How it all Started?

"A lot of people are counting on me now. It's a bit scary, but on the other hand, it's really great too." Captain Eric

by Dick Ribble of Dana Point, Ca

Eric Blackburn is a very unique and courageous man. Moreover, he is consumed by the power of his vision: To bring the world's children a little closer together in tolerance, understanding and mutual assistance by taking his small boat on a long voyage.

Blackburn is a pretty much self-educated former coal miner from a small town in British Columbia, Canada. He strikes most observers as boyish handsome, with his coal black hair, clean-cut features and penetrating eyes. But there is something else in his makeup that comes to the fore almost immediately upon a first encounter. It is his kinetic energy and his zest for the ardous 3-year task he has set for himself...to sail around the world in a 30 ft sailboat.

Eric, already a world traveler, will probably end up being a teacher and a writer someday. But right now, he says with a twinkle in his eye, "I want to take THE CHICKADEEas far as she will go on this globe, to listen and learn from the kids, and to build bridges between schools and students in many countries through one-on-one contacts with the help of todays' technology. Frankly, I don't get that much pleasure from simply sailing the ocean."

He got the idea for his present voyage after leaving home and traveling to Africa in 1988 at the age of 24. During his trip he met many children who lacked basic school supplies and educational tools, but were eager to learn about Canada and the United States. They wanted to have pen-pals with their peers in these countries.

Blackburn returned to Canada with a firm resolve: to build a boat and return with school supplies on a global goodwill mission. Now, some 8 years later he is on the first leg of his perilous journey having sailed from Canada down the West Coast of the U.S. on his way to Mexico and Central America. The second leg will take him across the Pacific. After working several years in the coal fields and oil rigs of Canada to finance his dream he had saved enough to take the first tangible step toward his goal.

In 1991 Eric bought a steel hull and began building his sturdy boat from the hull up. Four years later the boat was far enough along to be transported by truck from his hometown of Cranbrook in the Canadian Rockies to Vancouver, B.C. Then came the launch and with the name CHICKADEE (after the small, tough birds that he encountered daily in his home town).

He spent more months outfitting the sturdy vessel and testing its seaworthiness in waters around Vancouver Island all the while supporting himself and investing every dollar he could on the project. So far the total personal investment by Eric is more than $60,000.

Many people sail around the world these days, and a few do it single-handed. What makes Eric's voyage noteworthy is the mission behind the voyage. Toward that end, he has formed an organization called "World Kids"Voyage that will provide the link between schools and the kids.

Eric's own link with his friends, family and supporters is via the Internet on an IBM laptop computer with modem, probably his most guarded possession at this point. In Eric' own words:"It is sort of like being a messenger able to penetrate the language barriers and other obstacles to communication on a one-to-one basis-through the wondrous new technolgy of the computer and the Internet."