So this is another of our little tests that we will be going through... We are in the process of setting up all systems while we are out at sea and are currently trying to figure out how all of our communication will be working. We have installed the SSB Radio and have our station licenses for chris, myself and the boat. We have our sail mail accounts and our win link accounts and have been receiving weather faxes and GRIB files through our boat computer and storing on the hard drive so we can analyze weather patterns from Mexico to California. I say we a lot in this but actually it is Chris that is studying all of this... I need to literally jump on board and start to assign myself homework in these areas as well.
We have now completed the first full week in school. I have made some small adjustments and am realizing that if we don't kill ourselves to try and complete all the work assigned in one day, we will be okay. Half of the kids are really taking on the responsibility/initiative and are getting up in the morning and just jumping right to it. The other half are slow to rise and easily get distracted and procrastinate in getting their assignments done but we are painfully learning, this really is school and we need to do the work... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9...... I am hopeful that we will be acclimated soon to the new structure and freedoms or lack of.
The boat list of "To Do's" shrinks and then we open up a new can of worms and we have a whole new list... The good news is that we are at the point where our list of things Major to do is shrinking and the list of Minor things we would like to do is growing.
The boat has been hauled out, with new bottom paint, Props, Seals for the engines, all sails and rigging is completed, engines are completed, SSB Radio is installed, Toilet is fixed (Alina already put something down that wasn't suppose to go), and refrigeration is being worked on. We have the generator to be serviced, the dive compressor and water maker. Next week is safety week and we will be going over all of our safety equipment. On Tuesday we will have the life raft repacked at Sals Inflatables in Alameda and all the kids will be there so they can see what it looks like. One day a field trip to the coast guard on Treasure Island so the kids can practice sending off flares and fire extinguishers, practice calling on the radio and going through all of our tethers, life jackets and medical supplies. We will also start running some sailing drills for man overboard and reefing techniques with the kids so everyone knows what to do in an emergency...
We have changed the name of the boat from "On Delay" to "Family Circus" and the new name decals will most likely be put on this weekend. We will then have our naming ceremony and sacrifices to all the gods of the wind and sea... Neptune, Poseidon and Aeolus. We want to make sure to start off with the Gods in good spirits and with us.
Cheers!
Heather
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain
- Mark Twain
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