Monthly Archives: July 2021

With the UK opening up but much of the world still off-limits, it would be fair to say that a Great British coastal exploration is underway.

Looking closer to home has its silver linings, as we get to know some wild and wonderful parts of the country, and discover new places that we might have jetted over before.

How many of you, for instance, knew about Sealand - a micronation six miles off the Suffolk coast?

Read more: NHS Test and Trace: Is the app fit for purpose? Take our 'pingdemic' survey

At just 550 square metres, it might not be open to casual tourists at the best of times, but the Principality of Sealand has a fascinating story.

Prince Michael of Sealand is hugely proud of his familys history, he told CambridgeshireLive from his holiday apartment in Spain earlier this month.

The sovereign principality was declared by Michaels father Major Roy Bates in 1967, whose rebellious nautical streak began a few years earlier in pirate radio.

His radio station was situated on an abandoned naval fort called Knock John and he broadcast pop music which was seldom heard on the BBC, Michael said.

But with the government clamping down on rogue stations, Roy was forced further offshore to another derelict sea fort, Roughs Tower, which was outside the three-mile limit to which the UK jurisdiction extended.

Here he set his ambitions a little higher and declared independence on the basis that the fortress island in international waters was nobodys land.

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From the sea, freedom is Sealands motto. After seeing off a Royal Navy offensive - with shots fired by Roy - and subsequent legal challenge, the Principality is still going strong 54 years later.

In 1968 an Essex court ruled that Sealand was outside UK jurisdiction, with the judge describing it as a swashbuckling incident perhaps more akin to the time of Sir Francis Drake.

Weve never actually asked for recognition but it would be a nice thing, said Michael, pointing to the fact that the US did not formally recognise the Peoples Republic of China for 30 years.

If you're enchanted by Sealand, you can join its nobility; becoming a Lord or Lady of Sealand will set you back just 30, or 500 if youve got your sights on a duchess or dukedom.

The peerage system is what finances Sealand, Prince Michael said, as being off shore is an expensive environment.

Its a hostile one too, with weather conditions requiring constant repairs and engineer work.

Its always a challenge, but a challenge we take up, said Michael, who has three children and six grandchildren to carry on the adventure.

"The fortress itself is quite high up from the water, so I dont see us being flooded out anytime soon," he added regarding the threat of climate change, "not before Felixstowe gets flooded out anyhow.

The life semiaquatic has changed since the pandemic struck. Though it is one of the very few nations to report no Covid cases, Michael Bates and his family have stuck more to the mainland, with visitors scarce.

We really don't need the unpleasantness of getting Covid there so theres not really been an awful lot going on actually on Sealand itself, he said.

An update on Sealands website in February gave an insight into how the micronation has operated during the last 18 months.

Being a small island nation with strict immigration control has truly benefited the people of Sealand during this period, as once out of a mandatory 10 day quarantine following arrival, Sealanders are free to go about their daily activities unencumbered, and in many ways have enjoyed a greater quality of life than many neighbouring countries throughout the pandemic, it said.

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As for stocking up on essentials: Supplies are shipped to Sealand by boat. Once hoisted onto the fortress, supplies are quarantined outside in the elements for a minimum of 72 hours to naturally disinfect.

Following this, all supplies are cleaned using disinfectant wipes, before entering any inside space, ready for consumption.

As part of our standard procedure, we hold a large supply of stores in case of an event such as a severe storm preventing access to supply channels.

You can find out more about Sealand's incredible history over on Sealand.gov, with a One Show video presented by broadcaster and adventurer Ben Fogle.

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Sealand: The extraordinary tale of a micronation off the Suffolk coast where you can become a duke or duchess - Cambridgeshire Live

ALBANY A certification process highlighting energy-efficient cannabis cultivators and a tax credit to complement it are key sustainability proposals of an industry white paper released Tuesday by New Yorks Castetter Cannabis Group. The paper also called for state regulators to develop a strategy for data collection and analysis of license holders operations.

Its recommendations reinforce lawmakers urgency to minimize harm to the the states fledgling industry, but suggest a divergent strategy centered on incentives rather than efficiency limits.

Were advocating for a performance-based approach, said Kate Hruby, the groups lead policy analyst and co-author of the paper.

In mid-March, before adult-use cannabis was legalized in New York, state Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, had proposed language for a bill that would ensure the budding industry is designed to comply with emissions standards that would reduce its potential impact on the states ambitious climate goals.

If passed, the legislation pushing cannabis growers to environmental conscious practices would put New York in a position to regulate them up-front. In contrast, early legalization states such as Colorado and California have circled back to try to cut down on their industries emissions once growers were already licensed and running.

The language of Fahys bill, which includes limits on lighting power density and mandates for efficient heating and coolingsystems for indoor grow operations, was mirrored in a Senate bill introduced in April by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties.

What our bill does is it makes energy efficiency a priority in the indoor growing process by requiring applicants to submit their efficiency plans as part of their application, Hinchey said, noting that the specifics of the bill are still undergoing revisions. Were setting resource efficiency requirements for growers to make sure that we don't have to go back and do this again, down the road.

But Hruby and her Castetter Cannabis Group (CCG) co-authors, whose leaders draw on their experience growing and processing regulated hemp which is low-THC cannabis as well as their knowledge of the legacy market, feel the piecemeal industry is ripe with innovators after its long existence in the shadows. They argue fringe innovations need to be encouraged before specific efficiency caps and technology mandates are introduced.

We want New York to be the most innovative when it comes to energy efficiency, but we have to get the information first, Hruby said. The industry is concerned that it's going to be overly burdened when it hasn't even gotten off the ground.

Both the legislative proposal and CCGs white paper focus on the energy use of indoor grow operations, which produce more emissions than outdoor grows. A study published this spring by Colorado State University's Hailey M. Summers, Evan Sproul and Jason C. Quinn notes that a considerable amount of legal cannabis is cultivated indoors primarily for quality control and security, though the CCG white paper noted that on the black market, indoor grows also served to conceal illicit operations.

Summers and her colleagues looked at greenhouse gas emissions over the life cycle of indoor cannabis operations across the United States, and their modeling found that for every kilogram of dried cannabis flower, growers emitted gasses equivalent to between 2,283 and 5,184 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

The higher carbon cost of indoor grows has led some farmers, including the Hudson Valleys Gail and Amy Hepworth of Hempire State Growers, to advocate for the benefits of growing hemp and adult-use cannabis plants outdoors. While the sisters do note rapidly improving indoor grow systems offer more yield and protection against adverse weather, they are proud of the outdoor grow system at their organic farm.

It would be an excellent integrated plant in the agricultural community, said Amy Hepworth, the operations president and lead grower. She said its a crop that takes significant time and management they even use blockchain technology to track each plant but she loves to grow it. Its like, we know it's not easy to grow tomatoes outdoors, but they grow outdoors. And they're delicious, aren't they?

But Aldous Lloyd, CCGs cultivation analyst, said that while certain products such as cannabis grown for extracts might work well outdoors, eliminating indoor growth for cultivation of smokable cannabis flower is not practical. He thinks the industry will need to consider how to innovate within greenhouse technologies.

The problem with outdoor is contamination. You have to think about all kinds of funguses and viruses, those fall on the plants, Lloyd said, noting that most outdoor grows are not as controlled.

Several researchers at Berkeleys Cannabis Research Center have been considering these issues in their assessments of the state of the research on cannabis and the environment.

We found very few scientific, published studies on the topic, said Ariani C. Wartenberg, who co-authored a review article on the subject earlier this year.

Wartenberg said she thought the lack of data was striking given the magnitude of the industry. Her article noted that like any crop, cannabis can have adverse impacts on the environment if grown outdoors as well as indoors; in California, and in other places where the climate allows robust outdoor growth of cannabis, there is a tendency that predates legalization for growers to tuck their cannabis crops in out-of-sight locations where the grows can have a substantial negative impact on particular ecosystems and wildlife.

Van Butsic, a scholar in the group who has been doing cannabis research for about seven years, said he got into the field because of the lack of systematic takes on cannabis-related topics.

Butsic said that while further research is needed to understand how to make its farming increasingly efficient, cannabis can probably be grown sustainably multiple ways.

He noted that a disproportionate amount of attention has been paid to cannabis environmental impacts compared to other crops, especially as the industry has come out of the shadows. In the end, growers in the United States have an impact on the environment even when they are working in the illicit market and not as licensed cultivators.

For local governments, it has been difficult to balance complaints from constituents, Bustic said. They say things like, we have too many cannabis farms, we need to make really restrictive permitting processes, without realizing that all the cannabis farms that they're upset about are already illegal and are not going to be joining the permit process, he said.

And for California, which has a more advanced market where the environmental standards and licensing process are already restrictive, Bustic said, we need to focus on the people who are not in the legal market and try to get them to join the legal market. I think that's where you'll see the most environmental gain.

New Yorks government leaders have yet to nominate the leadership of the new industrys regulatory bodies, the Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board. Once formed, they will define how licensing will operate within the state.

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Cannabis industry group pushes 'green seal' and tax credits - Times Union

NEW CASTLE Commissioners have amended the contract with Arnold Blashakto have him finish exterior and painting work for the Lawrence County Courthouse.

Commissioner Loretta Spielvogel said the contract for the project was approved in July 2018 by the previous board of commissioners and was to be completed in two years.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that work had to be delayed.

Under the amended agreement, the county will pay $59,356.53 to have Arnold Blashak complete all remaining work by Oct.31.

The remaining work includes: power washing and painting the exterior courthouse; repair, sand, scrape, seal, and caulk the wood trim along the roof; recaulk the window sills; replace old downspouts; apply water repellent to bases, pillars, and capitals on the front porch of the courthouse; scrape, seal, and paint the foundation stone around the courthouse; cleanmetal grates over the basement windows; seal and paint all brickwork in the basement window pits; and remount two porch lamps to each side of the courthouse main entrance.

Commissioner Morgan Boyd said funding for the amended agreement will come from the county's capital accounts.

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Lawrence County Courthouse exterior project to be finished in October - Ellwood City Ledger

Here is our pick of game releases that will see the light of day in August 2021:

Hunters Arena Legends (3 August): Hunters Arena is a 30 player PvP & PvE combat-based battle royale set in the ancient Aisa. Survive and become the deadliest Hunter in the world of Hunters Arena! In ancient Asia, once existing peace was shattered by Demons set free by unknown power.Sensing great danger, Hunters around the world gathered as one to stop the spreading chaos.However, the Hunters soon found out that none other than one of their own, a Hunter, has broken the seal and released the Demons into the world.With no one to trust, the Hunters must now fight off demons as well as point blades at each other. Hunters Arenas combat system resembles fighting action of a martial arts film. The core gameplay centers around aerial combos against enemies and decisively countering your opponent to turn the fight around. Platforms: PS5, PS4

Starmancer (5 August): Starmancer is an upcoming construction and management simulation game developed by Ominux Games and published by Chucklefish. Its game state is viewed from an isometric perspective, taking place in a procedurally generated galaxy. In Starmancer, the player plays as a Starmancer Core, which is a human-artificial intelligence hybrid who has been irreversibly fused with their core. The game emphasizes player freedom, with the main objective of the game being the preservation of the Starmancer Core and station. Unlike typical colony-management games, Starmancer does not end when all colonists are dead, instead giving the player the ability to create new ones at will. Platforms: PC

Lawn Mowing Simulator (10 August ): It is a simulation game. Experience the beauty and detail of mowing the Great British countryside in Lawn Mowing Simulator, the only simulator that allows you to ride an authentic and expansive roster of real-world licensed lawn mowers from prestigious manufacturers; Toro, SCAG and STIGA as you manage your business. Platforms: PC, XSX

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10 game releases to look out for in August 2021 - Animation Xpress

While much of its work is cloaked in secrecy, the C-146, which is a militarized Dornier Do 328, is also known to operate from austere locations with some regularity, fulfilling tasks such as discrete movements of special operations forces teams in different hotspots around the world. It is not clear if the two types will be operated independently, or if the C-146s will be used in support of the Warthogs, for example bringing in maintenance personnel and flight-line equipment. In the past, AFSOC MC-130J Commando II special operations tankers have been used to set up forward arming and refueling points (FARPs) for tactical fighters, so this kind of synergy is not altogether new.

Its also not clear how much preparation work will need to be done to the highway itself before it accepts these jets, but, as we have explored in the past, standard highway strips sometimes require fairly significant changes to be made, such as removing crash barriers, power lines, signage, and lighting.

We do know that to facilitate the exercise, traffic will be detoured, with route signs to help redirect road traffic. The electrical power supply will also be temporarily shut down for residences immediately surrounding the landing area.

The highway exercise is certainly in keeping with the Air Forces emerging operational concepts, especially Agile Combat Employment (ACE), which aims to ensure that airpower can be sustained even without access to regular airbases, which are likely to be high-priority targets for the enemy in any peer conflict, whether in Europe or the Pacific. While both these areas of operation have hosted ACE exercises, sometimes including the use of austere airstrips, practicing for these contingencies in the Continental United States is new.

Interestingly, just last week we reported that the United Kingdom was considering undertaking snap exercises in which its fighter jets operate from civilian airfields and perhaps even stretches of highway. This is all part of a move toward dispersed operations in times of tension, moving precious aircraft away from vulnerable established airbases. For the U.S. Air Force, this kind of approach could also be relevant, especially in Europe and Asia, where aircraft are increasingly concentrated on a small number of sprawling airbases.

Other aspects of this years Northern Strike exercise also stress some of the tenets of ACE, including the rapid insertion of an Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW) into a bare-base environment, testing the ability to move airpower assets rapidly and then set up operations in an unfamiliar setting. In this case, the 127th Wing will deploy from Selfridge ANBG to the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center.

Once at Alpena, the 127th Wing will establish logistics and communications in order to receive follow-on forces, generate mission employment including the austere landing on M-32, and project combat power across all domains, said U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Bryan Teff, Michigan Air National Guard adjutant general for air.

Michigans NADWC is uniquely postured to provide ample training airspace and facilities to accommodate training for the future high-end fight, Teff added. Michigan is integral to the joint fight and future warfighter. The joint force cannot execute without training as we fight.

While ACE concepts, including highway operations, might be becoming more commonplace across the Air Force, theres no doubt that having jets land on Michigan State Highway M-32 will be a unique milestone for the service, in the CONUS at least. We will continue to bring coverage of this historic training event once it kicks off next week.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com

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A-10 Warthogs Are About To Operate From A US Highway For The First Time - The Drive

ODNR advises to stop feeding our avian friends until source of outbreak of mysterious deaths among wild bird is confirmed.

By Nikki | on July 26, 2021

Recently, it has been observed that songbirds in Ohio are being affected by a disease.The primary species affected at this time are blue jays, common grackles, European starlings, American robins, and house sparrows.Ohio counties experiencing the bulk of the outbreak so far include Brown, Butler, Clark, Clermont, Delaware, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Montgomery, and Warren counties.

No definitive cause(s) of illness or death have been determined at this time. Weadvise that people please stop feeding birds until further notice, and take down and clean bird feeders and birdbaths with 10% bleach solution, particularly if they are seeing sick/dead birds in their area (as recommended byUSGS). Doing these things can help slow the spread of the disease.

If You Find an Alive/Diseased Bird

If you observe sick birds with these symptoms and/or neurological issues (such as loss of balance, coordination) then please contact your nearest licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

If You Find a Dead/Diseased Bird

The Ohio Division of Wildlife appreciates reports of dead birds that exhibit symptoms such as crusty, bulging, or sunken eyes. Please submit a report online in our Wildlife Species Sighting reporting system to help biologists track the spread of the disease. When reporting, select Bird Diseased or Dead. Submit a Diseased/Dead Bird Report.

You can also include photographs or videos with your report, as well as latitude and longitude coordinates to help wildlife biologists quickly verify the sighting. Remember to always view wildlife from a respectful distance for your safety as well as the safety of the animal.

To dispose of dead birds, place in a plastic bag, seal, and discard with household trash or alternatively bury them deeply.

Thank you for helping us to protect Ohios wildlife

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What Is Killing The Birds? - Union County Daily Digital

Washington, DCCertified American Grown (CAG), the voice of American cut flower and foliage farmers is honored to receive the recognition and support of Congressional leaders for Julys celebration of American Grown Flowers and Foliage Month. Bi-partisan resolutions recognizing the contributions of American farms has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Alex Padilla (D-CA) have expressed their support of the industry with the resolution introduction.

The American flower and foliage industry consists of thousands of small businesses, responsible for tens of thousands of jobs. Im happy to show support for the more than 16,000 floral businesses across our country with this resolution designating July as American Grown Flower and Foliage Month, said Senator Feinstein.

Senator Sullivan noted, During the month of July, we celebrate American Grown Flower Month and all of the Americans who bring them to us.

In the House of Representatives, multiple representatives co-sponsored H. Res. 542 expressing support of American Grown Flowers and Foliage Month, including sponsor, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA), and co-sponsors Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and Rep. Don Young (R-AK).

Rep. Carbajal spoke in support of the Resolution on the House floor noting, Senator Feinstein and I introduced a resolution to designate July as American-Grown Flower and Foliage Month to encourage consumers to shop local and buy flowers with a certified American-grown label. By passing H. Res. 542, we will honor the beauty this industry brings to our homes year-round and help keep our American-grown flower industry prosperous.

American Grown Flower and Foliage Month is an annual celebration of the domestic farming community highlighting the bounty grown on U.S. farms and the contributions they make to their employees, communities, the industry, and country more broadly. Celebrations have included online and digital inspiration sharing, in-store promotions at retailers around the country, and through events and activities at farms and other venues throughout the U.S.

American Grown Flowers and Foliage Month is an important annual event to highlight our domestic cut flower and foliage farms work hard, every day throughout the year and in every state across the country, said Camron King, Certified American Grown CEO & Ambassador. The beautiful cut flowers and foliage that we as consumers enjoy are the product of a great deal of work, but it is all worth it. American cut flower and foliage farms are made of families, teams and communities that come together to supply us with the beauty we enjoy. It is important for us to support them by looking for the Certified American Grown seal and buying American, just as our elected leaders have encouraged us to do.

About Certified American Grown.Certified American Grown (CAG) is a diverse community of cut flower and foliage farmers from across the United States. As the voice for domestic farms, CAG works towards sustainability and prosperity through a unified voice, effective advocacy, and strategic promotion. Certified American Grown flower and foliage farms participate in an independent, third-party supply-chain audit to verify both origin and assembly of the flowers and foliage grown. When it appears on bouquets, bunches, packaging or signage, the iconic brand mark instills consumer confidence in place of origin. For more information about Certified American Grown, visitamericangrownflowers.org.

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Certified American Grown is Honored to have Congressional Resolutions Introduced to Celebrate American Grown Flowers and Foliage Month -...

For at least two centuries people have speculated, debated and written their interpretations on the origin of images depicted in the Honiton town seal or crest. Views have often been repeated and both the details and the images have gradually changed over time.

The original seal was given to the town when William Pole was elected as Member of Parliament for Honiton in 1640. When Honiton became a Borough in 1846 the council modified the shape of the seal and changed the wording around the edge.

The earliest description of the seal was written in 1793 by John Feltham. He praised the beautiful scenery in the area and announced that the cheese was defective in Honiton. He told the legend of barren women praying at St Margarets Chapel and described the borough seal as a pregnant female in devotion to an idol auspicious to parturient women, obstetric hand above, beneath a honeysuckle, the whole surrounded with beads.

In 1840, G Oliver wrote that it was a mermaid, with a young female, above them an enormous human hand, and below the mermaid a flower. Farquharson repeated what Feltham had written and added the plant which is without doubt, a honeysuckle in bloom. Kellys directory in 1889 said the seal was a representation of Jesus being baptised by John the Baptist.

Comparing the similarity of the motifs with early Catholic symbolism and medieval paintings, the images are consistent with the most likely interpretation of the scene; it is a simplified depiction of the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel informed Mary of Nazareth that she had been blessed by God and chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, with the hand of God above bestowing His blessing, and the flower is the Madonna lily.

Fast forward to the 1960s. Honiton's housing officer, Jim Kendall, painted the Honiton crest on the front door of the new council offices in Fairfield House. The Mayor asked him to make the woman about three months less pregnant, because it might embarrass the lady councillors.

Planners of the Devon County Show suggested a cavalcade of floats depicting life in each borough, based on its history, industry and their crest. The proposal caused both hilarity and embarrassment for the town. Honiton people didnt mind the crest being printed on official papers or worn on the football club jerseys but objected to it appearing on a huge carnival float. Honiton's deputy town clerk, Mr Victor Denne is quoted in the Daily Mirror as saying: "We couldn't put a pregnant woman on a float. It's too crude. Apart from which, the woman in the crest looks very pregnant - at least eight months gone." He added: "We shall probably have a float showing the town's lace making and pottery instead."

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The mystery of the meaning behind Honiton's town seal - Midweek Herald

Its going to be tough, but the man with the perfectly suited surname has no doubts about swimming nonstop from Block Island to Beavertail Point.

Ben Tuff, a lifelong summer resident of Jamestown, will make his 19-mile attempt Saturday to raise money for Clean Ocean Access, a Middletown nonprofit organization that preserves and protects Narragansett Bay. He is the same man who swam continuously, without a wetsuit, around Conanicut Island in August 2019, a 23-mile circumnavigation that took him nine hours and seven minutes. Tuff estimates the shorter swim across Rhode Island Sound will take longer because the waves will be choppier during his offshore attempt than the coastal swells inside the bay. Tuff, 41, expects to reach his adopted hometown in about 10 hours, 45 minutes, with a half-hour window on both ends.

I have no doubts, he said. When it comes to something like this, youd never be able to do it if there were any doubts in your head.

Despite the swim around Jamestown being really brutal for those last 3 miles, the proposition of swimming from New Shoreham came when the circumnavigation was fresh in his mind.

I thought about it the night after I swam around the island, he said. I was thinking about how much it sucked to swim around Jamestown. Then I looked at a map.

Tuff has been training daily for about a year with practices intensifying each week, and that included a 12.5-mile swim around Key West in June, which marveled the competition because it was practice for him.

This is your training swim? they would tell him. Weve been training for this.

While the swim around Conanicut Island generated local press, the pending swim from Block Island has gone national. From the pages of USA Today to the Houston Chronicle, the hype has extended to the airwaves, including a television interview with The Weather Channel. Tuff, a director of admissions at a private boarding school in Connecticut, said publicizing this swim has been like a second job. Thats because this attempt has something the first swim did not, which was best summed by his mother, Pat Tuff, on the fundraising page of the Clean Ocean Access website.

Good luck, Ben, she wrote. I am so proud of what you are doing but, naturally, as your mother, I am nervous of that big long swim and all the creatures in the sea.

Beware of sharks

The creatures that she is referring to are sharks, and that includes great whites. According to the Atlantic Shark Institute in Wakefield, 14 sharks related to the Jaws antagonist have been recorded off the coast of Block Island using acoustic receiver devices since the study began in 2019, and that includes four of the predators this summer. To ease moms concerns, however, Tuff will be wearing a device from the technology company Ocean Guardian, an Australian manufacturer that has invented the worlds only proven shark deterrent. He will wear the device, which creates an electromagnetic field to deter sharks, for the entire swim.

There are sharks everywhere, he said. Its a calculated risk anytime you get in the water. Just like when you go hiking in the woods, you might see a bear.

Even without the device, Tuff seems ho-hum about the threat of sharks, saying the predatorial fish in Rhode Island are not like the ones that make headlines off the coast of Cape Cod.

If you are really into ultramarathons, there are lots of swims that are much more sharky than this one. Most of these sharks in those waters are cruising around. The sharks around here grab a seal and theyre happy. Its not like in the Cape where they are just constantly looking for food.

If there is an emergency, Tuff will be escorted by three friends. The boats will be captained by local lobsterman Alex Perkins and Tristan Raynes, a Jamestown native who captains the charter boat Ohana.

They know these waters better than anyone around, he said.

The third escort will be his crazy buddy Jake Lindley on a paddleboard. When Tuff was applying for the swim through the U.S. Coast Guard, which will escort him through the sticky, busy areas, Lindley, who followed his friend around Conanicut Island during the circumnavigation, was a source of confusion.

Everything seems to be in order, the Coast Guard told Tuff, except for this paddleboard guy. What the heck is up with him?

Far from shore

Swimming away from the shore has its ups and downs, Tuff said. Because of the current, he wont be swimming in a straight line the entire time, and it will look like hes swimming toward Point Judith. Not knowing how far you are from the finish line, however, is a positive.

It definitely will freak me out a little bit more, but for me, its actually better, he said. When you get away from the shore, you dont have any point of reference. When I swam around the island, I was thinking, Oh my god, Im not even at the Jamestown Bridge yet. What the hell. I still got to get around the north end. But on the swim from Block Island, I wont know where I am for hours. I got that going for me.

The proposition of swimming from Block Island to Beavertail caught the attention of Elizabeth Beisel, a North Kingstown High School graduate, and Olympic swimmer. She has scheduled a swim for Aug. 30 from Point Judith to Block Island to raise money for cancer research after one of her close family members was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Beisel reached out to Tuff, and the two met before she left for Tokyo to report on the Olympics for NBC Sports.

Ill be done with my swim by the time she gets back, he said. She wants to download some information from my swim. An Olympic medalist asking me for help? Its crazy. I started swimming eight years ago.

Tuff, the father of two, Wyatt, 14, and Maisie, 12, calls Jamestown his home, although it is not that straightforward. His family made the local connection through Mist, the Racquet Road cottage established by Adm. Herbert Seymour Howard, his mothers grandfather, and Tuff made his first appearance when he was 3 weeks old. Although he led a relatively nomadic life, following his father, a venture capitalist, from Ohio to Toronto to Boston to Atlanta, it did cause a dilemma when he was asked to write an essay about his hometown.

I dont have one, he told his mother.

Yes, you do, she replied. Write about Jamestown.

Now Tuff is looking forward to swimming to his hometown to raise money to protect the water that surrounds it.

I feel good, he said. In the end, when you have challenges like this, you can only do so much to prepare. Its 90 percent mind over matter. Once you get past hour five, you start to hurt no matter how much you prepare. I dont think Id have the drive to finish if I werent doing it for something that I really believe in.

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HOPING TO BE TUFF ENOUGH | Jamestown Press - Jamestown Press