Women who sail.

Hello from the First Mate,

I am enjoying life aboard and south of the border very much. Living the dream does not come without a cost. The cost for me is the missing of my family, dear friends, and my poodle. Distance does make the heart grow fonder as they say, and I have found it shines a light on gratitude as well. Newly added to my gratitude list is the gift of reading. I have been devouring books. My mom and step dad Jim have always been avid readers, sometimes reading more than one book at a time. In the past my biggest reads were the long comics in the Sunday paper. What a decadent treat reading is. Who knew!

One of my favorite books of the season!

  I have been practicing my Spanish almost daily, about 15 minutes of book time each morning added to emersion and bit by bit its starting to stick. Brets being able to speak fluently is a major help, but he is not always with me on trips in town. If only I had taken spanish instead of 3 years of German in high school. I have traded das is gut for esta bien and Guten Nocht for Beinas Noches.

Women Who Sail seminar

 We are entering into our 6th month and I have already met so many women cruisers. I have become part of a network of women who truly love what they are doing. Some are part of a crew, many are first mate or Captain, and some amazing women are single handers. I recently attended a women who sail seminar. One of the speakers told of how her vessel was hit by a whale. The boat did end up sinking, but she was able to get the entire crew off. Another speaker has been a single hander for the 15 years since her husband passed away. During those 15 years, she has circumnavigated several times. As with my Spanish, we have been adding more to my sailing education. I no longer just pull in the main sheet, or drop the anchor when asked. In preparation for the South Pacific, and anything that can happen at sea, I have to be able to single hand the Liahona. That means I have to be able to sail her with or without the motor, I have to be able to transmit on Ham frequency, I have to be able to be the Captain if ever need be. Bret is not only amazing at sharing all he knows with me, I can tell he enjoys it. I hope it will help him to sleep more on long overnight crossings as well. The majority of my work life has been spent behind the wheel of a truck and my dad always said I had diesel in my veins. Now at the helm I am hoping to add a little salt air to the mix.

Urchin shrapnel 

The surf report for the south end of Matanchen Bay...NOT happening!

 I am looking forward to more surfing when the broken toe and sea urchin spines feel better, and if I can let go of more ego I will enjoy it even more. We were looking at magic seaweed surf report the other day checking swell and conditions in some spots we wanted to surf. One of the spots had a nice soft long rolling wave, and apparently was less " Sharky" than the neighboring break. At first glance we both thought it was a play on words and that the wave just had less of a bite. Turns out there is a break further up the coast that happens to be near a fish plant. Needless to say we will not be surfing near the fish plant, and my fear about black urchin spines is gone....

Catching a wave together in San Blas.

 I can here the anchor chain being raised, so I had better end this letter.

Hope everyone has a charlie charlie day,

SV Liahona
Marne and Bret