Target Departure

Another small delay and today was meant to be our departure date, but we have pushed it back another week.....the new "burn the dock-lines" date is now April 8th, 2016...next Friday......aggghhhh ;) Good thing though as the weather today and next day or so is headwinds down to the FL Keys!!!

We have all been at it full ball trying to get going this week, but again its incredible how much there is to wrap up and how much time packing/sorting takes....but we are getting there ;) The boat is pretty loaded and we still have more to put on, so will be a challenge to find creative space.....Adrian & Garrick you better just bring 1 swimsuit, sunscreen and a hat....that is all the space you have ;)

Thanks for everyone's support and interest!!!

Charts Purchased

Well finally a small update, even though we have achieved so much over the last 2 weeks since updating the blog! We have all been insanely busy doing so many things as we get down to the last weeks before departure.

Thanks to my friends at Westfield who so thoughtfully gave us gift cards, we purchased the best Admiralty Navigation Charts that cover our route around the world, so every time we look at a Navigation chart we can think of all the wonderful people I had the honor to work with over 14 years....THANK YOU!!!

Just a few of the things we have been busy with include:

• starting to pack the boat (this alone is a monumental task I under estimated) 
• building some additional shelves for storage 
• ordering an unbelievable amount of spares for everything from engine spares, toilet spares, electrical etc etc!!! 
• researching and ordering backup paper navigation charts taking the boat to be hauled again to get a leaking thru-hull fixed (see attached pic of haul out on Wed this week) 
• fitted navigation light on back of new solar panels.  (A very big thank you to Roland at Carr Enterprises for working with us on the fabrication of the solar panel rack!)

  

  New Solar Panels and Rack System

• installed additional electrical and usb outlet in our cabin 
• fixed a slow electric toilet leak ...the fun stuff left to me ;) 
• fitted new tie down spot for life raft that is much more accessible in an emergency 
• completed entire new running rigging install & dinghy davits re-rig (thanks to Mac & James....you guys are awesome riggers & wonderful folks!!!) 
• installed backup small chart-plotter inside at chart table 
• inventorying spares into boxes as packing them.....I assure you this is a major task that Guds has undertaken, and if not done properly would be tough to find stuff ....kind of like trying to find a spanner on the International Space Station ;) 

  

  Boxes, Boxes and more boxes

• filled up with 100 gallons of diesel (that is all our 2 x 50 gallons take, but we will carry an additional 4 x 5 gallon Jerry cans for the long passages as backup)
• installed new Cool Runnings logo's on front bows and stern (thanks to our wonderfully talented friend Charles who designed these and "business cruising cards" and t-shirts)
  

 Anyway there is tons more...these are just off the top of my head. My sister Kim, and my mom and dad have also been a HUGE help, always there for us and assisting in so many ways...even cooking dinner for us every night which is so welcome after working since 5am and finishing at 8pm ;)

Hopefully when we finally go cruising we can back it down a bit and sleep in sometimes!!!!!

quick in and out same day haulout this past Wednesday

Trying on the survival suit

Working on battery combiners

We are getting there...!

Captain's Last Day At Work.

By Ben:
:)

Today we (My mom sister and I) went to my dad's "goodbye party" at his work. I met a lot of amazing people there! :) After my dad gave his little "speech" lots of people had questions for him,
If you have not seen the Martian small SPOILER ALERT!, It reminded me of the scene where the director of Nasa talked about Mark's "death" and everyone had questions!!! :) Not saying that everyone having questions was a bad thing! anyone who was there DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT! Anyway, after that we talked and talked and talked, (we talked for a very long time).

The people at my dad's work had catered a lovely breakfast.  Here is a picture of the decorations by the breakfast buffet!

They also had a wonderful cake, that even had a picture of our boat (Cool Runnings) on it!  And the best part was, that picture was EDIBLE!! :)

Then the lady from the Cookie Company also came and dropped off a cake, that she had made for my dad....I am so happy that she made that cake, because it was my favorite type of cake in the whole world...COOKIE CAKE!!!!

Lastly, we took pictures of us in height order for a "before and after" picture.  I bet I'll be taller than my mom when we get back! ;)  Gaby and I are wearing our new Cool Runnings T-Shirts!!

A big thank you to everyone who helped put the party together and also thank you to everyone who came! We all appreciated it very much!  

Sincerely, 

The Cool Runnings Crew!