Message for everyone especially Emma

Dear Emma we have seen sea lions two places now they are very playful
we saw an albatross he was swooping very low over the water I was intending of a
name for him (Fred) but I forgot to tell my mom. we went into Grays Harbour because
the weather was too rough up South. Dad threw up.
Lots of Love, Nadia.

Thanks from Neah Bay!

We have arrived in Neah Bay, the jumping off spot for San Francisco and we
are waiting for the weather. Right now it is awful- cold, pouring rain and
windy (ok the wind isn't awful). Now that we have a couple of minutes of time
in which we are not trying to complete a zillion items on a list, it is time
to thank everyone for the help that we have got over the last couple of months.
There are many people, here are some singled out for particular attention:
1) Brenda's parents, Pat and John, for a new para-anchor (grandparents go for the
safety items!) and a ton of help in the last week helping to get our house ready
for rental and keeping us alive by cooking and buying food for us. They are here
with us in Neah Bay for the final send off. They are also going to be looking
after our dog for the next eight months.
2) Terre, Wally and Emma for a fabulous t-shirt and lots of playtime for Nadia
at their house while Peter and I were getting the final things done. Dinner at
the yacht club wasn't bad either.
3) Jason, Theresa for the world's best thermos and also a great pressure cooker
and filet knife (note, shop Puddifoots in Kerrisdale) and a fantastic send off
dinner. And books for Nadia. WOW!
4) My brother Aaron for advice on the first aid kit and the donated supplies.
I sincerely hope we don't have to use any of that stuff.
5)Alan, Dieta, Sarah and Julie for a new favorite mug for Nadia and a supply
of emergency dental supplies. Again, I hope that I don't need be gluing teeth
back together in the middle of the ocean.
6) Dale for coming with us and not complaining about anything (well except for
his computer difficulties with email).
7) Karla and Eric for living next door to us and agreeing to show our house
to prospective tenants (this is a really big one since we are trying to escape
a financial implosion).
8) Ron and Cherie and Robert for finding us a fuel pump in Sidney in less
than 45 minutes and cooking us a great dinner. Hopefully we will see you in Tonga
or somewhere thereabouts!
9) Nadia's kindergarten teacher, Heather Stephens, who made Nadia's last
day of kindergarten special and stress free. Thanks also to all the kindergarten
students and teachers and moms who signed two very special cards. Two of the
moms, Annalise and Teresa deserve special credit - the cupcakes, the compass
and the helium balloon (which is here on the boat with us) thrilled Nadia.
If there is someone left of this list, sorry. Updates will occur regularly!
As soon as the weather permits, it is show time.
Brenda.

Three Days and Counting

It's been a mad rush trying to get everything in place. Only a couple of days left until we start to make our way to Neah Bay. Brenda is writing her final exam today. I can't think of a busier time ever in our lives. I picked up our Visas today from the French Consulate. One less thing to worry about.

Peter

Automatic Position Reporting

We will be making regular position reports via Winlink so for those who would like to know where we are you can click on one of the following links,

http://www.shiptrak.org/
Search for callsign VA7BDN

http://www.winlink.org/positions/PosReports.aspx
Search for VA7BDN

Nadia and Brenda on Songline

Nadia and Brenda on Songline showing off some shells they found on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

The Crew

Hi again,

For those of you who don't know us let me introduce ourselves.

Peter 49 years old, Photographer.
Brenda 41 years old, Math student.
Nadia 5 years old, kindergarten.

For our Vancouver to San Francisco leg we will also be taking along Dale Sanders, ultimate sailor, world renowned photographer.

The Boat

For those interested in our boat Songline please read on. I'll try not to make this too boring. She is steel, round chine cutter manufactured in Sidney BC by Waterline Yachts. When we bought her she was well rigged and equipped for lond distance cruising. We've had a storm jib made and added a parachute anchor to her inventory. I've changed the charging system around to include a high capacity alternator and automatic charge relays. She has 3-90W solar panels which seem to work quite well keeping the 400A of house batteries charged. I added a SCS-IIusb PACTOR III modem to the iCOM 710 SSB. Unfortunately we had to go to the "dark side" and buy a Windows laptop. We had the radio opened up for HAM frequencies. I really like the way the systems works. Getting weather information, sending and receiving emails and voice communications all seem to work very well. It is however electronics and I know well enough that if it keeps working for even a week or two I'll consider it lucky. We have a Village Marine water maker. Probably one of the best pieces of equipment on the boat is the hard dodger. It extends over the entire length of the cockpit. When we first bought the boat I was considering having it removed. It didn't look very "yachtie". Soon after that while heading up Georgia Strait I noticed the crew on a boat beside us all wearing foul weather gear while I still had my t-shirt on. The notion of removing the dodger quickly waned. We have pressure hot and cold water but no shower. Out on deck for that. I wanted to install a below decks autopilot but didn't have time or money. We do have a Monitor wind vane steering system which should, from everything we hear, become one of our best friends. There's a diesel heater but for the South Pacific I might as well pack the boat with down sleeping bags and parkas. We have all the required safety gizmos like EPIRB, flares, 6 man life raft etc.

Peter

Last Minute Repairs

I took the boat out with the family last Sunday for a harbour cruise and to do a quick test to make sure everything was working properly. Ignorance is bliss. I should have left it tied to the dock. The transmission started to slip. It's probably been slipping for a while but became abundantly obvious on Sunday. After two missing knuckles, a sore back and the usual assortment of expletives I managed to wrestle it out of the boat. Now I'm scrambling to get it repaired. Everyone tells me that I'm lucky that it happened here. That's like being lucky you had a heart attack in front of the emergency ward.

Peter