[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4587-4588]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO MATT RUTHERFORD

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak about a 
truly remarkable American--a truly remarkable visionary, a dreamer, an 
adventurer, a doer, and, most important, a young man who has devoted 
himself to the service to others far and above the normal call of duty. 
This young man's name is Matt Rutherford. I will tell my colleagues 
about him and his remarkable adventure and his feat that has been 
unparalleled.
  He is a 30-year-old Ohioan, and here is what he has been doing since 
June 13 of last year. On June 13 of last year, he set sail in his 36-
year-old, 27-foot Albin Vega boat named St. Brendan. He left Annapolis, 
MD, on June 13, 2011, and is attempting to sail nearly 25,000 miles 
from Annapolis, MD, up the east coast, all the way around Newfoundland, 
up by Greenland, through the Northwest Passage, all the way over to 
Alaska, then from Alaska all the way down to Cape Horn, around Cape 
Horn, up South America, and back into Annapolis. Now, what is so 
remarkable about that? Well, it has never been done before. He is doing 
this solo, and he is doing it nonstop. Think about that. He has never 
touched land and has not stopped since he left here 289 days ago.
  The trip has taken Matt through some of the Earth's most treacherous 
oceans, including the Arctic Ocean, the oceans up around Alaska, 
Aleutian Straits, of course all the way down through the Pacific, 
around treacherous Cape Horn, and all this in a 27-foot boat, the kind 
of boat most sailors would maybe be comfortable on off the Eastern 
Shore in the Chesapeake Bay but not on a journey such as this. As I 
said, he has not set foot on dry land for the entire journey--a 
remarkable adventure.
  If my colleagues wish to learn more about him, they can go to his Web 
site, which is called www.solotheamericas.org, and they can read all 
about his amazing journey. He updates his trip. The last update was 
yesterday. He is right now east of Cuba and the Dominican Republic, 
right down here, and his last posting was what he called ``Home 
Stretch.'' He hopes to enter the Chesapeake Bay by April 12, making his 
first landfall in nearly a year in Annapolis on April 13.
  The Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge, England, has recognized Matt 
as the first person in history to make it through the fabled Northwest 
Passage alone, nonstop, and on such a small sailboat. It has never been 
done before. One would think that would be enough. No. He has continued 
on his incredible, remarkable journey.
  Now, one might say: Why is he doing that? He is just doing it to set 
a record.
  He has set a lot of records already. Why is he doing it? He is doing 
it to raise money for Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating. It is an 
Annapolis-based organization to provide sailing opportunities for 
physically or developmentally disabled people--for kids and young 
people who are disabled but who like to sail. And this organization, 
Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating, does just that--provides them 
that opportunity.
  I had the privilege of talking to Matt Rutherford last week. He 
called me on his satellite phone. It was an exciting phone call for me 
because I have watched--I don't know Matt Rutherford personally, but I 
have watched his journey, and, of course, I am very enthused about the 
Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating organization. So in talking with 
him by phone I was really impressed by his courage, his character, his 
audacity. Above all, I am impressed by the fact that he is doing this 
for a cause larger than himself to make it possible for more people 
with disabilities to share in his passion for sailing.
  Helen Keller once said, ``It is a terrible thing to see and yet have 
no vision.'' Well, Matt Rutherford has the gift of sight. He also has 
the gift of vision and indomitable courage. He is one of those 
remarkable human beings who dream big, who are driven by big 
challenges, who refuse to accept the limits and the boundaries that so-
called reasonable people want to place on us. What is more, he has 
placed himself in the service of others less fortunate than himself.
  As the lead sponsor of the Americans With Disabilities Act, I am 
particularly impressed that Matt is using his voyage to raise money to 
help people with disabilities to partake in this wonderful pastime of 
sailing--something which I have enjoyed all my adult life since I was 
in the Navy. He is doing this so that children and adults can have the 
same opportunity. The reason I am so enthused about this is that one of 
the fundamental aspects of the ADA--the Americans With Disabilities 
Act--is that people with disabilities should be able to participate 
fully in all aspects of society, and that includes access to 
recreational opportunities such as sailing, which can be exhilarating 
and empowering for children and adults with a wide range of 
disabilities.

[[Page 4588]]

  I salute Matt Rutherford for his courage, for his love of sailing, 
and being willing to share that with the disabled community, and for 
using this adventure, this almost death-defying trip. For anyone who 
knows what it is like to be on a 27-foot boat, to go from here all the 
way down to Cape Horn, that is incredible. Any one of numerous storms 
or anything could have sunk his little boat. He has had a lot of 
different adventures. He sprung a leak. He has been working on that 
leak ever since. Someplace around here, South America, he lost his 
engine, so he no longer has an engine, and he keeps patching his leak 
all the time. Every day he has to patch his leak. So he is fighting a 
leak every day in his boat. Just going around Cape Horn with the 
tremendous waves and cross currents around Cape Horn--to take a small 
boat through there singlehandedly is, as I said, death-defying.
  Right up in here, right off the coast of Brazil someplace, he almost 
got run over by a freighter. At night, he had gone to sleep for a 
little bit. He has a light in his boat so people can see him at night. 
He woke up and he looked out and saw this red light and a green light 
with nothing in between it coming at him. Well, it was a huge 
freighter, and as the Presiding Officer knows, red on one side, green 
on the other, bearing down on him. He turned, and it missed him just by 
a few feet and almost sunk him in the bow wave of the freighter that 
went by. So those are the kinds of things Matt has lived with almost 
every day for 289 days.
  Matt has great skill, great courage. He is making a difference. He is 
going to make a difference for a lot of people. I especially think of 
young people with disabilities who would like to sail, and because of 
this organization, Chesapeake Bay Accessible Boating, they will have 
the opportunity to do so.
  So, again, this is one of the nice things we see happening in 
America. We think there are no individuals with that individual kind of 
courage to take on the elements, to risk their lives. Well, we still 
have them, and Matt Rutherford stands in a line of great adventurers in 
our history. I applaud him for his brave spirit, and I wish him safe 
passage on his home stretch and on the final leg of his epic journey.
  He joins the ranks of Joshua Slocum who, on Spray, was the first 
person to circumnavigate the globe solo. He wrote a wonderful book: 
``Sailing Alone Around the World.'' He did it before the turn of the 
last century. He did it in the 1890s. He also joins the ranks of the 
next great person who sailed alone, Sir Francis Chichester, on the 
Gypsy Moth IV not too many years ago, who circumnavigated the globe. So 
to Joshua Slocum and Sir Francis Chichester we can now add Matt 
Rutherford, on St. Brendan, for an incredible journey around both of 
the Americas, solo and nonstop. It has never been done before, and it 
may never be done again. And he is doing it for the best of all 
reasons.
  A courageous young man, Matt Rutherford. He is going to be back, as I 
said, hopefully by April 12. I hope to meet him. I have never met the 
young man, but I have followed his journey and his courage. He is the 
kind of person who just gives heart and spirit to all of us, to know 
there is nothing we can't do if we set our minds and our hearts to it 
and if we have the willpower and the courage to take it on. So I hope 
to meet him when he comes back--again, this young man of great courage. 
I hope the home stretch is one with fair winds and following seas.
  Before I yield the floor, I mentioned that Matt Rutherford was doing 
this for the Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating organization that 
provides boating for people with disabilities. I would urge anyone who 
is interested in this and who wants to see what a great organization it 
is, they can go to their Web site--it is very simple--
www.crabsailing.org. It is a great organization that helps people with 
disabilities to take up sailing and learn the art and the craft of 
sailing.
  So, again, hats off to a remarkable young man on a remarkable 
journey. I wish him fair winds and a following sea in his home stretch.
  I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Durbin pertaining to the introduction of S. 2280 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken). The Senator from Rhode Island.

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