A Time to be Thankful

With the doom and gloom in the world, extensively reported by our 24/7 news, it is sometimes hard to remember how much we have to be grateful for. Circumnavigators know that violence and weather catastrophes have been around throughout history. But we also know that advances in medicine, technology and communications have improved life for many of us. These advances have certainly made it easier to see the world and work to make it better. Take a moment to embrace the spirit of gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving to all our members, family and friends.

Celebrate the Holiday Season with fellow Circumnavigators at The Explorers Club!

46 E. 70th Street
The Gallery, Fifth Floor
New York City

Thursday, December 13, 2018
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres

Guests Welcome!

click here to print the invite

Magellan Award Dinner

An email was sent to all members on Friday, November 2nd regarding flight and hotel reservations for Magellan Weekend honoring Captain Robert Crippen March 21 – 24, 2019. Please check your email for details. If you did not receive the email, please contact headquarters at 201-612-9100 or club@circumnavigators.org.

Ham Radio, Anyone?

Circumnavigator Steven Barnett of Panama City, Panama (HP1STB) is an amateur radio operator who has proposed forming a group for Club members. Circumnavigators can visit members on the airwaves at home on when traveling. If you are a licensed ham radio operator, contact Steve at HP1STB@stevenbarnett.com.

Unusual Travel Tips?

Do you have any noteworthy travel tips that most people would not think to keep in mind while traveling? Something you never thought you’d need to remember when setting out on the next adventure? If you do, please send them to Second Vice President Brad Vogel at Brad.Vogel@gmail.com, as he is happy to funnel them to editor Chris Rovzar who heads Bloomberg Pursuits. Rovzar, a friend of Vogel’s, has requested any travel tips that are especially interesting or colorful for upcoming articles.

Scuttlebutt Online

For nearly a century, The LOG has carried a section called Scuttlebutt with news and info about our members. With the LOG only coming out twice a year, this news is far from timely, so we are now running Scuttlebutt on the website every month. Please send us news!

Riding the Circumnavigators Club

Circumnavigators Howard Matson and Peter Mosse found an interesting piece of Club history. In the 1930’s, a Pullman car was named the Circumnavigators Club and served as an overnight train in the midwest until 1961. Howard found the info and Peter found the car, now in the Western Railway Museum in northern California. Peter had a chance to visit the train and meet its owner, Bill Kluver, who has maintained it for many years. More about this story in the next issue of The LOG.

Flying High at 80

Circumnavigator Bill Ashley, Washington DC Chapter, found a daring way to celebrate his 80th birthday. For the first time, he made a sky dive in Virginia. Fellow Circumnavigator Ray Olson made a jump before Bill. He says, “The lady videographer asked upon my landing — ‘How was it?’ and I responded — ‘If it were this good at 80 years old, just think how much more wonderful it will be at 90!’ She replied that she liked my attitude.” Bill is currently on his sixth circumnavigation.

Authors Among Us

Paul and Paulette Noble have each published a new book. It’s the first one for Paul and the 26th (!!) for Paulette. Their books are available on Amazon. Paul and Paulette are co-presidents of the Palm Beach Chapter, and recently returned home from a trip that included a visit to “Downton Abbey” in England. Congratulations to them!

Circumnavigators Hat on the Road

Circumnavigators Sue Murphy and Suzanne Frye (New York Metro) took an extensive journey to southern Asia, and our Club cap made some appearances. The shot here was taken in the Raja Ambat Islands. Members are encouraged to take their caps on their travels to boost the Club.

The Last Shot

Circumnavigator Albert Podell, author and adventurer, traveled really far off the beaten track to visit northern Caucasus. An 85-year-old woman is the last inhabitant of this crumbling village he found along the way. Albert’s “white-knuckle” adventure will be featured in the next issue of The Log.

Do you have a good photo for The Last Shot? Please send to club@circumnavigators.org.

Luck to you!

David A. Mink
International President
davidamink@me.com

Endless Summer

There was a time when this writer found Labor Day to be a bit of a downer. It meant summer was over, back to school or work, and the end of those fun carefree summer days. That all changed when I became a “snowbird”, spending the winters in sunny Florida where it’s summer all year long. I am sure it is the same feeling for the hundreds of Circumnavigators who live in Florida or other sunny climes like Phoenix and San Diego. Even those members who live in colder parts of the world, winter is a great time to travel—especially to the Southern Hemisphere where it’s summer!

All Over the Map

It is always amazing how our members constantly travel to remote places in the world. The problem is that we often don’t hear about the trips. In addition to our mission to make the world a better place, The Circumnavigators Club is a sharing club. Let us know about your travels and experiences. Just a few are listed below in the Scuttlebutt section below. To make it easier, just click on this email davidamink@me.com and send us a word or two about your recent trips. If we need more info or photos, we will contact you by email.

You’re Invited to Parliament

There are still a few spots left for the annual dinner at the House of Lords, hosted by our UK Chapter in London on Monday, December 10. It’s guaranteed to be a special, memorable evening. If you want to attend, please contact Helen Jenkins at helen_jenkins@btconnect.com or club@circumnavigators.org.

Scuttlebutt Online

For nearly a century, The LOG has carried a section called Scuttlebutt with news and info about our members. With the LOG only coming out twice a year, this news is far from timely, so we are now running Scuttlebutt on the website every month. Please send us news!

Borneo Up Close

Circumnavigator Alice Lentzen, Riverside, Illinois, visited the heart of Borneo and was a bit dismayed to find the wildlife, including orangutans and sun bears, to be severely endangered. But, she found the people to be “friendly, honest and heartwarming.” She got the photo below of a fellow with his homemade cigarette holder. She also marveled at the spectacular caves and other natural formations. The other interesting photo below was taken from inside Deer Cave, the second largest cave in the world in Sarawak. Millions of bats exit at dusk and can be observed from a viewing platform. The photo looking out, shot by cell phone deep inside the cave, seems to show an image of Africa, and if you look carefully, the profile of Abe Lincoln.

Well done! 

Circumnavigators Arthur and Virginia Foster, Pacific Southwest Chapter, completed the End of Summer four-mile run from La Jolla to Pacific Beach. Virginia is the Chapter President.

Where in the world is Flint Island?

It seems like Circumnavigator Don Parrish has been just about everywhere in the world, but this year he traveled to the Southern Line Islands of Kiribati, which included Flint Island. Flint was discovered by Magellan on February 4, 1521, just 12 weeks before his death. Don was amazed by the large coconut crabs that hide in holes on the island. The crabs are estimated as about 60 years old and weighing 20 pounds. Don got a close up look but stayed away from those big claws.

Outer Banks Landing 

Executive Director Tracy Sancilio and her family vacationed this summer on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where her son Michael landed a good size shark on the beach.

The Last Shot

Circumnavigator Larry Glick, Rowlett TX, has a serious hobby of shooting exotic birds and animals in the wild. He captured this shot of a Proboscis Monkey in Borneo. More of Larry’s photos will appear in the next issue of The LOG. Do you have a good photo for The Last Shot? Please send to club@circumnavigators.org.

Luck to you!

David A. Mink
President
davidamink@me.com

The LOG is on its way

The new edition of our historical publication The LOG is arriving soon. It is filled with great stories and photos from our members and news about the Club. If you do not receive your copy in the next couple of weeks, please contract Tracy at headquarters by email at club@circumnavigators.org.

About The LOG and the Website

We are always looking for information, news and feedback about our two main vehicles of communication. Please send us your comments when you review the new issue. Also, please do not throw out the issue after you read it. It is an important “tool” for our Club in spreading the word about the Circumnavigators. Pass it on to your friends and neighbors, or return you copy to your Chapter or headquarters if you do not want to save it. The Log comes out twice a year, and our web site is updated on a regular basis with current news and info. We encourage members to pass on their best photos for possible use on the site or in The LOG. Let us know about your travels for “All Over the Map” and about personal “happenings” for Scuttlebutt on the site.

Mark your calendars

Although it seems like a long way off, please mark your calendars for our Order of Magellan event to honor Hall of Fame astronaut Robert Crippen. The event will be held in Naples FL on March 22, 2019. It isn’t too early to consider lodging and transportation for this major event.

Scuttlebutt Online…

For nearly a century, The LOG has carried a section called Scuttlebutt with news and info about our members. With the LOG only coming out twice a year, this news is far from timely, so we are now running Scuttlebutt on the website every month. Please send us news!

A Visit to America

C. Helen Jenkins, UK Chapter President and International Secretary, visited Los Angeles recently as she participated in the Million Dollar Round Table financial event. She met up with C. Neil Mandt, the Emmy-winning film producer, and Australian C. PJ Bryne who was also attending the event.

Neil and Helen. Notice the array of Neil’s awards in the background.

Million Dollar Round Table PJ and Helen far from their homes

Circumnavigator honored 

Bradford with Major BA HAKU, African Union Commander at Mogadishu Airport, Somalia.

C. Bradford Gary, Palm Beach Chapter, has been honored as donor of the year by the Stimson Center. He served on the Board of Directors at Stimson and was involved with these Stimson projects over the years: Arctic Navigation for Commercial Vessels, Improved Border Controls for Biological Pathogens and Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Defense Review. The Stimson Center announced, “We work to combat the world’s greatest threats to global peace and prosperity, and our efforts would be impossible without the generous financial support and involvement of our donors. This year’s honoree, Mr. Gary, is a perfect example of the outsized impact a single individual can have in furthering our mission.”

Congratulations to Aviator 

C. Matt Guthmiller, youngest aviator to fly solo around the world, has graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Matt received the Guinness World Record for his aviation achievement.

Member recognized as Top Traveler

Albert Podell, New York Metro, recently concluded a year of hard traveling to seldom-visited venues to reach his goal of topping the Wikipedia “List of People by Number of Countries Visited.” Although Al had visited every one of the world’s 196 recognized countries by 2014, the Wikipedia criteria include eleven de facto, but not widely recognized, “countries” like Somaliland, Transnistria, and Palestine, some of which Al had visited previously. To achieve his goal of 206, Al traveled with Quark Expeditions on a rare 33-day cruise (featured in the upcoming issue of The LOG) that crossed Antarctica and ended in Cape Verde after which Al flew to Casablanca, and then down for four days in Western Sahara, which was created after a 16-year-battle for independence from Morocco. This May he flew via Ukrainian International Airlines to Moldova in central Europe, from which he visited the breakaway republic of Gaugazia and also returned to Transnistria to take photos to document his visit. He then took a 22-day drive through the entire Caucasus Mountain range that ended in the nation of Abkhazia, which had broken away from Georgia in 2008. From there he flew via Sochi and Moscow to Lanarca in southern Cyprus and took a several-hour taxi ride to the Turkish enclave known as Northern Cyprus, reaching 206 quasi-countries and a tie for top traveler. Al was unable to visit the republic of South Ossetia in the heart of the Caucasus because Russia only granted him a double-entry visa instead of the triple-entry visa Al had requested. He plans to visit there next spring, which would bring his total up to 207, for sole possession of first place. “During the past year,” he said, “I was concerned that either Catalonia or Kurdistan would succeed in their movements for independence, requiring me to head to the airports to keep pace.”

The Last Shot

C. Lisa Brighton, Michigan Chapter, took the stunning shot of Lake Superior. Members are invited to send us their best photos for The Last Shot.

Luck to you!

David A. Mink
President
davidamink@me.com