Daily Archives: May 18, 2011

Atlantic Ocean Crossing – Wilson Fitt Aboard S/V Christina Grant

Wilson Fitt, a friend of mine from Chester, Nova Scotia is crossing the Atlantic single-handed in the boat he built by himself – Christina Grant. He is now en route from Scotland to Chester, Nova Scotia.

I have known Wilson for many years. Shortly after I met him he began to build this boat in his backyard–from scratch! He even went out into the woods to pick the trees that the boat would be built from. Once the boat was finished Wilson and his wife Thelma Costello set off for the Caribbean and spent a couple of years cruising in the sunny south. They brought the boat home and then spent several seasons sailing all over Atlantic Canada. They even circumnavigated Newfoundland!

 

I guess all of this wasn’t enough adventure for Wilson so a few years later he headed off to Scotland–single handed! Thelma joined him in Scotland and they sailed the boat in that area for two summers. Now he’s bringing Christina Grant home.

The photo of Christina Grant was taken by a freighter captain two years ago when he met up with Wilson in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean–while Wilson was en route to Scotland from Nova Scotia. I took the other photo of Wilson, his wife Thelma and his 90+ year-old mother Christina that I took last summer when I stopped in Chester, Nova Scotia to visit with them while I was on my cruise last summer.

Wilson is using a “SPOT” GPS tracking device. It is set up to send a pre-programmed email to up to 10 family and friends with one of two messages: “All is well” or “Send Help” along with the latitude and longitude of his boat at the time he sends the message. Wilson can send the messages any time he wants but obviously he will only send the “SOS” message if he is in serious trouble–because as soon as his wife gets that message she will be calling the Coast Guard and emergency response authorities.

We can all live a bit vicariously through Wilson’s adventure. The “Walter Mittey” in me is out there with him now. I may be spending this summer in the desert but I’ll be on board with Wilson in spirit 🙂

Safe sailing everyone–especially my friend Wilson!