When the Halie and Matthew came into Port Everglades, the response from local organizations has been tremendous. This is a short summary of the overwhelming generosity we received, and a huge THANK YOU from the crew of the Halie and Matthew.

Finding a dock space for a 118' LOA 13' draft vessel wasn't easy, Both Lauderdale Yacht Club and Lauderdale Marine Center did offer free dockage but they don't have 13' depth. The Seafarers House came through is a big way, as did many other wonderful donor's.

The following was arranged by Captain Joei, a Volunteer of "Diakonos International" who has the newest Orphanage, still in dire need today and housing 39 Godchildren, at the epicenter in Haiti. . . and "Shake a Leg Miami"'s John Muir who had the very first Genius Idea to send used sails to Haiti the day after the Catastrophe. "Seafarers House" did the very most financially

* Dockage n/c (Port Everglades Seafarers house)
* 24 hr. Vessel Security (Mc Roberts Port Marine Security)
* Showers, Water n/c (Mc Allister tugs)
* Potatoes/onions/heat and eat meals n/c (Big Mama's "Team of Life")
Meds/bagels/coffee/drinking water, puppy food, Rides n/c (us)....
* Bow Rigging large hardened 10" Bolts n/c (Nance and Underwood Riggers...Roger Underwood)
* 500 gallons fuel (an angel?)
* Seafarers house even had line handlers to help, Customs and Border Patrol ready, a free Crew van service and a little store and Chapel in the port :)

Today at 18h30 the schooner Halie and Matthew sailed into Port Everglades and tied up to the dock. The dock was arranged by our friends at Shake-a-leg Miami, and the kind people from Seafarer's House, thanks very much. Both these non-profit organisations deserve your support. They arrived with medicine, food, water, snacks, toilet paper and much more to welcome our crew home. The area is in a high security part of the port, so when the small boat was lowered into the water, and sped off to assist with the docking of the Halie & Matthew, a red alert was issued, and the boat was immediately surrounded by patrol cars, USCG, Customs & Border Protection agents, and Broward County Sherrifs. Apparently the small boat caused panic, they thought it was a USS Cole type incident, or that somebody was trying to flee the vessel before clearing customs. As you can imagine, it took a while before everything was worked out, but for a few minutes there, it looked really bad. The crew is happy to be home, and looking forward to seeing you.

With the imminent arrival in Fort lauderdale of the schooner Halie and Matthew, here is a sneak peak at the offloading process in Haiti.


As you can see, the entire cargo was offloaded one box at a time by hand.



More pictures and video, when our crew returns.

Photo are from Greg Bennick, our man on the ground in Haiti, with One Hundred for Haiti.

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The schooner Halie and Matthew arrived in Haiti at an undisclosed location, full of relief supplies on Friday morning, April 30, 2010. The day was chaos, trying to get customs clearance before the week-end, and when that was impossible, our man on the ground in Haiti, Greg Bennick, from One Hundred for Haiti, worked a miracle on Saturday, getting all the paperwork finalized. The unloading was scheduled for first thing today, Monday, but before that.....

I got a call last night at 23h30 from Captain Jared. They had just survived a powerful microburst. For 45 minutes they had over 60 knots of wind, that damaged surrounding buildings (the guard hut was blown into the sea), and was in danger of causing severe damage to the Halie and Matthew. The crew responded quickly as some dock lines parted, they cut the bow line with a machete, and took the Halie and Matthew off the dock to wait it out. During this time, remember that the deck is full of cargo. When they called they were back at the dock, all tied up, nobody hurt, ship and cargo fine.

It is not over, until its over. Our crew is doing a wonderful job persevering against all odds. As Ernest Shackleton once said, "by endurance, we conquer". The photo, is by Greg Bennick, and is a reminder why we are doing this.

The story of our first relief voyage to Haiti is featured in the May issue of Yachting World Magazine. Due to the air traffic chaos caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland, there are no copies of the magazine yet in the US, and presumably the rest of the world. However, we were fortunate to get a scanned copy emailed to us. Look out for it at your local news outlets. They published several of our photographs as well, including the picture I took of Liberty roaring through the trades from my kite. (The picture is from scanned copy of the magazine. I can't publish the article here, because the copyrights belong to the magazine).

In the mean time, we have our crew out there. They are in Jamaica, preparing to make the short hop to Haiti on Monday. Haiti still needs a lot of help. Check out the article in LA Progressive of our friend Tiffany, who helped us on our first voyage to Jacmel.

Despite the brief layover in Jamaica for repairs, the relief voyage to Haiti is still on. While underway, we maintain a google map of the position of the schooner Halie and Matthew each time we hear from vessel. We allow close friends and family to access the map, so that they can track their progress through the Caribbean Sea. Since departing from Miami Beach, the google map has been viewed an incredible 3700+ times!

We have decided to allow general access to the googlemap until the schooner Halie and Matthew departs Jamaica for Haiti. At that time, the access will be once again be restricted. The secrecy surrounding the exact position of the vessel, is maintained to ensure the safety of the crew as they are traveling through dangerous waters, and when they arrive in Haiti, we don't want unsavory characters waiting for them.

Enjoy their trip by visiting the google map here.

If you would like to be included in the voyage update when the Halie and Matthew resumes their relief voyage, please contact your family member or friend aboard the Halie and Matthew (FB is best), and ask them to contact us with your details. The request must come from them, we cannot accept your request directly from you.