Norfolk to Bermuda Training Cruise, May 26-June 2, 2014

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 will depart Vinings Landing Marina on Wednesday May 28, 2014 after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Tom Tursi (Pennsylvania), First Mate George "Nordie" Norwood  (Florida), and student crew members Les Holden (North Carolina), Jake Jacobson (Virginia), Larry Elliott (Pennsylvania) and Jack McDonald (Maryland). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Bermuda via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night.  We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Norfolk VA to St Thomas USVI Ocean Training Cruise November 2013

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Taylor's Landing Marina on November 4th, 2013 at 3:30 PM EST after two preparation days and one weather delay day which was put to good use.  The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate David Gifford (Maryland), Second Mate Tom Tursi (Pennsylvania) and student crew members Claude Bilodeau (Quebec), Theo Wolfensberger (Illinois) and George Norwood (Florida). CELESTIAL will make the passage to St Thomas USVI via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take approximately 11 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Bermuda to Norfolk Ocean Training Cruise; June 6-13, 2013

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed St Georges Harbor, Bermuda on June 7, 2013 at 5:00 PM EDT after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate David Gifford (Pennsylvania), and student crew members Donald Bentley (Florida), Regina Krieger (Massachusetts), Richard Eaton (South Carolina) and Michael Gaffney (Ontario). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk, Virginia via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night.
We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Norfolk to Bermuda Ocean Training Cruise, May 26-June 2, 2013

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Vinings Landing on Tuesday May 28, 2013 at 0600 after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate David Gifford (Pennsylvania), and student crew members George Steinmetz (Pennsylvania), Richart Conti (New Jersey), John Hontz (Virginia) and Michael Christakos (New Jersey). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Bermuda via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night.  We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Northbound Ocean Crew Departs; St Thomas USVI - Norfolk, VA

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Crown Bay Marina, St Thomas USVI at 1000 on May 7, 2013 after two days of preparation. The crew members are: Captain Jochen Hoffmann (Florida),  First Mate Steve Runals (Virginia) and student crew members Skip Stebbins (Illinois), Adrian Gnyra (Alberta), and Joseph Pazourek (Oklahoma).  A fourth crew member Richard Westrick participated in pre-departure preparations. CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take 11-13 days, sailing both day and night.  Initially, watch the schedule will be as follows:

12-4... Joe Pazoureck and Skip Stebbins

4-8... First Mate Steve Runals alone with auto pilot

8-4... Captain Jochen and Adrian Gnvra

Captain Tursi will be monitoring progress of the cruise and will be in contact with CELESTIAL's crew via a Skymate satellite system. We'll receive reports from the crew approximately every other day and Captain Tursi will supply the crew with detailed weather analysis.

More discussion on this soon, as well as weather updates, communication from the crew, and actual progress (see comments below), so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click here. For more information on The Maryland School, please visit our website.

Norfolk to St Thomas, USVI November 2-16, 2012

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Taylor's Landing Marina on November 3rd, 2012 at 10:00 PM EDT after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate Jim Bortnem (Minnesota), and student crew members David Bradsher (Virginia), Ingo Stubbe (Massachusetts), James Barber (Massachusetts) and Richards Briggs (Tennesee). CELESTIAL will make the passage to St Thomas USVI via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take approximately 11 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Bermuda to Norfolk Ocean Training Cruise; June 6-13, 2012

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed St Georges Harbor, Bermuda on June 8, 2012 at 10:30 AM EDT after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate David Gifford (Pennsylvania), and student crew members George Norwood (Florida), Aaron Panken (New York), James Barber (Massachusetts) and Peter Fisher (Massachusetts). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk, Virginia via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Norfolk to Bermuda Ocean Training Cruise, May 26-June 2, 2012

Left to right:  Jeff, Alexei, Rich, David, Dan & Tom

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Vinings Landing on Sunday May 27, 2012 after 1-1/2 preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Tom Tursi (Pennsylvania), First Mate David Gifford (Pennsylvania), and student crew members Daniel Marques (New York), Richard Malerba (Georgia), Jeffrey Donnelly (Vermont) and Alexei Turmilov (Texas). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Bermuda via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night.  We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Northbound Ocean Crew Departs; St Thomas USVI - Norfolk, VA

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Crown Bay Marina, St Thomas USVI at 0910 on May 7, 2012 after two days of preparation. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), Mate Jim Bortnem (Minnesota), Mate Steve Runals (Virginia) and student crew members John Keane (Virginia), Jacques Dessailly (New Jersey), and Jim Ozenberger (Michigan). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take 11-13 days, sailing both day and night.

Captain Tursi will be monitoring progress of the cruise and will be in contact with CELESTIAL's crew via a Skymate satellite system. We'll receive reports from the crew approximately every other day and Captain Tursi will supply the crew with detailed weather analysis.  The picture above is of a whale sighting by the crew!

More discussion on this soon, as well as weather updates, communication from the crew, and actual progress (see comments below), so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click here. For more information on The Maryland School, please visit our website.

Southbound Norfolk to St Thomas, November 2011

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Vinings Landing Marina in Norfolk Virginia bound for Crown Bay Marina, St Thomas USVI this afternoon, Monday November 7th, 2011. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate Jim Bortnem (Minnesota), and student crew members Richard Sloan (Pennsylvania), Jacques Levesque (Ontario), Lisa Powell (Oklahoma) and Roland Heinrich (Massachusetts). CELESTIAL will make the passage to St Thomas via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take approximately 11-13 days, sailing both day and night.

UPDATE:  After departure from Norfolk, the crew made southbound progress, staying on the west side of the Gulf Stream, while keeping a close eye on a storm brewing in the Atlantic, which developed into Tropical Storm SEAN.  The crew made the prudent decision to find safe harbor in Beaufort, North Carolina, arriving Wednesday night, November 9th.  They then departed Beaufort on Friday afternoon to cross the Gulf Stream some 60 miles distant.  Though initially faced with frustrating SE to SSE winds that prevented them from getting any southing for the first few days, they are now making progress southeasterly toward their destination in St. Thomas.  See the COMMENTS to this blog post below for the full report.

Captain Tursi will be monitoring progress of the cruise and will be in contact with CELESTIAL's crew via a Skymate satellite system. We'll receive reports from the crew approximately every other day and Captain Tursi will supply the crew with detailed weather analysis.

More discussion on this soon, as well as weather updates, communication from the crew, and actual progress (see comments below), so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click here. For more information on The Maryland School, please visit our website.

Bermuda to Norfolk; June 6-13, 2011

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 will depart St Georges Harbor, Bermuda tonight June 7, 2011 at approximately midnight after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Bruce Kachline (Louisiana), First Mate Billy Psimas (Virginia), and student crew members Thomas Martinez (Washington), Jason Delisky (New Jersey), Richard Dixon (Connecticut) and Vincent Ferrer (Virginia). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk, Virginia via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE. The crew is pictured here (except for Captain Bruce behind the camera) from left to right: Vince, Richard, Tom, Billy and Jason.)

Norfolk to Bermuda; May 28 - June 2, 2011

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Vinings Landing on Saturday, May 28, 2011 a6 0600 after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Bruce Kachline (Louisiana), First Mate Billy Psimas (Virginia), and student crew members Spencer Cowles (Virginia), John Hoffman (Virginia), Kenneth Keppel (Maryland) and Greg Lennon (Massachusetts). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Bermuda via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Northbound Ocean Crew to Departs; St Thomas USVI - Norfolk, VA

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Crown Bay Marina, St Thomas USVI at 10:00 AM today, May 7, 2011 after two days of preparation. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate Jim Bortnem (Minnesota), and student crew members Sean Henderson (Colorado), Mark Price (Ohio), Robert Todd (Indiana) and Joe Pazourek (Oklahoma). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take 11-13 days, sailing both day and night.

Captain Tursi will be monitoring progress of the cruise and will be in contact with CELESTIAL's crew via a Skymate satellite system. We'll receive reports from the crew approximately every other day and Captain Tursi will supply the crew with detailed weather analysis.

More discussion on this soon, as well as weather updates, communication from the crew, and actual progress (see comments below), so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click here. For more information on The Maryland School, please visit our website.

Southbound Norfolk to St Thomas, November 2010

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Vinings Landing Marina in Norfolk Virginia bound for Crown Bay Marina, St Thomas USVI this afternoon, Friday November 5th, 2010. The crew members are: Captain Jack Morton (Florida), First Mate David Gifford (Pennsylvania), and student crew members Ingo Stubbe (Massachusetts), Wolfgang Linke (Pennsylvania), Fred Lipp (Ohio) and Erico Silva (Virginia). CELESTIAL will make the passage to St Thomas via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take approximately 11 days, sailing both day and night.

Captain Tursi will be monitoring progress of the cruise and will be in contact with CELESTIAL's crew via a Skymate satellite system. We'll receive reports from the crew approximately every other day and Captain Tursi will supply the crew with detailed weather analysis.

More discussion on this soon, as well as weather updates, communication from the crew, and actual progress (see comments below), so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click here. For more information on The Maryland School, please visit our website.

Fourth Bermuda 2010 Training Cruise Departs

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed St Georges Harbor, Bermuda today June 30, 2010 at 8:00 AM after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Jochen Hoffmann (Virginia), First Mate Jerry Nigro (New York), and student crew members Tom Przybelski (Maryland), Paul Goswitz (Wisconsin), Michael Brown (Pennsylvania) and Michael Poole (Pennsylvania). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Mystic, Connecticut via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. At 8:00 AM this morning, Captain Hoffmann communicated with the school by phone and reported that the crew did an excellent job preparing for departure and that the boat and crew were both in great shape. They had cleared out of Bermuda and were on their way. The accompanying photo shows the Gulf Stream upon departure. More discussion on this soon, as well as weather updates, communication from the crew, and actual progress (SEE COMMENTS BELOW), so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Third Bermuda 2010 Training Cruise Departs

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Vinings Landing today June 19, 2010 at 12:30 PM after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Tom Tursi (Pennsylvania), First Mate Jerry Nigro (New York), and student crew members Carol Wills (New York), Bodo Walters (Pennsylvania), Jocelyn Henderson (Washington DC) and Bernard Marchive (Washington DC). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Bermuda via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow the discussion, see the comments to this blog post. To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Second Bermuda 2010 Training Cruise Departs

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed St Georges Harbor, Bermuda today June 8, 2010 at 12:00 PM after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Harry Privette (Maryland), First Mate Lee Tucker (Virginia), and student crew members Bob DeGroof (Maryland), Randy Bablitz (Ontario, Canada), Alan Sweatman (Maryland) and Richard Hoyle (Maine). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfol, Virginia via a non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

First Bermuda 2010 Training Cruise Departs

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 departed Vinings Landing Marina, Norfolk, VA today May 29, 2010 at 11:00 AM after two preparation days. The crew members are: Captain Harry Privette (Maryland), First Mate Lee Tucker (Virginia), and student crew members John Mitchell (California), Craig Newland (Missouri), Scott Duncan (Massachusetts) and Bill Zissimopoulos (Washington). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Bermuda via a planned non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 650 miles, and will take approximately 6 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us! To follow their actual progress on Google Earth, click HERE.

Ocean Crew to Depart; St Thomas USVI - Norfolk, VA

CELESTIAL, our IP 440 will depart Crown Bay Marina, St Thomas USVI on May 7, 2010 after two days of preparation. The crew members are: Captain Jochen Hoffmann (Virginia), First Mate Mike McGovern (Delaware), and student crew members David Lovett (Tennessee), Brooks Hull (Michigan), Allan Peppelman (Pennsylvania) and Roque Reis (Brazil). CELESTIAL will make the passage to Norfolk via a planned non-stop ocean route. The cruise has an estimated distance of 1500 miles, and will take 11-13 days, sailing both day and night. We will discuss the route, weather and actual progress here on our blog as it happens, so please join us!

Virgin Islands Circumnavigation Cruise November 30 - December 7, 2009

The first of our winter season Advanced Coastal Training cruises began Monday November 30, 2009 in the Virgin Islands aboard CELESTIAL, our IP 440. The adventuresome crew includes James Maher, Carol Staheli, Jim Cosgrove, Michael Collora, Richard Dixon led by Captain Jochen Hoffmann. The itinerary includes stops at Christmas Cove, Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda and Anageda before setting off on a 24 hour passage to Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands, and finally returning to St Thomas. The estimated distance for this circumnavigation is approximately 375 miles.

Please read the COMMENTS to this post for any updates. You can also follow CELESTIAL'S progress on our google map by clicking here.