Cameron, Travis, Gary, and I left Bradenton at 5 am New Year's Eve and sailed to Key West arriving about 9 am on New Year's Day. It was a broad reach with the wind between 15 and 25 knots. It is about a 200 mile course and we made great time.

We traveled to Italy with our friends, the Williams, and their kids. We flew to Rome and spent several days in a small hotel near the Spanish Steps. We went to the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Roman Forum, Trevi fountains, Pantheon, Vatican Museums and many other churches, plazas, and museums. After a few days in Rome, we rented a car and drove to Orvieto, Italy, north of Rome on the way to Florence. We rented a villa about 20 minutes outside of Orvieto in the Italian country side. It was a gorgeous house on 4 acres with 5 bedrooms and a flock of sheep with bells that serenaded us at night. We had a terrific week in Orvieto. We traveled to Florence on the train one day, drove to Lake Bolsena on another day and spent a delightful day at the local sailing club sailing on a Hobie cat, and attended a special 4th of July concert in the plaza in front of the Orvieto Cathedral put on by the Italian Cinema Orchestra. The concert included the rapper Mims as a special guest.

Photos of the trip can be found at the link on the right.

Cameron and I crewed on our friend's Little Harbor 53, Chasseur, in the 2012 Newport to Bermuda Race. We had 4 days of fast beam reaching with the wind completely dying just as we arrived in Bermuda. It was a great sail.

Photos on the right