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Showing posts from July, 2015

2015 Holland America Grand Voyage

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Cruise Ship Life 🌊 Cruise Ship Life 🛳️ Departing into the horizon – Life on the high seas begins. 🎥 Celtic Explorer 🎥 Arctic Circle How Swede it is: Amid windswept cliffs and green pastures, the island reveals a unique blend of ecological diversity and human history dating back thousands of years. 🧭 Remote Travel 🧊 Arctic Circle 🌺 Wild Flora ⛴ Cruise Culture Voyage Days: 28-day Grand Nordic Journey Climate: Cool summers, brisk sea air Wildlife: Seabirds, Arctic foxes, whales Ports of Call: 14+ European cities 🌍 Ports of Call Lisbon, Portugal Porto, Portugal Gibraltar Barcelona, Spain Marseille, France Monte Carlo, Monaco Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy Valletta, Malta Athens, Greece Istanbul, Turkey Copenhagen, Denmark Stockholm, Sweden Helsinki, Finland St. Petersburg, Russia “The farther you go f...

Portsmouth-America's Cup World Series Race

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It is the most famous sailing event in the world and the oldest competition in international sport. The best sailors race in the fastest boats. These AC45 catamarans are different. They are faster, lighter and they fly on the sea---the boat's foils are out of the water, so things get very fast very quickly. There's very little of the CAT in the water. It's about aerodynamics.It's about control systems. It's about hydraulic systems. It's not Brain Surgery, it's Rocket Science---reminds me of Formula 1. In fact, Red Bull had one of their open-wheel cars next to their bar concession on full display-Zoom. I broadcasted a few live video feeds using Twitter's new app Periscope. It was cool to get all the views and have people from Europe and in fact all over the planet see my world through my lens (Samsung S5).

Portsmouth, ACWS

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It was like Formula 1 on water The America's Cup World Series is in The UK this week-and what do you call 2 days of rain in England---a Weekend!  Conditions were shifty, gusty and all-round demanding ,but that helped the teams  get the pressure they needed as those AC45 sails turned into engines and got speed. BAR and Oracle USA  were neck and neck competitively and it just proved how close the races will be tomorrow and Sunday. Avec Philippe Presti, the French Olympian and coach of the America's Cup champions ORACLE TEAM USA If Britain can rule the waves then I can wave the rules and get closer to the boat's before the crowds show up for today's practice runs.  See Video Below: Race Official Martin Stephens

The U.K.-Mind, Body and Sea

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When I landed in Rome, things started to take off. I was on a different plane. Avi-Navi-gation seems as natural to me as sending an e mail or going to Starbucks.I fold up my self and carry "me"around as if I were a gym bag. FCO Airport is is no exception. Travelling well is an important part of living well. If you travel well, your trip becomes more memorable and more rewarding. I haven't been everywhere -but it is on my  list--and so is being a multinational soul, an AmeriCAN, not an AmeriCANT. I couldn't do it on land alone. NYC or L.A., London and Tokyo were what I call "making the right mistakes" These adventures were nothing more than bad planning but useful nonetheless.   I needed to get consecrated @sea and that is what I have been doing for the last 7 years---Turning the slogan "Just Do it, to JUST DONE-ONCE AROUND WITHOUT LEAVING THE GROUND.  I Myth You- Joseph Campbell The AWE in Awesome was put back into May and June, an...

Portsmouth-America's Cup with Oracle Team USA Training Day

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Took a bit of video and some great photos of not only Oracle's Rig, but also Emirates Team NZ, Softbank Team Japan and The Swedish Team Artemis out in The windy Solent. Out at historic Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and met up with 2x America's Cup Champion, Skipper Jim Spithill, from Oracle Team USA, going for #3 next Sunday Capturing a bit of The SPIRIT of Racing-With Land Rover BAR I managed to hitch a ride on Charles and Annie's Ballistic Inflatable (Zodiac) and the 500HP  was no match for Mothers Nature and The Land Rover BAR crew. Last July, while we were on The QM2, an Oceanliner, we reached 22 nautical mph, nearly getting blown off the deck, and these guys can throttle it to 50, in the tiny  spaces of a 20 meter trampoline.  Even though it was a sea trial,t he boat's foils are out of the water and things get very fast very quickly.  There's very little of the boat in the water. It's about aerodynamics, it's about control systems, hydr...

Portsmouth, UK-Chasing The Fastest Sailors InThe World

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I'm winning at this life thing. I'm well-travelled. I have strong opinions on every subject imaginable from linguistic to time travel,  a curriculum vitae of impressive life hacks and street cred I picked up while in the badlands of The Far East AND The Not-So-Far East, and yet there are people so much cooler than me: Extreme Sailors. Toucheé! Launching at the apron at 10AM, it was teamwork again in action, making it look easy - smooth is fast, and the fitter they are, the faster they are, and Ben Ainslie's team looked solid and  in the water and sailing through The Solent in no time.  Capturing a bit of The SPIRIT of Racing- I managed to hitch a ride on Charles and Annie's Ballistic Inflatable (Zodiac) and the 500HP  was no match for Mothers Nature and The Land Rover BAR crew. Last July, while we were on The QM2, an Oceanliner, we reached 22 nautical mph, nearly getting blown off the deck, and these guys can throttle it to 50, in the tiny ...

Portsmouth, UK-America's Cup World Series

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“hark, now hear the sailors cry, smell the sea, and feel the sky let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic...” If Paul Elvström is the patron saint of Yachting, then Van Morrison should be his apostle. His lyrics sum up getting "caught" by the sea. "Do you know a cure for me?" you may ask. YES, I do: SALT. I know of a cure for everything: salt water...in one way or the other. Sweat, or tears, or the salt sea.'   -- Out of Africa   Karen Blixen  Extreme Racing returns to British waters I stopped by Ben Ainslie Land Rover BAR HQ As special as it was to be in the hanger, the AC45F was meant to sail in blue ocean, and all that kinetic energy and the need for speed needed to be translated on the blue ocean. . On my World Cruise in 2011, in Auckland, NZ,  took this shot-who woulda thought I'd be so close to the action today,  Everything you could ever learn at The B School MBA comes from managing a world that'...

Being There-With Holland America

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On the Road To Shangra-LA Wow What a Summer-Norway is a lot like pizza. When it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good; and like the Pizza Guy, the Viking landscapes always delivers. If you only travel the places that everyone else is traveling, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe videos. Nature's living mirror, however is water---whether still or in motion,The most beautiful landscapes go  better with H 2 Ooooooooh! Here are my top 7 videos that will make you want to book a cruise to Norway immediately: The Happy go Locals don't tan, they rust, and if they smoke, they smoke salmon.The  cruisers who inhabit this place for 6  hours a day may have come on different ships, but they are all in the same boat-Mother Nature's. "Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain o...

Edam, Netherlands- Dutch Cheese Market

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Holland is the number one cheese country of the world. Visiting  one of the most famous cheese markets and tasting the best cheeses was a delicious experience! Smile and say CHEESE! How lucky-Today is the start of the Edam Cheese Festival. Wooden shoe like to visit Holland?  Cheese Festival Born in Holland, raised worldwide