Aboard the Sailing Vessel
SHIBUMI

March 8, 2004

WE ARE STILL IN FT. LAUDERDALE
At least I am still in Ft. Lauderdale. I took Jill to the airport this morning. No, she didn't jump ship... She had a dental appointment in Atlanta today. She will be back this evening. We got a great deal on a rental car over weekend. So, I was able to take Jill to Ft. Lauderdale International before I turn the car in this morning.

An interesting thing about cruising life: time is relative to how well you like where you are. We both enjoy being here and it doesn't cost much to live aboard Shibumi. So we don't really mind the delay as we wait for the autopilot parts. There is a lot to do and the delay in Ft. Lauderdale made it easy for Jill to get a cheap airfare back to Atlanta.

The parts for the autopilot are finally in town. We are scheduled to have Shibumi hauled out of the water tomorrow to have new speed-logs and depth sounder for the auto-pilot put through the hull.

When we leave Ft. Lauderdale, hopefully by the end of the week, we will go to Miami for a day... probably anchor off of Dinner Key near Coconut Grove. From there on to Key Largo and then Marathon.


John and Rich prepare Superstar for departure

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Jan and Kito board Superstar


Jayne readying Karaya for the Atlantic

SUPERSTAR AND KARAYA DEPART FOR THE BAHAMAS
The best thing about cruising about the world aboard a sailboat is that you meet great people. The flip side of that is the feeling of loss when either you or your new friends have to move on.

Saturday night the weather window across the Gulfstream opened. John, Jan, and Kito aboard Superstar along with Irv and Jayne aboard Karaya slipped their docklines and headed for the Bahamas.

The moon was just past full. The wind was friendly from the southwest and the seas were only 2 feet.

The two ships decided to leave at night for the ten-hour passage to West End, Bahamas. The plan was to arrive at daybreak so they would have good visability crossing the Bahama Bank when the got there.

Over the past two and a half weeks, Jill and I spent a lot of time with John, Jan, Kito, Irv and Jayne. We now count them as good friends and kindred spirits. We know we will meet them again in some exotic port of call.

MAIDEN VOYAGE
OF THE DINGHY

John had recently bought a new Walker Bay dinghy as a tender for Superstar. He had never put it in the water and had not attempted to start the new Yamaha outboard engine that came along with it. So we decided to launch the rig on Friday afternoon. Better to work any problems here than in the Bahamas.

As it turned out, both dinghy and motor performed flawlessly. Kito even got his turn to drive.


That's me lowering the outboard onto the Walker Bay

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John in dinghy. Jan and Kito ready to board.


8 year-old Kito at the helm
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