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.