April 1997
Greetings to our friends and relatives:
Some of you haven't heard from us for awhile and are probably wondering if we fell off the edge of the earth, not yet, but soon!
To bring you up to date (for those who know about our plans this may be a little repetitious -- sorry).... "First Light", our J-44 sailboat, is currently located in the Caribbean island of Bonaire, off the coast of Venezuela. We've spent the past year working the boat south from Florida through the Caribbean, during vacations. On April 10th we will fly down to the boat and become official "liveaboards." We have sold our house in Sausalito and the last few weeks really challenged our sanity, what with putting most of our stuff into storage, closing escrow on another house in Tiburon and doing some major renovations to ready it for renting, and trying to solve "boat" problems long-distance. With the help of a few good friends (Thanks Tina and Margaritha!), Jill's family from L.A. and her mother, and Andy's son Aaron, we pulled it off and made it to the plane on time. Our plan is to be full-time "Yachties," living on "First Light" and cruising to warm areas of the world, something we have both wanted to do for a long time. Andy retired in March, and we have tried to arrange all of our affairs so that we can cruise for as long as we are happy and healthy. We don't have a precise long-range schedule ("gone cruising" means not having to have a schedule), but we hope to be out several years or more...
Our short-range plan is to sail from Bonaire, departing around April 16th, to Panama (about 600 miles), where we will visit the San Blas Islands and then transit the Canal. After that we will head south to the Galapagos Islands, which are right on the equator (about 900 miles). From the Galapagos we will make the longest passage of our trip, 3,000 miles, to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. We plan to island-hop through French Polynesia, arriving in Tahiti in late July or early August. A friend, Bobby Kuschel, will be sailing with us from Bonaire to Tahiti. After she told us that she loved to cook at sea, and loved to stand watch, we signed her on immediately! Bruce McConnell, a good friend from Santa Rosa who is searching for adventure, will also be joining us in the San Blas to go through the Canal and Las Perlas Islands.
Other planned stops this year include the Cook Islands, Tonga and perhaps Fiji, before heading to New Zealand. We need to be in New Zealand (or possibly Australia) by late November to avoid the Southern Hemisphere hurricane season, and will stay there until April. We hope to fly home to visit family and friends in California and on the East Coast during that time.
Our itinerary after that is vague, but being in New Zealand for the America's Cup in late 1999/early 2000 sounds like fun, as does sailing back and forth across the International Dateline (Tonga) for New Years, 2000. In between we would like to spend some time in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia and other interesting places. Beyond that, who knows? Maybe we will continue around the world before bringing 'First Light" home to San Francisco.
Best wishes, Andy and Jill
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