We're a group of unknown sailors from a little known, OK, unknown rustbelt city on Lake Erie who are planning on taking a run at the Mini-Transat race in 2005, and hold on to your S'westers, the boat we're going to do it in will be built by kids. More on the kids later.

For those of you who don't follow what the French are doing on the high seas, the Mini-Transat is a biennial singlehanded transatlantic race conducted in small, high performance sailboats-skiffs with a keel, really-that is often viewed as the first step to racing with the big boys and girls on Open 60's. Now known by the not so mini name as the Transat 650 Charente Maritime/Bahia (leave it to the Frogs to mess with a perfectly good name), the event was created in 1977 by the Englishman Bob Salmon in reaction to the high costs associated with ocean races conducted in ever bigger racing yachts. He limited the length of the boat to 6.5 meters, a size he thought adequate for an ocean crossing but small enough so as not to be cost prohibitive. Over the years and with the involvement of a French organizing structure the event has grown into one of international scope and popularity with as many as 70 entrants from around the world. The race routinely attracts the top solo sailors in the world (not that I'm one of them).

The Mini Part
Outside of some basic stability requirements the boats must conform to a fairly simple box rule: no more than 6.5 meters overall length (21' - are they nuts!?), 3.0 meters beam, and 14 meters from keel to truck. Enormous rigs, 3 meter bowsprits, twin rudders, spartan interiors, canting keels, and water-ballast systems round out the features generally found and often pioneered on these wee cousins of the Open 60's. These boats are obviously packing a high 'oh my god, I want my mommy' quotient. Oh, and did we forget to tell you that you can only communicate via VHF, and you're not allowed any wind instrumentation, computers, or chart plotters? But wait, there's more. Imagine a displacement of around 2,100 pounds with 460 square feet of sail upwind and 1,000 square feet downwind. By comparison, a Capri 22 has roughly the same displacement, but only about 250 square feet of sail and a Melges 24 has 380 square feet. Basically, a Mini is a Melges on speed, steroids, and maybe even Viagra.

The Transat Part
Currently, the Transat 650 is run in September-October of odd-numbered years from La Rochelle, France, to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. The course of approximately 4300 nautical miles is broken into two legs with the Canary Islands as the stop-over point. The course crosses the tempestuous Bay of Biscay, heads for the ever-tricky Cape Finnesterre, and hopefully slips into the Portuguese Trades to the Canaries. Next up, would be the heat, violent squalls, and maddening calms of the doldrums. Oh joy. Last year Jonathan McKee, Olympic and Americas Cup sailor, put on a sailing clinic and looked set to be the first American to win the Mini-Transat since Norton Smith won it in 1979 on board the revolutionary Tom Wylie designed American Express. But McKee dismasted and had to make for Recife, Brazil. Sam Manuard then took over first place and looked to be in a commanding position until he too dismasted a disheartening 87 miles from the finish. So the moral here would be that this is serious business. Ability is important but dependability is critical.

The Kids Part
Last March I approached Jim Stewart, the Executive Director of the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies (BCMS) in Erie, PA, with a plan to do the Mini-Transat thinking he might be receptive but fully expecting him to shoot it down, but no! Jim, always known for his ultra-conservative, low-risk approach (yeah right, little did I know at the time), said it was a great idea! Following our meeting, Jim and I decided that this was an achievable goal (we hadn't told our wives yet). And instead of me looking for a used boat Jim suggested that BCMS ought to build it. This is where the kids come in, so if you're still with me I need to tell you a little bit regarding what BCMS is all about.

The mission of the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies is to design and deliver unique, maritime-based educational, vocational, and recreational opportunities for the entire community. BCMS is not a boat building or sailing school in the traditional sense, instead BCMS utilizes boat building, sailing, environmental studies, and underwater archeology to teach and reinforce traditional academic subjects, to introduce workplace skills, and to concentrate on personal growth initiatives. Students learn and become proficient in math, the sciences, social studies, and communications through hands-on participation in numerous maritime-related activities. BCMS provides programming for all the juvenile placement facilities in Erie County and seventeen public school districts in northwest Pennsylvania, as well as home schoolers, charter schools, and parochial schools. In six years, BCMS has provided programming for nearly 11,000 youth. These participants have built 65 boats including canoes, kayaks, wherries, skiffs, and the Erie Boat, an authentic replica of the two-masted cat-ketches that once made Erie the fresh-water fishing capital of the world, literally (I'm not making this up). Additionally, BCMS, in conjunction with the Junior League of Erie, PA, operates the only adaptive sailing program in the region, Erie Adaptive Sailing Experience (EASE), which in June 2004 will host the North American Championships for Access Dinghies. Honestly, these guys have a fantastic program. We need more sailors and organizations like them. Thanks to Jim, Richard, and Ramone, as well as the hundreds of kids who will participate in the building of our boat!

Now if the kids of BCMS are going to build this little firecracker that means it has to be fabricated out of wood as that is their primary area of expertise, and it is a medium that allows the kids to fully participate in the construction process. And wouldn't you know it, there is a design, and in fact a kit, available for a wood mini. To our knowledge, Dudley Dix Yacht Design of South Africa (just last month he moved his operation to Virginia Beach, go to www.dixdesign.com) offers the only kitted mini design that is made out of wood. So last fall, I purchased the plans from Dudley and the kit from CKD Boats in Hout Bay, South Africa (thanks to Roy Mcbride). It shipped on Christmas Eve, arrived in Newark in early January, but given all of the international security issues these days did not arrive here in Erie until February 12. The following week the strongback was built and just last Thursday we finished hanging all the stations. About 20 kids have already taken part. So for BCMS, boat number 66, appropriately enough and with apologies to Mario Lemieux, will be our Mini-Transat boat.

To facilitate the mission of BCMS we decided to name our project in honor of the kids. And let me tell you, it was no easy task coming up with a name. In lighter moments while drinking Guinness at Molly's (the bar where we hold all of our important and unimportant meetings-thanks to John Melody, the owner) we came up with names like, well, those names just aren't suitable to be released into the public domain…yet. In all seriousness though, we decided to name our program Reaching Kids - Ocean Racing and Education. We think this name does a good job of encapsulating what we hope to accomplish, and it's short and sweet and hopefully memorable. Our program is about (1) Reaching out to and inspiring our youth; (2) encouraging kids to Reach, explore, and discover their potential; and of course for sailors, (3) Reaching-the fastest point of sail. We estimate that over a thousand kids will be involved in the project at some point. We have a number of local goals but our most important priority is to create a meaningful connection with the youth-particularly those who may be disadvantaged-and via our Mini project demonstrate and reveal to these youth that they are capable of performing at the highest levels and that with perseverance and teamwork all things are possible.

And on a related aside, we think that Bruce Schwab and Ocean Planet have a professional, high class, and great thing going. He has provided a bit of inspiration for us and we hope to emulate his passion and perseverance.
The 'Are You Nuts?' Part - That Would Be Us

I have been a long-time follower of the Mini-Transat as well as other solo offshore events, and in 2001 less than two weeks after 9-11 my wife, Heather, and I traveled to La Rochelle for the start of the race. We introduced ourselves to Gale Browning, the only American entrant in that edition, and her team manager, Kathy Weber. (And we got to meet Ellen MacArthur…almost, but that's another story.) Gale immediately put me to work installing some clutches for the runners on her boat. Very trusting of her, I'd say. We've continued to stay in contact with both Gale and Kathy often visiting them in Annapolis. And ever since, I've been toying with the idea that someday I might enter the Mini-Transat myself. That's when, as noted above, I approached Jim with my idea. I quickly found out that Jim is just as nuts as I am and that you could call this a case of 'be careful what you wish for.' I guess the vicarious thrills just weren't enough. I have to also say that Gale certainly inspired me and made me realize that if you really want to, anybody can do this. Thanks Gale…I think.

Concerning our backgrounds and responsibilities for Reaching Kids, I am the skipper (until I wake from this nightmare) and Jim is the team manager. We are both 43 and have done the majority of our sailing on the steep square waves of Lake Erie. I've also done a variety of ocean events such as the Bermuda Ocean Race and Annapolis-Newport, as well as deliveries, Great Lakes distance events, and lots of the ever popular round-the-cans racing. All in all, I'd rather be on the ocean. Except for a bit of engineering once upon a time, I've been in education most of my life and am a professor of Anthropology and Biology at Mercyhurst College. Jim was formerly a video journalist for a television station here in town and before that he used to bleed on people as a scrappy hockey player, but six years ago his warm fuzzy heart got the better of him and he founded the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies. Good for him.

The Groveling Part
Obviously, since putting together an operation of this sort will take us into the six figures and professoring just ain't what it used to be (especially at a small school like mine), we are looking for financial support for Reaching Kids from our local community as well as from the sailing community and any other community that will have us. And one of the things we think would be really cool to do is to take some of the kids with us to both France and Brazil. Talk about mind expansion. It would be the educational opportunity of a lifetime. We think we provide an ideal opportunity for corporate or private sponsorship, and not being too proud, we'll certainly accept individual donations in any amount. We are in the process of setting up a non-profit to be run under the umbrella of BCMS, so your contributions will be tax deductible. Contact me, David Hyland, at dhyland@mercyhurst.edu or Jim Stewart at eriesailing@hotmail.com (and check out the BCMS website at www.bayfrontcenter.org) for details about your or your organization's participation. The brand new Mini Class US has a web site as well at www.miniclassus.com and they will soon be featuring information and pictures of our excellent adventure.

The Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies (BCMS) will be the operational focal point for Reaching Kids, and if you're in town for perhaps some iceboating (oops, 12" of ice just up and departed down lake on the 45 knot gusts and 70 degree temperatures we had last week) or fishing, look us up. We're in Erie, PA at the foot of State Street on the uh…bay. And in terms of a schedule, we are currently playing a bit of catch up. We are working feverishly and hope to splash the boat by early summer.
Stay tuned for updates. May the wind be always at your back. And thanks to Sailing Anarchy for helping us get the word out that sailing with a bunch of grinning kids in Erie, PA, is an absolutely great way to pass the summer.

DC Hyland