The following is an excerpt from a student journal during the trip to Valencia, Spain to see the 32nd America's Cup in the Spring of 2007...

"Now that we are back in school, we would like to apologize for the delays and lack of information and pictures posted on this site. While in Valencia, the internet we had access to was very slow and uploading pictures took a long time. We were so busy that there was hardly any time to update the site. For those of you who are still interested in hearing the rest of our adventure and seeing all of the pictures, in a few weeks our actual website will go up. There will be information about this trip to Valencia, and all of the research we have done on the crew members of the Defender and Columbia, pictures of artifcats and information, and ways that you can get involved and help out. There will also be more information on the other projects we are involved in like GIS mapping of Deer Isle. We hope that you will continue to check out our sites and come visit when we set up our final exhibit!

On April 25th a group of ten will set out from Deer Isle, Maine and travel across the ocean to Valencia, Spain, the home of the 32nd America's Cup. We will be visiting the Port and the base of the American BMW Oracle team. The goal is to document the way the race is run today and compare it to the races in 1895 and 1899. In the end we hope to make a video documentary and write a book. During our trip we will be posting pictures and information about our activities and discoveries. It will be updated daily and people interested can email us with questions or comments at deerisleboys@gmail.com.

April 25-26 HOLA! Finally, we are here in Valencia, we would have written sooner but we arrived last night at 11:00, and although ALL of Spain is awake and roaming but we were VERY tired.

Our story began when we arrived in Boston on Wednesday... luckily we got there well in advance because we found out that due to mechanical problems our flight was delayed until 2:00 in the morning, it was supposed to leave at 5:35p.m. We were quickly put on a flight to LaGuardia, where we had exactly one hour to drive to JFK, in rush hour traffic. We had an amazing driver who wizzed through the city. We made our Paris flight and we knew it was going to be a close call to make the flight to Valencia. We ran the ENTIRE way through the airport and the plane was still there. We tried to board and JFK had printed off the wrong tickets. AHHHHH, we were told there was nothing we could do. Instead of leaving at 10:00am we had to wait until 8:35p.m. , so we got into Valencia very late on Thursday night. We made it in one piece minus the only piece of checked luggage. Friday is going to be our full day at the BMW Oracle Base.

April 27 Today we figured out the bus schedual and made it to the America's Cup Port. At 9:30 we were welcomed at the very VERY nice base. We were offered numerous things over and over again and we were taken into the special VIP section. We were interviewed by press and photographed. We got to watch a presentation about the America's Cup and the important races today against New Zealand and Spain. After, we were given the opportunity to interview an american team member. We went to the docks with the crews family members and said goodbye and goodluck as they sailed out. We were taken onto a catamaran with the family members and we went to watch the races. There was not much wind so they postponed the races over and over again until eventually they were cancelled for the day. Today was very fast paced and we got a huge amount of information. Although we didn't see any races, we were out on the water for hours. Tomorrow we are spending the day with the America's Cup Management and then having a pizza party with the children of the crew members.

April 28 We began our day in a nice little cafe with croissants and freshly squeezed Valencia orange juice! It was cool and rainy as we proceeded to the America's Cup base. We were greeted by AC Management and treated to a wonderful cinema experience talking us through the years of America's Cup history. Immediately after, we were taken across the sidewalk to museum with many artifacts including replicas representing Cup winners from 1851-2004.

When we approached our "home" cup area, we noticed that no pictures of our crews were displayed and that the masts of the yachts were wooden not steel. This gave us the opportunity for exchange of information, correct pictures, and photo ops of descedents wearing an original Defender cap. AC Management called an impromptu reporter, Lauren Richardson in to get our story. We spent the afternoon, with this interesting young woman, including an authentic lunch of paella in a beachfront restaurant. As lunch came to a conclusion the boats were sailing in the distance and it was time to go watch BMW Oracle lose to Spain but win against their rival New Zealand on the big screen in AC Park. It felt like we were on the boat!!!

8 pm pizza dinner at the VIP area of BMW Oracle Base. Friendships were formed with both teams members and their families. Once again the CREST team was honored to have this once in a lifetime opportunity. Luke, Austin, and Billy even went bowling with some of the teenagers! It was a great night! "