“I just wanted to shake your hand,” more than one man remarked. That voyage, which he hopes will begin next spring, will again benefit CRAB. I wrote that in June 2010, right after Matt had returned from his second singlehanded transatlantic passage—which included runs across the North Sea and Bay of Biscay, a passage down the west coast of Africa and 200 miles motoring up the Gambia River aboard his Pearson 323. 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. The outgoing current actually pushed him backwards some 12 miles, and nearly put him on the sand just south of Virginia Beach. He taught himself to sail it as he traveled south from the Chesapeake to the Florida Keys. Anything else he would like? I did that (twice). My projects always tend to expand until they can’t get any bigger.”“Before you leave the dock, you need to accept the fact that you might not come back.” This is what Matt told me shortly before he left to sail solo around the Americas. He had found his calling.After reading about Ernest Shackleton and Arctic explorers, Matt became obsessed with sailing alone through the Northwest Passage – the mostly ice-clogged route through the Arctic linking the Atlantic to the Pacific.
You can read all about the award and this years recipients in this press release:Congratulations to Matt and all the other 2012 winners!Things have been non-stop since I got back.
“When I was 18, I decided I was going to do three things,” Matt told me. He was still barefoot, his toenails brown and gnarled, and thick shocks of dark orange hair spilled out below his hat. He’s got a great way of telling stories, having a rant, having a laugh, discussing his sailing experiences and entertaining his listeners. It was one of the biggest challenges of the voyage.“I used every ounce of seamanship I have ever learned keeping that boat off the beach,” Matt said. What makes this story so engrossing, though, is that the sailing part is only half the tale….
Matt is the first person to transit the northwest passage solo, nonstop in a sailboat, and … “The boat and I made it through Hurricane Charlie and Hurricane Frances on anchor. Great information and advice on all things boating and all things non boating lol.
The remnants of two typhoons tracked right over him, pinning him against the Alaskan coast.
I always look forward to seeing the notification for his latest podcast.
“I loved it up there,” he told me. Within minutes of his placing his first bare, calloused foot on dry land, they whisked Matt Rutherford away from his joyful family and led him to a makeshift stage in the center of Annapolis’s City Dock, where, clad in a crusty floppy hat, a pungent pair of black mesh shorts and the same vintage Popeye T-shirt he had worn at his departure 10 months earlier, he took a seat next to the governor and his wife and gazed out at the hundreds of faces suddenly staring at him.The incongruity of it all was not lost on him. Matt’s childhood was a nightmare, a brutal combination of drugs, cults, depression, learning disabilities and, ultimately, prison.
Press or other inquires, please contact Rachel Rutherford (330-907-6044).
The first part is measurable, and as of Saturday afternoon Rutherford had raised $79,393 for Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating, an organization that provides sailing opportunities for the disabled.
It was a constant battle keeping blood in his fingers and toes, and he was forever trying to keep them warm.
Professional sailors called him crazy and declared the journey “a suicide mission.” Braving the icebergs of the Arctic and the stormy seas of Cape Horn is no easy feat for any sailor.This is no ordinary tale of courage and endurance. Preparation for his voyage started in earnest after a chance conversation with CRAB’s founder Don Backe. Each year the Jester award is handed out to a deserving single-handed sailor. Below is a selection of voyage photos from Matt Rutherford’s solo, nonstop sail around the America’s via the Arctic’s Northwest Passage and Cape Horn off the tip of South America. But if you can’t be there in person you can watch it right here on a live video stream. I wrote that in June 2010, right after Matt had returned from his second singlehanded transatlantic passage—which included runs across the North Sea and Bay of Biscay...© 2020 Cruz Bay Publishing, Inc. an Active Interest Media company. The third was to start an organization that promotes literacy in war-torn third-world countries.” In 2008, he set out to cross the North Atlantic on his Pearson.