We are ready to set sail tomorrow, from Hawaii to San Francisco. Pascale and Francois are going to fly home, while Antoine and I will be sailing our boat back. We have two new crew members: Pete and Jay. Both have plenty of blue water experience. Pete is from the Bay Area and Jay is from Austin Texas.

We have been extremely busy the last 4 days, provisioning for the trip and packing things away in every nook and cranny on the boat. It's incredible how much stuff you can carry. We have about a thousand dollars worth of groceries stowed away in various places or in the refrigerator or freezer. And that doesn't include the wine cellar!

Also, we have done a huge amount of maintenance and upgrades to the boat while in Hawaii: we removed both sails and have them reinforced and restitched by a sailmaker; we replaced two halyards; we had a rigger inspect the rigging and adjust it; we placed a new LED red/green/white tricolor LED navigation light at the masthead because the red/green lights on the bow pulpit that work fine in coastal waters cannot take the punishment of an ocean crossing; we replaced a seacock and put new bottom paint on the hull. The last few weeks has given new meaning to the acronym BOAT: Break Out Another Thousand.

Tonight is our last night together as a family until we get to San Francisco... we're going out to a restaurant to ... celebrate?? ... not quite a celebration ... we're not looking forward to being apart for nearly three weeks. Let's just say we're cherishing our moments together now.

I am realizing that this kind of trip/adventure is very valuable, in that it teaches all of us how important we are to each other and how much we will be missing each other when we're apart. That will make our reunion in Tiburon all the more sweet.