We began our trip on May 15, 1999, after a sendoff party with only one mishap: a guest's wheelchair fell off the dock, and had to be recovered with a grappling hook.  Then it was Bon Voyage to all, as we passed under the Golden Gate bridge, turned south, and headed for our first destination, San Diego.  Rachael was 10, Dana 8.  

We had no idea how long we would be gone, but we knew the route to take: south to the Marquesas, then west along the string of island nations to Australia: the so-called "Coconut Milk Run".  It turns out that is exactly what we did - but it took us about 5 1/2 years.  Here's an overview of our voyage:

1999: San Francisco to the Marquesas (3 weeks, 3,500 miles: the longest passage we ever made by far), Tuamotu Islands, Society Islands (Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, etc.), Cook Islands, American Samoa, Western Samoa, Tonga.

2000: Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia

2001: New Zealand, Fiji

2002: Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji

2003: Australia, New Caledonia, Wallis & Futuna, Tokelau, Palmyra, Hawaii

2004: Hawaii to San Francisco

During this extended voyage we hosted a number of visitors (Caren's mom Nicki; my friend Yann Cordelle; Caren's sister Sue; Rachael's friend Laura MacMillan; Angela Hey and John Mashey; the Starling family; and Don and Edie, who came to Rachael's Bat Mitzvah).  And we took several home leaves.  We also put the kids in schools in Australia and New Zealand when we were not sailing during the hurricane seasons. 

We sent our first email from San Diego (thanks to our Inmarsat Mini M Satellite transceiver):

Jun 1, 1999: Email Sam in San Diego to John

Hi John and Mom:

Right now Caren and the kids are using the beautiful pool and hot tub at the luxury hotel / yacht club next door (the reciprocal membership scam is paying off already)! John Bell is out rounding up information on weather forecasts, and Rick Weber, our second crew member, is resting in his cabin. I am grabbing the free hour to dash off a few notes, including this one.

I am writing from San Diego Bay, where we have been docked since arriving in the wee hours of last Friday morning. John Bell, our Teaching Captain, used his local knowledge to find us a great end tie right off the main channel, with water and electrical connections, for $5 a night. As I type this note,I can look out the starboard side and see a marina crammed with mega yachts, and from the port side a steady procession of water traffic of all sorts.  Memorial Day in San Diego is the most popular yachting day of the year, and the parade is amazing.

We hooked up with Nicki and Lee two days ago, and have already accomplished two of the biggest items on our dwindling checklist:  teach Nicki to use email, and take Nicki and Lee for a sail on Rhapsodie. Caren's sister Sue drove down from L.A. to visit yesterday, so we had a nice opportunity to say good-bye to all of Caren's family. The family fest was particularly well timed, since Lee goes under the knife next week (open heart surgery).

We have only a few more items to accomplish in San Diego - provisioning, water maker checkout, and weather forecasting — before we depart for Ensenada to pick up Mike Agnew. We will probably leave here Thursday or Friday morning, pick up Mike that same afternoon, and then off to the Marquesas. Can I use the term "stoked" to describe our mood?

Oops - time to test the system. Will send more news later (this email is about to be sent by satellite!)

Love, 

Sammy

We picked Mike up in Mazatlan, Mexico.  He had flown home for a visit with his family in Edinburgh, but U.S. Customs wouldn't let him re-enter the U.S. because of some visa restriction; so he instead flew to Mazatlan, staying in a cheap room next to a whorehouse, and awaited our arrival.  

Rachael at a local shrimp taco restaurant at the Mazatlan port, with the owner and her daughter.  Probably the last Mexican food she would enjoy for a long time.

Our next email we sent en route to the Marquesas Islands:

Jun 20, 1999: Email Sam in San Diego to family re: Heading for the Marquesas

Hi again,

I'm sitting at the nav station at 22:34 hours your time (my two hour watch tonight just began). Our position is N 18 51, W 133 57. We are on a beam reach, moving at between 7 and 8 knots, over a fairly calm sea, with a couple of clouds, a piece of the moon, and Polaris right behind us.  We turned due south a short while ago, after 9 (has it been that many?) days of mainly heading West, on the advice of Bob Rice's Weather Window, Inc. (this course gives us less chance of running afoul of the nasty tropical cyclones that tend to come across from Mexico this time of year). So far, so good. A  little motoring, a little fast sailing, some spinnaker time, and each day gets a little bit warmer.   

Getting used to life aboard a boat - what can I say? It is a much bigger life change than I've ever made. Watches, meals, teaching, sailing, navigating - everything I now do, I've never done before, and everything I was used to before is gone. I go from excitement to fear to relaxation to panic - what have I got myself (and my family) into? So much to learn, so many things to go wrong, etc. etc. But hey, I haven't felt this stoked in a long time.

I also haven't felt this exhausted! Watches twice a day, meals, cleanup, home schooling - plus Caren and I are slowly taking over doing all the sailing stuff (under the watchful eyes of John, Rick, and Mike, of course), which means we participate in all sail changes and other sailing maneuvers. There is always something going on, so we rarely have a chance to just lie down and snooze. Nobody told me life on a boat was so busy!

I hope I don't sound like I am complaining. This afternoon, for example - we  had just taken down the spinnaker, put up the jib, gotten ourselves on the current beam reach, and I was lying down on the starboard salon settee, with  Dana in my arms, trying to coddle him into doing his paragraph (sending him to his room earlier had not worked); Caren was in the galley, marinating a big fat steak; Rachael was on the port settee, whipping Mike at a game of Life; and Rick was at the nav station. The boat was creaming along, the sun was playing hide and seek in the clouds, and life felt awfully full.

Oops - gotta go. The wind is coming around behind us a bit more - better put  on the preventer.  You gotta love this boating life.

Preventer is now on (it is a line fastened to the boom that keeps the boom from accidentally swinging to the other side of the boat - an "accidental gybe" that could easily separate the boom from the mast). Back to the letter.

You have the Marquesas pretty well figured out.  Bugs are a hassle (on land), there are a couple of neat historical associations, and that's about it - oh, yes they are considered by many to be the most beautiful islands on earth and, last but not least, they are the closest South Pacific islands to North America, right on the way to Tahiti, so anybody who doesn't stop and take a few pictures is crazy. We won't be there for another 1755 (nautical)  miles, but we are headed right at them.

Sorry about the Toyota hassle. I thought it would sell in a minute... How wrong I was.  And thanks for handling the mail hassle. It should peter out as time goes on, and my creditors give up on us, one by one.

My watch is almost over, and I'm going to sleep like a log until 10:30, when I have the second home schooling shift.

Love to all, 

Sam

P.S. Happy father's day, Big John. I love you a lot.