FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11: SOMEWHERE IN NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA by John Chao The American Windsurfer TransAtlantic team with team members from France, Greece, the TAWR support team and camera crew are finally motoring through northeast Canada, rushing to catch the last ferry to Newfoundland where the mother ship Kapitan Khlebnikov awaits in the port of St. Johns.

The trip to Canada was delayed Thurs. and the team waited on the sidewalks of Greenwich CT. for 8 hours. A major oversight by the organizers was discovered after the bus arrived to pick up the US Team. The oversight was so overwhelming that when the team finally began their grand adventure at precisely 2:04 am EST on Friday, the participants felt they had witnessed a miracle.

The organizers had not anticipated the enormous amount of equipment carried by each team. When the bus came to pick up the team in Greenwich Ct., it became immediately apparent that the bus wasn't big enough to carry all the windsurfing equipment. The bus was already crammed with the French,the Greek, Anders Bringdal's personal gear and mountainous amount of video and crew gear. There was no way the bus could accommodate the another set of gear.

To make matters worse, it was Thurs. 8pm EST and no rental agents were available to hire a truck or drivers to drive the excess baggage on a 30 hour journey to St. John's Newfoundland. While the organizers struggled with the crisis, another set of problems faced the group. Three of the eight boat drivers were missing in transit and were roaming somewhere between Newark and JFK airports.

Dave Weiss, a local resident of Greenwich and one of the US team members, came to the rescue with his mobile phone. After a few tense hours, Weiss, with the help of a contractor friend from Stanford, CT James "Sandy" McDougal, was able to locate a truck in Rhode Island. In the mean time the missing support crew were located at JFK and together with Robert Territeau's caddy, took a cab to Greenwich.

The loss of time put the group into a pressure-filled situation and left them calculating every minute of the journey. After almost 24 hours, the team is rushing through Nova Scotia in an effort to make the Friday midnight ferry to Newfoundland. Spirits are high regardless of the obstacles. The whole experience is being documented by Julius Brighton the same filmmaker that produced "The Quest," one of the best windsurfing videos produced in recent years.

Upon landing in Newfoundland after the 6-hour ferry ride, another 10 hour bus ride is to be found before the end of the line and the beginning of the TransAtlantic Quest.