The Black Jack Island Adventure Camp and Fair Jeanne voyage dates have been posted. See the registration page for details.New this year is the Bonus W...

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I've just finished posting the latest "Looking Aloft" newsletter. I've still got a few more pictures to post for the Adult Voyage article but most of the material is now online for your reading pleasure. If you've got an article or a story to contribute please contact myself or John Grahame.

Don Booker
online editor

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It seems like yesterday I wrote that the sailing season was here and the summer nautical activities lay ahead!! Well, as this is being written it is now late October. The training voyages on "Fair Jeanne" and "Black Jack" are done. The fall voyages on "Fair Jeanne" and "Black Jack" are over. Both vessels are dry-docked at the Rideau Canal lock at the Chateau Laurier and at Britannia Yacht Club. Winterizing of the vessels is well underway.

In brief summary, "Fair Jeanne" under the very capable command of Captain Sam Drinnan, operated basically on the St. Lawrence and the eastern end of Lake Ontario. She participated in three 1812 re-enactments and ...

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ADULT VOYAGE No. 2 August 30 – September 4, 2012 Organized by Peter Dalton, BBI Director This Adult Voyage commenced in Kingston on August 30 an...

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ADULT VOYAGE No. 1 June 12 – June 17, 2012 Organized by Peter Dalton, BBI Director Our first adult voyage of the season commenced on June 12,...

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BANQUET: On October 26, 2012, Bytown  Brigantine Inc. celebrated our Annual Awards Banquet at the Britannia Yacht Club The banquet was complete...

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Earlier this spring the following BBI people obtained positions as Captain:  Captain Christine Chesterman Captain Michael Kean C...

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Aboard "Fair Jeanne" on Lake Ontario, Summer 2011by Edward BennettAfter being awarded the chance to take part on an international sailing exchange I c...

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This is a recounting of my voyage aboard the S.V. John Laing from Dublin, Ireland to Southampton, England. My voyage was made possible by the James My...

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By John Grahame Ahoy shipmates! Here we are again sailing into the Christmas season and we are once again aboard S.T.V. "Malcolm Miller" on a passa...

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BIOGRAPHY OF CAPTAIN CHRISTINE CHESTERMAN

Christine went to “sea” (Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River) in 2006, after diligently saving up enough funds for a two week voyage on “Fair Jeanne”, our sea-going vessel. ...

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This article denotes the end of our newsletter number three.  It appears to be growing in size, issue by issue!  Most of what has happened...

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The activities and dates for the winter of 2012-13 have been posted on the Courses and Winter Program page. If you want to sign up (or notice problems...

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Friday, October 26th, 2012 At the Britannia Yacht Club Cost $26.00 /person. The 18th annual banquet is guaranteed to be another lively event! Hel...

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This past weekend, on Sunday, June 10th,  Britannia Yacht Club, located on the Ottawa River, celebrated its 125-year anniversary. "Black Jack" wa...

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Good day to you all! Summer and our beloved sea time is here once more! Since our February edition, much water has run under our keel.

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Here are brief biographies of two key people you will find keeping things operating in the Bytown Brigantine office. Jayme Patterson does registrar duties, and Kate Knight will be tackling the executive director functions while Mary Acton-Bond is away on maternity leave.

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This is a summary of the involvement of our executive director, Mary Acton-Bond, in the Bytown Brigantine programs from her start as a trainee to the present day.

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This is an article from Viki Lough who participated on a voyage on Fair Jeanne arranged through the International Exchange Programme. Read about the adventures she had in getting her and that she had while underway on the voyage from Brockville to Kingston, Ontario.

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This is an article from our Captain Jason McNaught about the development of high school credit course on leadership and how tall ship sail training is the perfect environment for it.

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This is a piece by John Grahame about how sailing ships have evolved over the years.

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Our editor, John Grahame, reminisces about the tall ship "Black Jack."

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This is the wrap-up for the second edition of the Looking Aloft newsletter.

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Ahoy to all Bytown Brigantiners! Welcome to our newspaper, “Looking Aloft”. If I recall correctly, the last issue was in 2009, after the Tall Ship gathering in Halifax. Bytown Brigantine has once again rewarded this “ancient mariner” volunteer by asking me to become your paper’s new editor. I have accepted with great enthusiasm and look forward to this honour. I have never been an editor before, although I have been writing stories for a quarterly newsletter for the past two years. I am also working on my biography.

I’m looking forward to this project, with Don Booker as assistant editor and one of our directors. Don has been doing our directors’ meetings reports and minutes for several years. Also we have much help from our Executive Director, Captain Mary Acton-Bond, along with her partner, Captain Jason McNaught. We initially anticipated publishing on a monthly basis, but my intuition tells me that every two months would be more practical.

We will retain the past issues front page masthead and add additional information such as our directors’ names and positions, and also present captains and the vessels they serve on. We especially look forward to receiving articles from our trainees about their adventures (and trials!) aboard the ships and during the training exercises. Also input from parents will be greatly appreciated, along with opinions and recommendations. Presently we are hoping the new issue of “Looking Aloft” will be ready for January 2012.

On December 17, 2011, BBI sponsored their annual Pancake Breakfast, to which all officers, trainees, parents and volunteers were invited. Naturally, it was a great success, with our Captains back from their sojourn in Nova Scotia.

Our winter program is now well underway. (Please see report from Christine, our Winter Program Coordinator)

We are looking forward to your participation.

W/O John H. Grahame
Editor

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the latest news Our esteemed and notable Captain Kathryn Whittaker has recently accomplished her First Mate Unlimited certificate and now is applyin...

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A Parent’s Perspective Is it really only three years ago? Back in the summer of 2008 I was a harried parent, looking for a way to keep my energ...

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ASTO Exchange to OYT South’s John Laing by Christine Chesterman This summer I was lucky enough to travel to Ireland and join the UK sail trai...

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2012 Bytown Brigantine and Bytown Brigantine Academy Programs As the Bytown Brigantine organization grows, so too does our depth of programming. Th...

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As I write this, the winter program convoy is underway to Kingston for the weekend. Our early-morning venture is a result of a massive winter storm th...

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Ahoy fellow Bytown Brigantiners! The story I am about to tell you is my first notable sea story aboard “Fair Jeanne”. It was the late ...

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By Jason McNaught Program Director, Bytown Brigantine As the ship tossed itself up the steep chop building quickly off the coast of Toronto, a numbe...

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Well, folks, this concludes our first edition of “Looking Aloft” since 2009. I wish to thank our trainees, officers, and parents for their written submissions and pictures that form this edition. Due to volume, articles submitted but not published this time will appear in future editions.

Bytown Brigantine Inc. is very proud to have a newspaper again. Due to heavy work load in the head office, and our enlarged and extensive programs, there was not time to keep up a newspaper. Some of these new programs are kayaking and SCUBA diving, which have been well received, as well as the extended winter program.

This past year we welcomed two English trainees, Viki Lough and Edward Bennett, and sent our own Christine Chesterman to Ireland for her Irish Sea voyage to Scotland aboard the “John Laing”. Christine will be our new Captain of “Black Jack” for 2012.

This summer season will see our Great Lakes program taking place in re-enactments of the American/Canadian War of 1812. More information will be forthcoming in future issues.

This newspaper will be published on our website. However, one issue per year (probably the Christmas issue) will possibly be printed as a newspaper, as in previous editions.

So keep the stories coming, either fact or fiction, along with pictures and we will include them in Looking Aloft.

As your new editor, I wish you all a good season to come, and a fair wind and following sea!

John H. Grahame
Editor
January, 2012

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Last weekend on Black Jack we were lucky to have both beautiful fall weather and an amazing group of trainees. We had a small team of Rangers from the...

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This weekend past we had the leadership sail aboard Black Jack. It's the first time we have run a program like this and it was a great success! The pu...

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This week 17 of Bytown Brigantine’s finest participants gathered together to spend a fun filled week of adventures and excitement. The group pro...

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January 30 & 31, 2010 This past Bytown weekend kicked off with an early morning of shop work for some and CYA Coastal Navigation for others, an...

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Hi there everyone, Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2010 has been good to everyone and you are not working too hard. Over the past month or so I ...

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The people at BBI will soon be flying off to Cleveland to attend the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) conference. Right now the Black Jack ha...

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This weekend was a great one for Black Jack! Friday after the camp ended she headed to Britannia Bay where she was greeted by the Mayor to pick up the...

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After a great visit to Pugwash, NS, where she spent the weekend, the Fair Jeanne made her way to Summerside yesterday. When the boat came alongside, t...

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Fair Jeanne found her berth not far from H.M.C.S. SACKVILLE, near the Maritime Museum, and got settled in for the decktours and other goings on. The T...

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It was a great day of deck tours in Halifax for the Tall Ships Nova Scotia 2009 festival. The weather did not start out very nice: The day dawned cool...

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It was not a day well suited to celebrating the establishment of such an important occasion. The re-enactment activities for the 25oth anniversary of ...

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Hello Everyone: The crew of the Whaler Expedition are having a wonderful time in Nova Scotia. Thursday and Friday were spent in Lunenburg. Friday...

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Today I spent the day between the Fair Jeanne and the Office.  A team from Fuller construction is working like ...

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After hosting two of my closest friends from Nova Scotia for the week, I was dead tired.  That being said, I began the evening at the BBI Office ...

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Thursday, March 26, 2009 March Break Camp 2009 BBI March Break Camp 2009 was warmer and a lot less snowy compared to last year.   Bo...

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Aye, lad, and here ye go... It was with some trepidation that I boarded the "Fair Jeanne" that Sunday morning in September. No real sailing expe...

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The adventure began Sunday evening with a ‘meet & greet’ wine & cheese social held in the wardroom. Each trainee was assigned to a...

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