall male competition. His finish time was 1:40:10 (a testament to the hills). Of note is his T2 time of 52 seconds - the 9th fastest of the 237 male competitors. See Complete Results.











An identical race is held on August 3rd for those interested.

See also: Competition Photos by TriDuo




On this same day, Tom ran the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary's 5K in Wheaton Regional Park, MD. He completed the race in 32 minutes and 14 seconds.

Where Is EYE?

With the SPOT tracker on board, you too can become part of the journey and see where EYE is in almost real time. Just CLICK HERE to be directed to the viewer page. If it does not load or says there are no new messages, try refreshing. The software is still in Beta so give it a break.

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EYE Bound for Crown Point

Thanks to Mike "Let's Ride Bikes" Rhodes for helping keep up with EYE on their journey to Belhaven, NC. Here are some pictures of the crew and the new boat on the water.


Having made it safely thus far on her way to Crown Point Marina in Virginia, her shorthanded crew of Adam and Alan are preparing to finish the journey this weekend. They will be joined by fellow NORSA members Alan Witt and friend in Coinjock, NC who will accompany them to Virginia where they will be reunited with Ian who will help oversee the hauling. After navigating the shallow Alligator river, we will make our way north via the ICW avoiding the dismal swamp canal. 175 miles of canals and shallows remain and an attempt will be made to keep everyone posted.

A new member is also added to the crew. A SPOT tracker unit on loan from Alan's Mom will help to keep tabs on us as we progress.

With any luck you will be able to see the crew's current position in almost real time by CLICKING HERE. The SPOT unit will send position updates every 10 minuites while underway. Stay tuned.

The Reporter Is Busy...

Sorry for the delay folks, but the EYE crew is still alive and well.

Alan called in from Belhaven, NC a short while ago saying that they were moored and looking to catch a ride to Rocky Mount, NC tomorrow. They also hope to find a ride from Rocky Mount to Raleigh somehow. They will be returning to Belhaven on Friday to complete the relocation.

Since they will be in Raleigh hopefully they will fill in some of the gaps of reporting that I missed, and fill in other details. For me, I am leaving for a summer long bike trip tomorrow. Maybe I can convince someone on Team NORSA to follow my adventure...

Sorry to keep everyone worrying.

New News from EYE

So after a day and a half of trying to figure out what exactly was/is wrong with the transmission, the EYE crew is back underway on the ICW as of 1030 EDT Thursday.

Adam called in to say that they had a mechanic look at a couple different potential fail points, but none of them turned up anything conclusive. The ultimate problem is that the transmission is losing fluid, but they don't know where it is going.

Besides that they are sailing north hoping to get to Savannah, GA, by Friday where they might be able to catch up with Alan at the finish line of this year's Tybee 500. From there Ian will hopefully catch a ride back up to the Tidewater area for work on Sunday, and Alan will hop aboard until the boat makes it to its new home near Yorktown, VA.

Trouble Plagues the Boat, EYE Crew Still Focused

Adam called in today around 1700 EDT to say that the transmission had crapped out. They were on the ICW not too far from Brunswick, GA. They planned on flagging down a passing boat to hitch a ride into town to pick up a replacement transmission. I haven't heard anything from them since, but I know Ian and Adam are capable of getting the job done in a timely fashion.

NORSA Runs for Charity at Bright Beginnings 5K

NORSA co-founder Tom Saffell raced in the Bright Beginnings 5K on May 3rd at Hains Point in Washington, DC. Tom, who plays in a World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) kickball league called DC Thunder on Saturday afternoons, decided to support his league's charity, Bright Beginnings, by participating in a 5K race with 500 runners. Bright Beginnings is a charity that facilitates the support and aid of homeless families with children and is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Tom originally signed up for the 5K race thinking that many of his fellow kickballers would also join him in the race if he got the ball rolling. However, the online registration closed earlier than expected and no one was willing to commit to arriving at 7:00 a.m. at Hains Point to register on race day since there was the risk that all the available running spots would be taken. Arriving just in time to meet his packet pick-up deadline and getting to the start line with only a few minutes to spare, Tom ended up racing alone, but happily, on the beautiful May morning. He completed the run in 34 minutes and 28 seconds beating his self-proposed time of 12-minute miles for his first run of the 2008 season.

UPDATED! See the race results posted at the MCRRC results site. Tom finished exactly 250th out of 500 runners.

EYE of the World Sails On

After some troubles last night, Adam called in today from the ICW outside of Jacksonville. They are planning on staying in the ICW until the nor'easter passes on Tuesday. They hope to make it to St. Mary's inlet by the time the winds shift to the East and Southeast. Once they are out and cruising from St. Mary's they want to make a straight shot to Beaufort, SC. They are expecting a 2-3 day period out of touch with the connected world, so we'll have to wait 'til then...

EYE Makes Great Progress

The boat has already sailed past Daytona Beach with happy sailors aboard. Adam has called in a couple times now with up dates as follows.

Day 1: they headed in towards land to make a phone call.

Day 2: they went in Ponce du Leon inlet to the Intracostal Waterway (ICW) to avoid some rough seas. They expect to head back out around Jacksonville or St. Augustine after some rough weather passes. So far the starter motor has been finnicky, but has worked when they needed it. A rusted part on the main head sail broke, so they went to the #4 backup. In other good news Ian and Adam found $100 hiding on board!

Shortly after their day 2 location Adam sent a text message saying that the transmission had crapped out, so they dropped anchor and happened to run aground. It turned out to be a slight delay, less than an hour so they are back at it again.

Operation EYE of the World Begins

If all is going as planned EYE of the World-ers Adam and Ian are cruising along the coast of Florida on their boat.

Adam called yesterday afternoon from the topside to say that they were in Fort Lauderdale and cleaning out the last bits. They had hoped to shove off at midnight early this morning. He said that some storms might head their way by the time they get to Cape Canaveral, so they might duck in and seek shelter there.

In preparation for the relatively short voyage from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Yorktown, VA, Ian and Adam drove down with Ryan who is support crew for Team Velocity in this year's Tybee 500. Once they were down there Ryan drove them around to pick up the last minute supplies and then they got to work on getting the ship, ship shape for sailing the sea.

The winds look good for them either out of the W or SW ranging from 5-15 kts. It's not until Tuesday that things might be rough with Northerly winds.

That's all for now.

If Anything's Gonna Happen, It's Gonna Happen Out There ...

On Thursday, May 8th, EYE of the World crew members Ian Harris and Adam fly from Newport News, Virginia, south to Fort Lauderdale Florida. The plan is to return a week later on EYE of the World's vessel and base of operations for its circumnavigation beginning in the fall of 2009.


The boat, currently docked in the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale, is a Cheoy Lee built 40' Rhodes Reliant yawl. The Reliant is a classic and much sought-after design. The boat itseld itself has had extensive recent work done on it, including a new rig, bottom job, and teak deck. EYE of the World plans to continue the refit by returning the interior and deck to its original glory as well as installing state-of-the-art equipment necessary for a modern life at sea.

The delivery trip will take (depending on weather conditions) approximately a week to 10 days. Although the vessel is a prime candidate for a liveaboard, it is currently merely a shell of its prior and future self. The delivery crew's lifestyle will be akin to that of a minimalist backpacking trip.

The crew has several route options, all of which are dependent upon weather conditions and the crew's assessment of the capabilities of the vessel. They range from a gulf stream, ICW, or coastal route (or multiple combinations of all three).

Ian, Adam, and a third guest crew member will take the boat as far as they can in a week. EYE crew member Alan Stewart will be busy that week racing almost the same route in the Tybee 500 for Team Velocity sailing. (Cheer him on here and here). The next weekend, Ian, who needs to be at work on Sunday, will swap out his position with Alan, and the boat will continue north to its new home, Crown Point Marina in Gloucester Point, Virginia.

Although the boat does not have unlimited communications with shore, the crew will be in daily contact with ground-crew (and NORSA member) Mike Rhodes who will be providing weather and routing updates. Mike will also be posting updates on the vessel's progress on the TeamNorsa blog. Make sure to check this site during the course of next week to follow along. If you have any messages for the crew, Mike will be able to pass them along.

Finally, there is a potential spot for a 4th crew member (no sailing experience necessary). If any of this sounds interesting to you and you have next week or more to spare, e-mail adam@eyeotw.org. Learn about EYE of the World at http://www.eyeotw.org/.

Additionally, 10 points goes to whoever can identify the source of the title of this post.