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In terms of the staff and my partner Captain Beebe-Center, none were working with Pride of Baltimore, Inc. back in 2000 when PRIDE II raced over to Europe. While new staff do not by themselves represent a problem preparing a mission to Europe, collectively they represent a lot of discussion and review of old records on how past off-continent voyages have been conducted. Having these discussions at the same time as the ship is being prepared is, frankly, quite distracting however important and helpful they may be to efficiently prepare of such a mission as we have planned for this year.

The engine room re-engineering has been very successful for achieving the intended goals. However, it has also required an inordinate amount of ãretrainingä time on how it is meant to be used and what its actual performance means.

The spar and mast repairs combined to slow down the timing for getting the rig completely assembled. This meant an unusually long period was spent by the crew on rig details that might otherwise have been spent elsewhere.

Altogether, it has meant there has been an overarching feeling of being barely in control of the time available to get the vessel ready for her mission. Even so, PRIDE II was ready for her Coast Guard Inspection and passed it routinely - although there was a scare due to an incorrectly completed form filled out by our fire fighting equipment service provider. Fortunately, that was correctible on short notice and so there was actually no reason for the Coast Guard to prevent PRIDE II from commencing her mission.

All of this demonstrates just how important the role of "supplier of services" is to vessels in general. In the case of PRIDE II, there are many providers that give to her freely as well as those that give at a significant discount.

For years Bob Campbell of Marine Electrical Systems has been our advisor on all things corrosion. This time we went to him in the matter of revamping the 24 Volt DC charging, storing, and inverting system to a 120 Volt AC system. He provided uncountable hours of planning pro bono as well all hardware at his cost for significant savings in an endeavor such as this.

For two decades, Electronic Marine Services has been providing at cost all of our electronic navigational aids. This year Phil Mitchell, the owner, will again assist us with a new GPS that will bring the ship up to the regulatory minimums for maritime security. He will also be helping with installing special gear that will track wind direction and strength, vessel position, vessel speed and direction, as well angle of heel. The accumulated data will be used to correlate vessel design to dynamic performance in a project meant to re-examine what may become in the future valuable information contained within stability letters provided by naval architects in general and required by the Coast Guard on all passenger certified vessels. Phil will also be our source of electronic charting in coordination with Matt Taylor of Nobeltec Marine electronic charting.

 Doug Howard of Arrow Metal Fabricators has been a great supporter of the ship since she was first built. He has almost always provided his assistance freely. This last winter he helped with many details needed in the engine room as well with the spar repairs.

 MITAGS (Marine Institute of Training and Graduate Studies) has also for years been a supporter of PRIDE II through pro-bono training of key personnel and did so again earlier this year for two of our crew.

 Gary ãLeroyä Surosky, owner of Peregrine Construction, has, since he was the foreman of construction of PRIDE II, been a constant friend to her. He continues to provide wood related assistance at cost as well as donations of services and material.

 USS CONSTELLATION has also been helpful this year with shop access and delivery destination since PRIDE II lost her old ãshipping addressä when she had to move to another part of the harbor for winter storage.

 There are, of course, numerous vendors that provide PRIDE II with needed equipment and services. But I thought I would share with you some of those that have been real friends as well as suppliers.

 As I sit at home writing this, PRIDE II is in Chestertown - her second official port stop of this year. Next week, she will be back in Baltimore with Captain John Beebe-Center in command. It will be the last time PRIDE II will be in her home port till early December. So this will be the last chance to get aboard all those myriad of things we will come to miss if we do not get them aboard now. In a weeks time, I go aboard and head off for Europe with the crew and several Guest Crew aboard for the ãchance of a lifetimeä to sail across the North Atlantic aboard a Baltimore Privateer.

Cheers,
Captain Miles