No sooner had the Bat'kivshchyna been repaired following damage from a collision in February than the ship lost all its sails during cyclones.
The vessel left Auckland, New Zealand for Melbourne, Australia in late February and the schooner and Captain Dymtro Biriukovych are safe after reaching landfall in Sydney, Australia on March 6th. The ship was manned by an inexperienced, but enthusiastic, amateur crew and encountered two cyclones during the trip. The high winds destroyed both sets of the ship's sails, although the rigging is reported to be mostly intact.
The Captain and wife Nina will return to Kyiv on April 10. The loss of the sails and the lack of an experienced crew will require the future and progress of the Discover Ukraine Expedition to be reassessed.
The expedition began when the Captain, Nina and a Ukrainian crew of about 10 mostly experienced sailors left for the OpSail 2000 festival in New York Harbor, held during the July 4 Independence Day holiday. To date, the expedition has sent the ship and its crew on an exciting and rewarding trip spanning most of the world's larger bodies of water and continents. At each opportunity, the Captain and crew promote Ukraine. His motto and message to the world is, "Ukraine is not Russia." The Bat'kivshchyna left Kyiv 4 years ago on April 7, 2000.
Embassy supports donation of baseball gear
On March 20, Basil Tarasko and his assistant, 80-year-old Harold Weissman, both of Queens, New York were at the Zhytomyr School for Orphans in support of Little League Baseball. Nadezhda Herbst, wife of U.S. Ambassador John Herbst was on hand to meet the children and school director Vasiliy Levchenko and to present baseball equipment including bats, balls, gloves, caps, T-shirt uniforms and batting tees to the school.
The presentation was part of Tarasko and Weissman's effort to propagate interest in baseball among Ukrainian youth (See: Basil Tarasko: Head Coach, The Ukrainian Observer, March, 2004). Gifts and other donations to orphanages during the trip exceeded $10,000. To assist in the effort, contact Tarasko at bt4ukraine@aol.com or Glen Willard at glen@twg.com.ua. Willard can also be contacted at (38 050) 311-3804.
Billiards & Bowling magazine debuts
A new magazine, Billiards & Bowling, was introduced March 3 at Strike Bowling Club. The event was attended by devotees of the two sports, who heard presentations by speakers promoting development of the sports in Ukraine. Highlights of the evening included a performance by a Latin American dance troupe a hilarious bowling match between teams comprised primarily of the media in attendance, few of whom had previously held a bowling ball.
Kyiv journalist Alla Vetrovtsova edits the bi-monthly magazine. In her foreword introducing the magazine, Vetrovtsova reflects on the ancient heritage of the two sports (in 1930 researchers found evidence of bowling's past in Egyptian pyramids) and discusses the continuum as each sports improves and becomes even more popular. The magazine will cover news and developments both foreign and Ukrainian in the two sports.
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