Less than 6 days...

Friday Feb 29, 2008:
Now that we are under one-week to go, Chris feels the pressure is off, and the real excitement begins. What is not yet done, will just not get done, and that's OK with us. Tomco Marine confirms that our boat will "hit the water" on Sat 3/15 and the electronics installation will begin on Monday 3/17. That should take a week, and then we are off! We will be living aboard a "sister boat" cruising in that area from March 7th until March 22nd, so the timing is perfect. We are shipping 4 more boxes today, and that will be the last of that.

Chris has found some china that is perfect. Linda Stafford looked at it (pictured here) and realized that she had a "chip and dip" bowl that looked exactly like it. It is perfect for us, and has now "joined the boat"!

Sunday, Feb 24, 2008

With just more than 1 week to go, Chris and I are getting very excited, but also trying to figure out how to get everything done. We have time set aside for hooking up with the kids and their kids, but not much else. We checked on our "shipment of supplies" and found that it is "heading West from Chicago" and scheduled to arrive on Feb 26th. We still have another 3 or 4 boxes to send ahead. The manufacturer, Tomco Marine, now says that our boat will be ready between March 16th and March 23rd. We assume that the electronics will be installed during that week, but don't know that for sure. I designed our "Card" (shown to the right), since everyone must have a way to identify themselves to other boaters. We look forward to so many joining us while in the Puget Sound area, and/or during the cruise north to Alaska. We have no idea about air-travel into and out of Alaska, which cities will work logistically, and how to coordinate pickup's, etc.

One incredible resource for us has been Jim and Martha Nye of the Vulcan Power Squadron. Jim has offered help at every step of the way, and thinks of things that I have procrastinated almost daily....links to West Marine sales on lines, PFD's, and radios. Getting the MMSI number (for our VHF radio) before heading out. Having all of the right books on board. Many thanks to the Nye's for their help!

Monday Feb 18th

Details for this week include getting taxes done, both personal and for all of the hobbies, tending to details about the timing of getting the boat, trying to verify the best way to communicate while traveling the Inside Passage, and getting the plane taken care of. Christy suggested flying commercial on March 6th, since we are already shipping so much cargo to Seattle. It makes sense at every level...cheaper, faster, and the plane can get it's annual on time here in BHM. We have booked a return trip to BHM on May 3rd for 10 days anticipating Tina's delivery of William C. Wood IV!! Now that's worth a return trip or two.

We found out that the hull preceding ours has been completed and delivered (Carol Kerley in Seattle), so that means that ours is getting their full attention now. I've gotta verify that little detail tomorrow, since our schedule assumes that our hull will truly be ready by April 1st or so. Then getting the electronics package installed is critical. We are getting what is called the "G-series" by Raymarine, which has just been released in the past month or two. It will be incredible with 3-D imaging of the underwater map, actual photos of the ground on the "plotter" (the display that shows where you are on your route), the ability to move the virtual camera that shows your location relative to the surroundings, HD digital radar, cameras at the stern and in the engine room, satellite weather, engine monitoring, depth contours and "fish-finder", etc.

Tuesday 2/19/08: Greg Clark, (our broker) has confirmed that our boat will be ready "early" and he will see us in LaConner, WA around March 16th. Our assumption now is that we will move our stuff onto our boat before the first of April, well ahead of schedule. We will be cruising the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound area from March 7th through June 1, more or less. Then we plan to begin the Alaskan journey. We have the Tides and Currents tables and charts for most of it now, but anticipate needing more charts as we plan the route.

Thursday 2/21/08: We are now exactly 2 weeks away from departing for Seattle. Our shipment of "goods" is tracked now heading west out of Chicago, scheduled to arrive in Bellingham on Tuesday Feb 26th. We'll see if that happens. I have arranged our insurance to be in effect, and scheduled the shipping of our boat from Vancouver to Ft. Lauderdale around Nov 1st, with a discount for early payment. Anyone considering shipping a boat needs to consider this. We are using Yacht Path International.

Preparations

Well, the self-impossed stress is taking a small toll, but with the help of Yellow Freight we have now boxed-up 10 boxes of necessities, totaling 600 lbs to be picked up tomorrow. We are at travel day minus 3 weeks (Feb 17th) and counting.