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!

Preparations!

It's been a while since we've posted anything on the blog, but that was partly because our pending departure was not yet public knowledge, and also because, well...we've been busy!

Benjamin and Gaby did not go back to school in January, and we've started homeschooling so as not to have everything change all at once when we do leave.  It's been an adjustment for all of us.  Some days are good and some days are not as good, but that's primarily because the teacher is too busy to teach!  The kids have been good about learning to self teach, and a number of the curricula that I have (such as Maths, Spanish and Typing) are done on the computer by themselves.

Ben studying Science

Gaby also doing her Science

 Ben learning human anatomy by putting together (a rather challenging) 3D human torso puzzle (...where does the spleen go again?!) 

Gaby learning a new art form

 And while work goes on in the house, even more work is going on on the boat!  Dave has accomplished SO much on the boat, and if we add anything else, I fear we may sink before we are able to cut the dock lines!  He has provided a detailed account of how he added the hard top bimini under the tab "Additions to boat", and hopefully can provide more detail on some of his other projects, but let me add on top of that he's installed air conditioning in all 4 cabins and the salon, installed a generator, a freezer, a washing machine, and an SSB Radio to mention just a few!  4 new solar panels are also being added to provide power to run all these additions! Our deepest thanks to our friend Garrick, who came down from Virginia for a week in January to help with some of these projects, and whose help has been called upon again for a final push to get things "checked off the list"!  The call for help was answered and Garrick arrives today - thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Our dear friend Garrick with Dave in the Keys on a trip last year.  Cool Runnings in the background!
That was then....this is now:

Apparently he knows where each one of those wires goes!

Ben's cabin - now a workshop

The washing machine being installed.  It now has a beautiful, waterproof door covering it.

  

Dave at work on wires for the solar panels and the hot water solar

Soon, it will be our home...I'll post a before and after!

Anticipated departure is now mid-March.  We will keep you posted on our progress!

Flying New Spinnaker

Click the following link to watch a video of us sailing back from Egmont Key and flying our new spinnaker:

Flying Spinnaker

Dinghy Ride off Egmont Key Island Aug 2015

Having fun off Egmont Key Island on the dinghy with the mothership, Cool Runnings in the background! Watch either a HD youtube version on this attached link, HD version of Dinghy Ride

or the lower resolution below:

Easy sailing down to Venice, Boca Grande, Captiva, Cabbage Key

We just got back from a fantastic 10 days sailing down south to celebrate my 50th birthday. Had an awesome time with some great company and some fun sailing before the kids headed back to school yesterday.

We headed out on Thursday 8/6/15 and sailed for about 6 hours south to Venice spending the night there. Great dinner at the Crows Nest and then headed to Boca Grande the next day, followed by 4 days at South Seas Resort on Captiva Island.

Guds arranged a surprise for me were Garrick and Kelly flew in to join us on this portion of our trip and sail back eventually to Madeira Beach. Garrick really surprised me with a gift of a brand new GoPro Hero 4 camera!!!!!

We had a great 4 days relaxing and catching up at South Seas and testing the new air-conditioning system I just finished installing on the boat, before turning north again and slowly heading back home over the next 3 days. Our final stop was at Egmont Key were we anchored overnight and had fun time burning around in the dinghy, jumping off the front of the boat and generally mellowing out.

We caught 2 spanish mackerel on the way back and BBQ'd them at Egmont Key for dinner. We also got to test our new spinnaker sailing back home and generally using the boat again after not sailing for almost 2 months while I fitted the AC.

Thanks Coolrunnings crew for an awesome vacation!!!!!

Below is daddy & daughter enjoying some easy sailing...watch either HD version on this youtube link, HD version of relaxing sail

or below lower resolution: 

Boca Grande Lighthouse

Garrick and Kelly enjoying sundowners on the beach

Family shot - South Seas, Captiva

Another beautiful sunset!

A girl could get used to this!

At Cabbage Key

Testing the new Spinnaker

Egmont Key

Life Raft Service

This week we took our 6 man liferaft in for service on Monday making it a family affair so that we would all know what it looked like incase we ever had to use it. This was the first time the raft has been opened since it was brand new in 2011.

The certified repacking service company (Solution One in Tampa, FL) was fantastic and allowed us to observe the unpacking, inflation etc of the raft and explained everything to us and the kids as they went through.

Unpacking our raft

Inflated!!!

Minimal emergency supplies were inside.....BUT we have a well stocked ditch bag with all of the essential items not packed in the raft.We were shown how to right the raft incase it opens upside down or flips over!

And finally before we left we all got inside the raft to see just how big...or small a 6 man liferaft is ;)

Very glad we all got to experience this and see what our raft looks and feels like. Definitely have no intentions of using it, but if we ever have to we are a little better informed now!!!!

Bens Birthday weekend away with his friends

Ben invited 2 friends to do an overnight on the boat this weekend to celebrate his upcoming 11th Birthday....lots of fun:

Friday night sunset with Ben and his Friends out on the kayaks watching the sun go down

Breakfast on Saturday morning after watching the sunrise from front of the boat:

Time for some kayaking off Egmont Key

Sailing in 23 Knots last weekend

Back from the Boat Yard

By:  Ben

Our boat has been gone the past six weeks, getting repainted and servicing the sail drives. We were all exited to get it back once again!

Splashing Cool Runnings...

Rear view...

At the helm with Papa...

Sailing back...

Coming home!

As you can see we enjoyed sailing back! :)

Now Cool Runnings is back and better than ever!