25 February 2003

The race delays due to weather continue... long beyond the "built-in" adjustment factor. We scheduled flights home last year for 2 March expecting there to be ample racing time. Now, I'll be watching the races from Stuart, FL..!! We fly into LAX 2 March and will spend the day with Sheri's family... her sister's 50th party. Sheri will stay and I will fly the Red Eye to West Palm, arriving early on the 3rd, Monday morning, to spend time with my Dad in Stuart. I'll fly back to Salt Lake City on Saturday, 8 March to meet Sheri, her mother and two nieces.
Lesley and other family members and friends will meet us at the airport for
a week skiing at Deer Valley and finally home on the 16th of March.

We'll be in Newport thru 2 June and fly back to Fiji to resume this wonderful adventure. We sailed for one month in Fiji, not nearly enough...!! So, it's back to see islands we missed..!! From there, on to Vanuatu, New Caledonia and south to Australia in October, sailing to Sydney for the holidays, to Tasmania in January and up the West coast to Malaysia. If all goes well in the world, we should sail safely north thru Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and on to China before turning south toward India.

Alinghi and Team New Zealand

Just off our bow....

Dennis Connor at helm of Destination, we're slightly ahead.... cough cough...!!

Carolyn and David Parks, s/v Tara, at Millennium Cup Regatta Dinner at Kawau Island
They were in Maine for the month of January and now back to continue their circumnavigation as well.

We met David & Carolyn Parks late November 2001 in Bonaire. We met up with them again in the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, Moorea, Tonga and now in Auckland, New Zealand.

Claire & Dick Kanter visited us last week from their 46' yacht, Runaway in the Bahamas. They left Boston in 1995, completed a five year circumnavigation and still live on the boat.
She is originally from Providence, Bernie Pollack's sister... Both just celebrated their 73rd birthdays..!! They owned a slip in Newport Marina just ahead of ours in 1990... still do. They will leave here, fly to the Bahamas and sail to Newport via Bermuda this spring. "GREAT" couple, she is like the "Eveready Bunny," fully charged and always ready to go..!! They expect to be in Newport Marina July - Sept... Stop in and say "Hi" for us...!!

That's it in a nutshell....

Captain John and  First Mate Sheri