Tahiti Bound

After spending fourteen days on land, we are very ready to get back to the water.  As I've mentioned, Baxter and I have literally been dreaming about sailing every single night since we docked in New Bern over two weeks ago.  We wake up wondering as we are laying in bed looking at each other, who is at the helm and if our anchor is dragging.  It is strange, yet telling.

While in Salt Lake, we have taken advantage of the dry, though sometimes cold, weather to do a little boat repair.  We brought back all the teak from inside the cockpit so we could spend the summer stripping, sanding and varnishing in the comfort of our garage.  I am hoping that I will be an expert by the end of these projects.

We also were in Utah one whole day before we found our way up Little Cottonwood Canyon to get some turns.  Snowbird is having a record snowfall this season with a total of 776" of snow and a current mid-mtn depth of 171".  At this point they expect to stay open for skiing and riding until the 4th of July.  

Fortunately for us to escape land and snow, we have a trip scheduled for the South Pacific.  Sounds luxurious?  Well, it won't be a day at the spa.  We will be on a sailing expedition aboard Mahina Tiare III, a Hallberg-Rassy 46, with John Neal and Amanda Swan Neal.  The course will enhance our knowledge of more advanced sailing topics such as ocean crossings, provisioning, detailed weather forecasting, radar & AIS usage, as well as sail repair, storm sail configurations, celestial navigation, and much much more.

We will be incommunicado for 3 weeks sailing from French Polynesia and the Society Islands, including Bora Bora, Huihane, among others, onto the Cook Islands, ending in Rarotonga.  We will of course post photos and updates as we have a chance.

Kala will be enjoying herself at summer camp (feel free to check her out on the web cams).  We have told her that we are doing this for her benefit so we can keep her safe on the boat when we venture out together.