MERRY XMAS! Last Panic!

MERRY XMAS to ALL.

I have only one more day to get everything organised for Talisker Bounty
Boat Training in Sydney. I live in Hobart and at 0430hrs on Xmas day I head
for the airport to catch the first of four planes, finally arriving at the
bottom of the South Island of New Zealand around 2100hrs on Xmas night. I am
joining ORION an Expedition cruise ship on a voyage to Antarctica. That's my
other job. I am Expedition leader on the ship and with the Captain we take
100 guests on an amazing adventure. I arrive home in Hobart on the 3rd
Feb.then leave on the 4th Feb to catch the ferry across Bass Straight.I then
drive north to Sydney with a Van load of "stuff" for TBB. We all get there
on the 5th Feb. So I have to pack it all tomorrow. At the completion of
training the TBB is back in a container to ship to Tonga. So this is it! The
last chance to pack things.

The photo shows me with our version of a Cutlass, Army Surplus! and other
bits sorting at home. Of course the Avon Inflatable support boat has a leak,
we cannot get Fluro safety orange antifouling for the bottom of TBB anymore
( incase we capsize) and some things are still yet to be delivered, so
plenty to think about.

I have just made the decision to build a new Main mast and Doug has agreed
to do it!!! Not sure what I would have done if he said no!!..so I have to
wait for a special delivery of Fine grain "Spar" Quality Oregan and new
hardware from England. The original Mast was flexing in high winds and I
want it a little taller.

We have the Liferaft, and most of the safety gear now but worried where it
is all going to fit? Have decided on two anchors, an admiralty pattern and a
grapnel which Bligh refers to. Mike is polishing up on his sextant work. I
will do the same in Antarctica and now that I have finally got rid of a bad
Cold that has been with me for a month hopefully I will start to get fit!!
The biggest challenge though for all of us will be trying to get a sun tan!!
before we set off.

Stay Safe Happy and Healthy over the Holidays...THANKS!! To those who have
given donations to SIF here...every bit counts and it is greatly
appreciated. If you have time have another look at the links here to the SIF
site...

The count down to the Mutiny is about to begin...all the best..Don

Friends you hope you don't need! The NZ RCC

When TBB sets sail from Tonga next year, we sail over to Fiji then above
Vanuatu before heading to Australia, all the while being under the umbrella
of the New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre's (RCC) Epirb receiving
station. We will have plenty of challenges, but should we get into trouble
the first EPIRB alert may go to NZ. They are based in Wellington and as it
turns out I had a chance to visit these friendly professionals yesterday. I
told them about the Voyage of Talisker Bounty Boat and my connection with
Jessica Watson who they track every day. They did not think we were totally
crazy, but were happy to know we have all the right safety gear, experience
and planning. Closer to the time, we will send them all our tracking info so
they can watch the adventure unfold daily. Same too with the RCC in
Australia which is based in Canberra. These two organisations have pulled
off some epic rescues over the years. While it is nice to know they are
there , these are friends you hope you never need.

If we ever did, I need to be sure I can look them in the eye and say that we
did everything possible to minimize all the risks with proper training and
preparation, then make their job easy to find and recover us if that is the
plan. I know I could do that.

4th Man selected! all crew signed on!

Well to all those people who applied ..THANKS!..but we now have a full crew. I must say there are more than a few crazy people out there who wanted to be apart of this amazing voyage for all sorts of obscure reasons, women too! which was good to see. The Spirit of Adventure is still alive in many. The Talisker Bounty Boat crew is very much an international affair. I hope to announce the team soon. Talisker are now developing some great plans and we hope to make the web site Multi-lingual by late January.

 

The Bounty Boat will be shipping out of England on the 15^th Dec for Sydney.

 

I have finally arrived back home in Hobart after time in China and to the Philippines to check out my other boat ICE. On Monday I head to New Zealand for a one week Antarctic conference on Polar shipping issues, then I am only home for 10 days before setting off to Antarctica onboard the 5 star cruise ship ORION. Margie and I are Expedition leaders taking 100 guests down for their first experience. I return on Feb 4^th to Hobart, then that day drive to Sydney to meet all the crew on the 5^th Feb. That will be the first time all crew get to actually meet each other…it will mark the beginning of an intensive three week training session..it is all happening fast now!!             

SPARKS! are flying on Talisker Bounty Boat

If I look a little worried in this photo, it's because I have left Talisker
Bounty Boat with Simon and Alex at Planet Generators in the UK, to fit all
the electrical systems and I had just explained to them that they need to
make the whole system work underwater...they both said NO PROBLEM!

I know that they can do it, but it is a big ask. For all those now saying
BUT? Bligh did not have electrics? Well we have to be a foreign going ship
and to be legal we must have navigation lights, and a VHF radio. Importantly
we want to speak to the media and film our efforts to stay afloat too. This
all needs power,so we will be fitting two Dryfit gell batteries and four
Flexi-cell solar pannels to provide power. That power will be used for
charging batteries for the Iridium phones and the video cameras and power up
our waterproof "ndura" rugged Laptop for blogging and sending out photos and
maybe even Video clips. Our Echomax radar transponder may be required during
ship encounters, or to increase our radar echo if someone is looking for us.
That too needs power to operate. Lets hope we get plenty of sun but we are
short on water too so need plenty of rain?

Our 48inch flat screen TV with the home theater also uses a lot of power
when playing DVD's , so much infact, that we have decided to leave it home
at this stage. Simon did mention the idea of fitting fuel cells instead of
batteries, which would greatly increase power output! He is confident he can
make the TV work under water too...now you know why I look worried!!

Sailing in Skye, Long way from the Pacific!

Bligh Had rum..We have TALISKER! Sounds good to me!!

Talisker Bounty Boat dawn on Sunday

Talisker and Adventures in SKYE!

It’s Official! TALISKER BOUNTY BOAT. and we are all very excited to have such a fine Sponsor with a very strong commitment to SIF too.  See the “latest news” for the full press release. What an incredible coincidence that my first boat was named Skye, Talisker have been in Skye forever, and even whale boats are descended from Scotland and the Viking raiding vessels that regularly plundered Skye.

 

It was a huge effort by all concerned and a great weekend, with plenty of traditional Scottish hospitality from all at the Talisker distillery. It started early on wed. 10^th picking up the Range Rover from the other side of London and back to Mike’s place at Potters Bar to hook up Bounty Boat. Then it was off to Leeds to spend the night with my Southampton Boat show mate Stuart Keane. Next morning at 7am in the fog, it was off to Liverpool to pick up Stuart Kershaw our 5^th crew member and Video cameraman…arrived at 10 am, then straight to Glasgow arriving at 5pm…we only tow at 50mph!!!....a 10 hour day driving!!

 

Then Friday 13^th, (Black Friday) up and off at 7.44am arriving at 4pm at the OLD Inn on the Isle of Skye. Bought a full KILT!! On the way…very funny to dress in a skirt but quite the part in Scotland...said hi to a few people in the Talisker Distillery. The Isle of Skye is an amazing place…just like the NZ Subantarctic Island. The people are great and it has a strange attraction, but coming from Australia it is another world. Driving weather was not nice..Checked out the BB launch ramps…not very good at all …That night Black Friday kicked in!..the mizzen sail with our very new Talisker logo got lost on the Easy Jet plane, together with the luggage of our  media/PR team who flew up from London…so BIG problem as you cannot do a photo shoot without it..??..everyone VERY worried!!!

 

Saturday, up at 7am in the dark…sorting boat and waiting for Breakfast…they ran out of gas and food at the OLD INN but I loved the place, then a radio interview and BB to the park in front of the Talisker Distillery setting masts up in the rain!! Ready for the McIntyre Clan photos, without Talisker sail, on trailer, but we had a great Talisker flag in place....when done after 10.30am back to get the Kilt on for the Scottish reunion for all the McIntyre Clan and a few drams of Talisker!!…then back in for the food and an Expedition presentation by me for those that were there…I am sure the locals think we are a bit strange hearing of past adventures, but excited about the next.

 

At about 1400hr…back to the Old Inn to get Musto wet weather gear on, still raining and tow BB three miles away to launch in very difficult conditions…was happy to know boat was insured!!...had a fishing boat on standby, then sailed back down the Lock to a mooring …arrived after dark and packed BB up …back into the hotel that night stuffed!.

 

Sunday..The Talisker sail arrived!!!…Up at 6.30am to get down to the boat and rig the new sail in the dark before sunrise, incase of a good photo opp…but it just kept raining!!!..not fun…anyway it eventually cleared and so began sailing first light for Video and photos…did onboard interviews for TV, then when all happy off loaded most, then sailed back down to the boat ramp, only to find we could not get it out as tide too low ..the rest of the team left for Glasgow at 1 pm…Stewart got the car and trailer and we both de-rigged BB on the water……had some problems getting the boat back on the trailer. I went swimming!..sort of fell in!! and it was solved, so got out about 2pm…washed BB down then back to the Old Inn…packed up the room and then packed the boat and covered it for another long road trip…got away about 4pm to start driving through the night for Glasgow to do morning TV…weather was bad, fog, rain, windy roads, but made it to a hotel around 10.30pm…Stewart started editing the video footage, finished at 1.30 am ( big day!) but the internet Wifi was not working ,so could not get it out to Barry our Pr/Media guru….as it turned out no Morning TV….In the morning drove through to Liverpool to Stewarts edit suite to transmit footage to Barry …then I drove onto Bristol arriving at 6pm last night…I had to drop BB there for some electrical work…unfortunately the Hotel did not have Internet again, so not able to update anyone!  Did a story in Bristol with the local area paper and a photo…then arrived back in Potters Bar at 6pm Tuesday 17th

 

Now I am on a Plane back to China at Midday 18^th …all up 1900 miles of driving in some really bad weather with no radio in the car!!!..Good practice for BB...shot some classic Video footage.. Next time BB is sailing will be in February in Sydney for the start of three weeks of training with all our crew assembled together for the first time.

 

Bounty Boat in Scotland!

Well it has been a crazy week getting back to the UK, meetings about the
Doco and Book, plus plenty of laughs catching up with Mike again. He has had
BB at his house while I have been away. I grabbed a very British hire car,
that has no radio!!, headed off to Leeds to see Sturat my boat show buddy
and then the next day over to Liverpool to pick up the fith crew..Stuart
Kershaw...with a heap of camera gear, then set off to Glasgow and a big
sleep. Then today we came across to the Isle of SKYE!...along the way we
climbed up to the Scotish Highlands and past Ben Lomond and Ben Nevis and
Loch Lomond!! All places that I tried to say in a Scotish accent!!! Not with
any skill!!Good fun though....so then we were driving through a place called
Fort Williams and from the Highway we saw a shop with a MacIntyre name that
looked like it might sell Kilts!!! Now there is an idea???...so with Friday
13th big on my mind we stopped , went in and came out looking very Donald
McIntyre!! We found a castle along the way to prove we really are getting
ready for a BIG DAY tomorrow...so come back here to check it out!!!...some
big news is about to be announced here within 24 hours!!!

For $1000 you don't get undies!

You need to read the previous Blog!

Third and fifth man selected, 4th getting close!

For all those crew applicants wondering, Yes I have selected the third crew member and we will announce his details soon. I am now going through the final short list to decide on the fourth and hope to make that decision in the next few days. I arrive in the UK on Saturday and plan to set out with BB in tow for The Isle of Skye early on the morning of 11^th. Hoping for a great McIntyre Clan reunion! I am picking up Stewart Kershaw another Adventurous sole on the way. He is our Fifth crew member and camera man..we will talk more about him later. He is our reserve crew member who will be with us right up till the minute we set out on the 28^th April next year. If something happened to one of the four voyage crew, he is there ready to go. He has rowed the Atlantic with 12 others all in the one boat! He did half that trip with no toilet paper so in many ways he is more experienced than me! He just happens to be a great camera man and film maker also.    

GOOD LUCK JESS!

Jessica can finally get into it and she is so happy about that. The world is
watching...in the last month she has been getting an average of 100,000 hits
on her web site everyday and in the last 24 hours she has received 2000
"comments" on her blog...that is people taking the time to actually write to
her...the server coped with a huge rush as she left so to Quote a friend of
mine..."the knockers are standing in the corner of the room at the moment
looking very lonely!"...she is such a great person and so up for this
Advneturer, we are all very proud of her....

Still no big anouncement here yet re sponsors but it is coming! lots going
on in the background. The crew selection went on hold for a few weeks, but
for now I am about to work up the final choice for the third crew spot which
should be annonced by the end of next week. All those that are in the loop I
will be contacting you asap...stand by.

I am in Hobart at the moment and head off to China next week - did you know
the Bounty Replica is in Hong Kong!..and then back to the UK on the 8th
Nov.for 10 days of "activities" I have cosen our Base for the week of
preperations in Tonga..it is a resort on the beach, so if you are thinking
of a holiday and want to sit on a beautiful Tongan beach for a week in mid
April next year, do a bit of diving, fishing,sail on BB then stay tuned.
Stuart and I are planning a BBSIF supporters club and some special deals may
be offered.

In a few days it will officially be 6 months before we set out!

All the best..Don

5 MINUTES TOO LATE!

Last day in London on the 28th Sept and had to do a photo Portrait photo
shoot for a book, but it was cancelled at the last minute. I rushed off to
track down Bligh's grave and the gate was locked!...5 minutes before I got
there..so this is as close as I got! Took the shot over the fence...will
have to come back to London again. Have made some interesting connections to
the Pitcairn Island Study Group (who must be laughing at my efforts to sit
alongside Bligh for a few quiet moments) and numerous descendants of Bligh
,his loyal men, plus the mutineers, so we may have to visit a few or
organise a get together. For the moment I have left Bounty Boat in London,
with some new activities planned there in a few weeks. I have flown Back to
Australia for Jessica Watson's press conference on the 7th October in
Sydney. She will set out in a matter of days for her epic solo challenge to
attempt a crack at Mikes record?

Bounty Boat CRASH!

I Love London Traffic!!..Up at 5am to leave Mikes place at 6am with Bounty Boat behind the car headed into London for a secret meeting…off the M1 Freeway at 6.45am with only 15 minutes to drive to the secret destination!!...but I took a wrong turn…two hours latter I arrived…I was supposed to be there at 7am, but arrived at 9am. With a 28ft trailer  behind the car in London peak hour, my “Fun” times were compounded when I was stationary on the motorway in traffic and “CRASH!”..a car ran into the back of Bounty Boat quite hard…fortunately our Stainless steel ‘Reef & Whale’ deflector for the rudder took the force of the Bumber on the front of the car, putting a rather large crease in it…but we suffered no damage….for the past few weeks I have been thinking …I hope we do not have an incident with the boat in traffic…Oh yes…the Top Secret meeting went very well….stay tuned for the details sometime in the future! It’s BIG!

The Show Finnished and Tom is off!

Stuart and I packed up the stand tonight after another big day...the show
was a huge success, so thanks to everyone who made it happen, especially the
show organisers for the space...and my crazy mate Stuart!He has been
virtually full time on this project for three months. We laughed a lot..gave
out about 3000 brochures,stood for far too long and repeated too many
things, made some seriously good contacts for fundraising, spoke with too
many people who have been touched by MND, actually took money into the
bucket on the stand, ate too much junk food and now there may be some HUGE!!
Announcements being made very soon, so stay tuned to this Blog!!

We had a lot of fun playing around with Tom on his 4ft boat...you can't see
it, as we are standing in front of it...see earlier Blog...what a true
champion he is..sure he is crazy, but he has passion! He sets off in about a
month to cross the Atlantic, so we decided to sponsor him a bit and now
there is a little Bounty Boat logo on the bow of his little boat!!...Good
Luck Tom.

ENGLISH BRAIDS sign on for the voyage

There are plenty of ropes on Bounty Boat and I have always chosen "English
Braids" Importing them from England, so I was really pleased when Anto
Stopps,the Marine sales manager called into the stand at the show and
offered to become an official supplier. It is first class rope and the
"Natural" three strand looks very traditional.They had been supporting Mike
during his Solo Circumnavigation with very High Tech. racing braids and
believed in the Bounty Boat Adventure...so welcome aboard!! and Yes, I did
some more shopping, you can never have enough rope!!..thanks Anto

Fifth Crew member signs on?

Hi , My name is "Miracle", Im with the Wessex Cancer Trust in Southampton
and I am coming, so just get on with it!

Mike and I find The Wrong Bligh!

There were over 500 grave stones dating to 1666, some with skull and cross
bones for the pirates, all in the yard of St Mary's Church in Gosport and
then we found it...G M Bligh, who served as a young officer on H.M.S.
Victory at the battle of Trafalgar and later became Capt. Bligh...a distant
relative of William Bligh!!...a local came to explain the common
mistake...so back to Google for the real deal and it is in London of
course...stay tuned.

Newlands Primary school onboard!

In the last few days we have had about 200 children climbing over Bounty
Boat. There has been quite some interest in the planned schools program and
a constant stream of supportive comments along the lines of " this is a real
adventure, but you are still crazy!" Rain on Tue.afternoon did not help but
today was great. Mike called from Hong Kong to tell me a Typhoon was on its
way and that Vocalink would like to look over the boat when he returns!
Stuart keeps reminding me every day that he is not 69...he is only 68 and
three days...but the way he has been working the last few days you would
think he was 29..we have plenty of laughs reflecting on the meaning of life
each day...he broke his neck when he was an 18 year old rugby player and
faced the prospect of never walking again, but he did. The good news is that
we have had a great response to possible fundraising ideas for SIF...so the
Bounty Boat "just giving" site is off to a slow start but we are both
confident of big things for the future....stay tuned!!!

BB is 5 star cruising!!

Today Tom McNally called into the stand to find out about crewing on BB. I
have read of his adventures over the years and I was honoured to meet him.
He invited me onto his Boat that he plans to sail across the Atlantic
solo...only room for one though!! It is 4ft long!! And he will do it...so
now that puts BB into a new category of luxury...Mike and I are feeling real
good!!

STRANGE LOT THESE ENGLISHMEN!!

So along comes Capt. Cook and Magellan-in the Blue-and another 15th centaury
circumnavigator-in the Brown- but I missed his name....all wanting to sign
onto BB...so I left that to Stuart from SIF-in the stripes- to sort
out!!...just too much sun out today , and we had another direct descendant
of Fletcher Christian call in too, but he looked normal! Mike has had enough
so has flown to Hong Kong for a couple of days with a sponsor..and today I
realised that William Bligh is resting only 20 minutes walk from when I am
sleeping each night at Gosport!! So hope to hunt him down tomorrow...Big day
at the show today..see you there..Don

AT THE BOAT SHOW!

This is a Phone photo..of our stand that Stuart built, and it is his 69th
birthday today and is a champion for SIF having raised millions for the
cause over the past few years. Crew applications have gone crazy, 20 in the
last few days from UK,Aust,USA,Canada...so if I don't get the emails right
with you all...sorry...just remember if I do not get back to you email
again...applications close on 30th sept. Great interest at the show with
pleanty of disbelief!, but it is real and we will do it. Things happening
for the Book, Documentary and schools program and met up with the Musto guys
today and Alby from Para-anchors Australia..They have given us a 12ft
parachute for BB and a drogue. Some crew applicants have called in already
to see if Mike and I are crazy?? And find out how big the boat is!! The
media are still chasing us so nine days to go!! See you there..

Successful Press conference!

Mike, Irene from SIF and her daughter and me beside Bounty Boat at the P.C.
We had a great turnout, with about 22 media connections, including a crew
from ABC TV in Australia...plenty of coverage in the UK, Australia and other
parts of the world and today I have had another six crew applicants. Finally
started driving out of London at 4pm and it took two hours before we were on
the freeway to Southampton...London traffic is something else...then on the
way down I received a call about Jessica Watsons incident hitting the ship,
so my night turned into a busy one. Today the BB stand was being built
around the Boat and tomorrow Stuart and I will set everything up in it, so
looking forward to meeting a few people at the show...if you are really
keen, we need a volunteer to man the stand with us...Mike has been called
away for a few days in the middle, so if you would like to help spread the
word about SIF and our BB Expedition, I have some free tickets for the boat
show for you!

Mike has signed on as second in command! WELCOME ABOARD

The news is embargoed till 11am UTC, but we have a 5.30 am start tomorrow to
get BB in and set up for the press conference in the morning. I wanted to
get something up before then. Mike and I became great friends during his
stay with Margie and me in Hobart back in April, while repairing Totally
Money, the Open 50 he was sailing solo around the world at the time. You can
check that out and Mikes Blogs at www.challengemike.com Mike thought about
it while sailing home, rang me on the Iridium phone and said he really was
up for the Challenge! I said great! I am happy, as during the voyage if they
decide to eat me first, then I know he has the ability to get the boat home!
Regardless of who the other two crew are?? Maybe they will be tastier than
me? This is shaping up to be a fun trip, but I have already made Mike aware
that as Capt. I can pull rank and even put him under house arrest, so keep
an eye on the Blogs...his too..but don't believe everything he writes!

New Sponsor!

Thanks to the Sheffield Star for the use of some pic’s  of the Duke.  During the Sydney Boat Show I had a chance to speak with Pete Goss and heard about the great rugged computers he had been using. By chance Ian Walker from www.blazepoint.co.uk was at the Country Fair…and we got talking about our com’s challenges in a wet little open boat. Turns out he is Mr “Ndura RUGGED” computer…so it did not take long to consider all the advantages for us…and I am happy to say that we will now have a 13” rugged laptop on Bounty Boat…OK Bligh did not have one I know…but I am very excited about being able to have a degree of confidence in our ability to get our Blogs and Photo’s off the boat during the voyage…we may even try to work out how to get some video off …bit of a challenge, but we will think about the options later….THANKS IAN!   

A long way from the Pacific but always in the back of my mind.

The Prince of Wales Division Band marched us into the Grand Arena

The band marched ahead of Bounty Boat, now crewed by local children, into
the Grand Arena packed with Thousands of people, where we did a short
interview and then the boat was Blessed by the Archdeacon, watched on by the
Duke and Dutches of Devonshire and the Patrons of SIF. It was an amazing
scene and a long way from the Pacific.

Real crew applicant!

The people we met at the Country Fair were amazing...Dave Spencer turned up
unannounced wanting to sign on..he had all the traditional kit from Bligh's
era! Including salted pork, dried pees, ships biscuits, and his horn beaker
( for the 1 gallon of beer they were issued each DAY!) and rum beaker...we
kept him on entertaining the 90,000 people that turned out over the three
days...it is big>

The Duke and I on Bounty boat

I meet the Duke of Devonshire and SIF partnership begins

The Duke of Devonshire is on the left and Stuart Keane from SIF on the right. Stuart has been working very hard to organise the UK visit of BB. It was such an honour to meet the Duke…and what a great man…we both sat in Bounty Boat pretending to row for all the media and discussed some of the challenges for the expedition and our efforts to raise money for SITraNs. It was a great morning and he spent time going over everything. The country fair at Chatsworth house is truly an amazing experience…just Google Chatsworth House UK and you will see all about it..and the history. The Duke is of course the Patron of the Sheffield Institute Foundation. I personally was shocked by the number of people coming past with close connections to the dreaded three diseases , MND heading the list…so I feel confident someone will make the first donation through our Just Giving BB page soon…you can make a little comment with the donation too…so please think about it.

 

Our major Press conference will hopefully start the ball rolling on Tue. The Embargoed Press release will be on this site within 24 hours, so you will see the big news…I am off to a fundraising dinner for SIF tonight, about 1.5 hours drive from here and I have to navigate back to Chatsworth House…I am staying here with the Duke’s personal assistant Lis, in the most amazing little “group” of old English houses, going back to I don’t know when…straight out of a film set?? …anyway will get some more Pictures up later…My camera had no card today..Forgot it…the Duke said no problem ..Use mine! We have to get Pic’s on the Blog!!

BB arrives and Press conference announced

Picked up the boat today from Tilbury docks and set the Press conference for
11am on Sept 8th at The Dickens Inn , St Katherine's Docks in London.
Tomorrow I drive to Chatsworth House for the start of promotions with SIF
and an incredible opportunity to meet the Duke of Devonshire and have Bounty
Boat Blessed for the first time at their annual country fair. The Duke is
Patron to the Sheffield Institute Foundation. We now have our "Just Giving"
link up to allow you to make donations to this very important cause. Please
think about this...We will over the next 18 months be profiling the reasons
why this is such a good thing to do, so please watch this space and tell
your friends.

Oops!...it is spelt ALZHEIMER...

Still more changes to come for the web site in the next few days.

My other Boat ICE

Well I arrived in the UK only one day behind Mike Perham, now the youngest
solo circumnavigator and Jessica Watson sets off in a few weeks aboard PINK
LADY attempting to take that from him. I just spent time on ICE our 50ft 40
tonne motor sailor in the Philippines and setting up a new Office in China.
Managed to get Swine Flu which was interesting.

Bounty Boat is now here in London and I will collect her from the container
on the 2nd Sept. we are working on all the updates to this web site as I
write this, so stand by for some significant changes. I am really excited
about our plans to work with SIF and raise money to help fight MND,Parkinson
and Alzhyhmers,the deadly three, which will hit one in four of us if we live
past 80.

The press conference ( with a Major Announcement!) is now set for the 8th
Sept at St Katherine's Docks in London. If you are reading this you are
invited to attend...check here for times latter...and if you are headed to
Southampton Boat Show, we are right next to the Guinness catering stand in
Solent Park...can't miss us, so come along and say hi! On the weekend of the
5th 6th Sept. I will be at Chatsworth House (with Bounty Boat), one of the
most beautiful "castles" in England, for the Blessing of Bounty Boat and to
meet the Duke and Dutchess of Devonshire, who are taking a keen interest in
the voyage of the Bounty Boat as Patron of SIF

If you are still interested in signing on as crew now is the time to throw
your hat in the ring...I have a group of applicants and will pick the short
list by the end of The Southampton Boat closing off entries, so don't wait,
do it now.

This is only the third Blog but they will start happening each week now with
things starting to ramp up toward April 28th next year..all the best...DON

Bounty Boat and Sydney Boat Show.

Well ADVENTURE is the theme at this year's Sydney International Boat Show and I have been giving daily BB presentations with the actual replica of the Bligh "launch" beside the stage. It is on loan from the Sydney Heritage Fleet. Pete Goss, Jessica Watson and the boys from "Crossing the Ditch" James and Justin are all giving talks. If you didn't know, Margie and I are major supporters of Jessica and have bought a boat to lend her for the trip. It's called PINK LADY! Wonder why? She hopes to set off mid Sept. on her solo, non-stop unassisted voyage around the world. Check out http://www.youngestround.com/. The sad news is I will not be in Australia to see her off as I spend all of Sept. in the UK with Bounty Boat. Even worse will be when she sails home at the end of her amazing voyage. I will be sitting in BB headed for Kupang, probably not even knowing where we are?? Not much I can do about that...

Had a great crew application today from a chap who was at the show...he sent me an email stating quite simply that his wife will be financially better off if he were dead!...so no problem for him signing on...but then one of the 32 questions I ask applicants is...Do you think you might die on Bounty Boat and if not Why not!

For those Adventurers/supporters in Australia, you may like to know I am now writing a regular column and feature articles in Tradeaboat Magazine.

Plans are moving steadily forward with the Press conference in the UK. There are going to be a couple of MAJOR announcements. It is currently scheduled for September 2nd. If you are in the UK you are invited to attend and hopefully we will see you at the Southampton Boat Show. More on that later.

This website will shortly see some new structural additions and a solid link with the Sheffield Institute Foundation and our support for MND research.

Bounty Boat is currently three weeks from the London Docks.

Another Epic Voyage

Bounty Boat headed to the UK. Had to drive Hobart to Devonport, onto Spirit of Tasmania across Bass Strait and into a container in Melbourne.

Bounty Boat Crew Launch BLOG!!

Well this may be the start of something interesting with the relaunch of our Bounty Boat Expedition set to officially take place in London on Sept. 2nd with some major announcements. To set the ball rolling we have today launched the BBB...the Bounty Boat Blog...just hope it works?

Bounty Boat is currently in a 40ft container leaving Singapore, on it's way to the UK. I am due to start giving BB presentations every day at the Sydney International Boat Show on Thursday with Jessica Watson by the way...see www.youngestround.com and we are right this minute trying to create a whole new look to this web site, so stay tuned.

Send me a comment so I know it works....

Welcome aboard....Don McIntyre