Well, we have said all year that we were going to leave on or about Aug. 10 and today is Aug. 10 and we are still here, but things are looking up. We have a new boom and it is on the boat and semi-functional. The semi is because we are still waiting for our boom vang, but it is supposed to be put on the boat this afternoon, so theoretically we could leave after it is installed, but we are not going to.
We still have to get our car up to its’ retirement pasture on the back forty at Kim’s (Barry’s sister) place near Duncan. We have arranged to sail up to where Barry’s Mom lives have lunch with Barry’s family and then sail back with one or more of his sister’s and then Kim will drive the car up to Duncan and park it. We figured this would be a nice way to say goodbye and we will be able to take the new boom for a test run. We are planning to leave on Saturday morning which will be the 12 but I figure well within our projected departure date of “on or about Aug. 10”. It will also avoid the dreaded sailor’s superstition of never leaving a port on a Friday, I know, I know, it is just a superstition but I just don’t want to start out what may be a trip around the world on the wrong foot.
Our driver’s licenses have arrived, we got our typhoid medication today, I picked up enough emergency rations to last a couple of weeks, Barry got some plywood and 2 X 4’s in case we get a hole in the boat and I think we are ready to go. I am sure there are some sort of spare parts we will discover we should have had but I think we have enough to get by in a pinch. We met a bunch of boats last weekend at the Bluewater Rendezvous that have the same basic itinerary that we have so I am sure we will bump into them in various ports.
Now that I know we can leave on Saturday, I have stopped being so anxious about it and now I am just getting excited. The not knowing when we were going to leave was killing me. If you want to get in touch with us after Saturday contact us on our boat e-mail ve8bl@winlink.org only text in your messages, no pictures and no attachments please. We will check in to our yahoo account when we are near and internet hookup. I will updating the blog, as I did around the island, so you will be able to follow our travels if you wish.
