IT'S GREAT TO BE IN PORTUGAL!!!!! We arrivsed Friday at 11:30. I had a visoin all the way across the Atlantic that we would be met with brass bands, champagnse squirting from many bottles and the mayor with a key to the city. There was no one!!!! The ARC has been great until we made the final leg. Someone really dropped the ball here in Lagos,, howsever.....with the Brits and one other boat full of Yanks, we have kept a still upper lip, pip pip and have made a bully good time of it indeed. We had our final party last night and the awards were given. We din not receivse one since there seems to be no awards for the slowest boat. It was a wonderful time. I was sitting with one of our new freinds from the boat Jon Seagull ( any ideas where that came from?) Tony had a hot fudge sundae and he gave me a taste. I passes the goblet back to him when I had had a few bites. My very British companion looked and said " Oh, did Tony pinch your sweetie?" The only response to that can be, "I beg your Pardon?" We have had a lot of fun and have made really good friends who will come to visit us andwe will be seeing them agian when we travel to the UK. The crossing was like most sailing experiences. One minute you are boared stupid and the next every muscle in your body is screaming and you swear the sea gods are toying with your sanity. Here's an example. It's 10:30, I'm on watch listening to John Denver sing about whales and dolphins and I hear a snap. I unhook my teather nd begin to search out the source of the sound. Soon it's apparent the the boat has taken a sharp left hand turn and is heading for the west (wrong way). I try to steer the boat back on course and find that there is no control at the helm. TONY!!!! It turns out that the seering cable snapped. TOny NIck and Stephano are working diligently to replace the broken cable with some rope when I notice that a huge ship has appeared on the radar 4.5 mile off our bow. I try the VHS. " THis is the sailing vessel ROnzinante calling the Very very large ship right in front of us...hello hello hello" At this point I have no consideration for the radio protocol. NO ANSWER. At 1/2 mile, the BIg Big ship altered course and passed unceremoniously in front of us.. Such are the stories of the sea.. At this time we aqre sittling in a pup at the marina where the white wine is 1.75E a glass. Life is good again. Looking forward to D'Elle showing up here and continuing the sail into the Med. Thanks for all your meaasges. It's great to hear what is going on in your lives. It keeps us connected to you and home. Love to all before the battery dies and this whole message is lost in the wonderland of computerville.
Michael And Nancy
So good to get your card, thanks. Guess you must be close to your next stop today. We were out at Laura and Jeff's place yesterday and found them hard at work. Lots of progress!! It looks so good. This coming week is going to be really busy for them too. We are having some real hot weather and so aren't moving too fast around here. Libations at BS Beach is the order of the day. Lots of weeding to do in the mornings. Working on the inside of the house in the PM. It's going to be one of those years. I got back from Alaska earlier than expected so can put in a little bit of garden this week. Grapes are unbelievable. Making up for last year's paltry yield, that's for sure. Take care of yourselves, can't wait to hear more of your travels. M&N
Sheri & Carl
Hello to all of you!!!! I hope that you had a nice Father's Day Nick & T!!!! We will be going to the San Anselmo street fair this Saturday and then having a BBQ, over at our place for the festivities, you will be greatly missed. The complex is heading towards being a "ghetto" again. Adam and I had to call 911 at 4:00am this morning and 4 cop cars and paramedics showed up due to rowdy tenants(806) that turned into a fight!!!! Some one trying to get out as the cops were pulling in hit my T-Bird!!! She'll be ok with a lot of buffing in the front. Need to call corp and get rid of all the trash they have let in. Thank you for the post card it was greatly appreciated. I know the palm trees were calling my name! I sent all the paperwork you requested to D'elle. Can't wait to hear more about your travels through Europe and your visit with your friends. Know that we miss you and love you lots!!!! P.S. I adopted another stray kitty, very sweet but Sam & Mia are not diggin it! XOXO Sheri & Carl (actual date of note is 6/23/06)
Hey guys,
Just received our second load of lumber and Jeff will be officially out there friday working with the contractor the plan is to have the sub floor done and hopefully they will start with the framing on Monday! I'm so excited it's really happening! jeff has the weekend planned allready for us and we will stay the course or die as he puts it, RIGHT! We miss you guys and hope that all is going well. Your adventure is always on all of our minds. Be well and please have nothing but fun, we miss and love you both.
Laura & jeff
D"elle
I know the Ronz crew must be having a good time. I haven't heard from Nick in days! I'm gearing up to head to Lagos via London. It's going to be one hell of a day but I'm hoping Nick and Larry will pick us up at the airport since it's about 60 miles from Lagos. I'm hoping Nick will land long enough at the right time enough to get in touch. There's SO much to talk about! I have tickets in hand and will depart July 7 from San Fran and arrive mid afternoon July 8. Nick and Larry should be heading back toward the boat by then (I hope) and it would be great to get a ride since the transportation issue is an unknown at this end. We don't head back until the 31st so will be looking forward to a couple of days 'overlap' with the Gourds. I'm glad to hear from folks that are keeping tabs on you guys. As yet haven't heard from the gal who used to sail on Ronz. Hope she checks back in again sometime. As for now, I'm filthy and exhausted to I think I'll clean up and crash....hopefully in that order. See you all soon! Who else is heading in when?? I'm hoping to get back late fall to put the boat to bed and then do some inland travel before heading back but we'll see. Gas prices are affecting the airlines too (at least that's their excuse) and the flights are outrageous! For now, hugs from all here!
Dean Goldman
Dad, Just want to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Steve & Lori Goldman
Nick,Tony and Sharon,
Glad to see your progress. One suggestion. Drink your bilge wine. You are near plenty more.
Steve, Lori and Max
Sharon
Hello All
We are now on the island of Sao Miguel. It took 21 hours to sail from Terciera. On the way we were called on the VHS several times by the navy ships that were in the same area. We saw 5 ships and we are pretty sure one of them had our nephew on board. Isn´t that amazing. Here we are out in the middle of the Atlantic and run into a relative. We tried to get the sailor on the VHS to let us say hi to him. but of course they are all very military and not inclined to run and get the kid whos uncle is calling from a sail boat. Some of the other boats in the rally will leave now for England or Scotland and some will also be going on to Lagos. Tonight there is a party so we can all say our goodbyes. We have met really good people and will be visiting some of them when we are in England. Also. tonight some prizes will be given for different catagories. We surely are hoping to get Best Dressed boat. Maybe we will get an award for the heaviest boat. (all the wine in the bilges) Today we are provisioning for the nest leg of the journey which will be 900 miles to Lagos. With good wind or no engine trouble we should make it in 6 days.Jeff and Laura, we are very excited to hear about your house. Save some work for us to help with when we get back. My sister, Joyce has been our contact for our float plans each time we set sail. I have not been able to reach her for a week. She probably thinks we sank and just doesn´t want to alarm anyone. When we get to the mainland, we will post again. Until then, Bon Dia
Lyn & Knute
We are truly enjoying this message board and keeping up with your adventure. You probably feel like seasoned sailors by now and certainly deserve the title. Our big adventure is putting together our new-to-us RV. We're headed to Santa Cruz for 5 days to attend a dowsing conference at UC Santa Cruz. We just returned from Phoenix to attend granddaughter's graduation - it was only 112 degrees. The rock slide on Hwy 140 is a disaster. The workers have to travel to Oakhurst and Hwy 41 to get to work in the Park. Yikes! What a long day. Tourism is terrible in Mariposa and everyone is crying the blues. Good always comes from bad so it will check out the creativity. They say it might be 2007 before the road is open again. The rocks keep falling and they are afraid it will damn up the river near the South Fork.
Other than that we are weed eating, weed eating and weedeating. Not as exciting as sailing the blue!
Adam & Liege
SOOOOO, TODAY(6/15/06) WE WENT TO GABI'S 8TH GRADE GRADUATION. VERY NICE, TOOK PICS AND THEN SHE IS GOING TO THE GRADUATION DANCE TONIGHT. EVERYONE IS DOING GREAT(MY SCHEDULE IS FULL THRU JULY 14TH). JEFF JUST CALLED AND TODAY THEY POURED THE FOUNDATION FOR THE NEW HOUSE AND ARE EXPECTING THE FIRST LUMBER DROP NEXT WEEK. THEY ARE "STOKED"!!!!!! ME AND LI WILL TRY TO GO UP IN THE NEXT 2 WEEKS OR SO TO SPEND THE WEEKEND AND SEE THE FRUITS OF THEIR HARD WORK. LOOKING FORWARD TO.................SORRY, BUT MY WIFE JUST WALKED IN TO THE ROOM NAKED AND I LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT. GOTTA GO.BYYYYY
Sharon
It was so good to hear from everyone. News from home is cherished. We left Horta on Tuesday and sailed to the island of Terciera. The Azores are really beautiful. They are very much like Portugal. Quaint, charming and just a touch seedy. That's the way we like it. The harbor here hosts boats from all over the world. We have met some of the others, but mainly we have been having fun with the other boats in the rally. What a fun lot of people. Most of them are Brits and Tony, Nick and I are beginning to think with a bit of an English accent, indeed. Tonight we will leave for the island of Sao Miguel. We will spend a few days there and then leave form there for Lagos. We are picking up another crew member. A really good sailor from Italy. I'm excited about it because we will only have to do 3 hour watches. We have been doing four and that last hour is the longest hour of your life. When we reach Lagos, Tony and I will take a month off while Nick and Larry and D'elle sail to Madiera. We will visit our friends in Hinckley England. We met them when we were in England last. From there we will go to Prauge and Germany then back to the boat on July 28th. We are looking forward to seeing some of you in Europe. I can smell my dinner cooking so I better get busy with my chores. best wishes to all see you later.
Jared
hey uncle tony hows ur travels believe it or not were in about the same spot if that blip on ur map is where u are i cant tell u where we are going but if we end up in the same area once i get there ill have to let u know things are good here lindsay is due in a little less than a month so im waiting on news of my son being born anyways hope to here from u and i hope u are havin a great time-- jared