July 1, 2006

Ship's Log
July 1st, 2006
Departure Location: Name Unknown
Departure Time: 8:15 hours
Distance Travelled: 16.52 nautical miles
Arrival Location: Saltsbjoden, Sweden
Arrival Time: 11:00 hours
Weather: Very sunny and almost no wind

Personal Comments:

Today we woke early and began our last day by taking a morning dip off the back of the boat. The water was jarringly cold and provided a fresh start to the day. It was an exceptionally hot morning with no winds, which produced a glassy placid look to the water. As a result we were forced to motor the entire distance back to Saltsbjoden. Our arrival at the dock here marks a full circle to our journey.

It was an exceptional evening tonight. We had the privilege of meeting Felice Vinci, the author of the theory we have been following, his wonderful wife Pina, and the German scholar Karin Wagner. We had a relaxed reception aboard the boat where we enjoyed conversation in which Vinci shared his thoughts on the strongest points of his theory, and before proceeding to dinner on the dock we shared a slideshow of photographs from our trip.

This was the perfect culmination to many months of preparation and three wonderful weeks of exploration and fine sailing. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have been so supportive and followed our journey. For those of you waiting for the CD-ROM we have already begun work on it and you can expect it in the coming months.

Research Comments:

This voyage has presented many opportunities for us to share Vinci’s theory with those who we have met. It is clear from our experiences that there is a growing interest in furthering this new theory on Indo-European migration. There are also tentative plans for the translation of Vinci’s work into Swedish, Finnish, and Norwegian.

Tonight Vinci encouraged Professor Mullen to use this journey as the starting point for a number of scholarly works on the subject, which he intends to do. These past three weeks have confirmed that there is ample contextual evidence to support Vinci’s theory. In the future we hope to see archaeological excavations of the sites we have visited in order to further confirm or refute the Baltic origins of the Homeric epics.

As a final note to this summers activities July 3rd though the 8th, Felice and Pina Vinci and Professor Mullen will head off to St. Petersburg to meet with representatives of The Hermitage Museum to discuss these new theories on Indo-European migration.

What the future holds beyond this has yet to be determined.