Atlantic Crossing: Preparation

 Ahoy sports fans,

I'm back. Janet will pass on this little voyage and join me on arrival. Tomorrow, the 19th, if all continues to go well we will depart Pasito Blanco Marina on Grand Canary Island to begin the Atlantic crossing bound for St. Lucia.

Prepare to launch!

The boat was in good condition after sitting on the hard since we left in September. Launch went well and most boat jobs have been completed. My buddies who will act as crew, Bill Norton, Dan Strehlow and Booth DeVitt arrived yesterday as scheduled. I’ve been friends and flown with Bill and Dan for forty years and Booth for nearly twenty. They did the New Zealand to Fiji passage with me in 2009 and we attempted the Indian Ocean trip but were stymied by lack of wind. Bill did the passage down here from Gibraltar with Janet and me. So these guys are great friends and experienced crew. The weather looks to be shaping up nicely. We have every hope for a nice passage of about eighteen days.

Same bunch that left New Zealand in 2009

You can follow our progress on the Pangolin “Yotreps” website at:  http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps_reporting_boat_list   This site will give you a list of boats reporting a position. Just scroll down to KI6IKE (our HAM call sign) Airstream and click on ‘track’ and it will show our latest reported position and track. We’ll try to update daily. I’ll also be updating the blog via HF radio but since the email capacity of HF is very limited the updates will be very short, no photos, and there will be no email update notifications sent out. Just check occasionally if you’re interested. I’ll fill in with with photos, etc, after arrival in St. Lucia.

So please wish us a bon voyage.  For now, its just us smelly old guys out to have a pleasant (we hope) adventure.

Love to all,
Bill & Janet, and Booth, Danny and Bill