You know when you’re trying to get the family out the door to go to a birthday party…you’re in the car with the motor running but perhaps your wife forgot her cell phone and she has to run back inside. Then, one of the kids needs to change a shirt because his brother spilled his juice box. And then, finally (ten minutes later) as you’re pulling out of the driveway, someone has to run back inside and get the gift, which is (naturally) never where you left it…that’s what it’s been like navigating our trip, except the delays aren’t as simple as grabbing a cell phone or a birthday present- we’ve been waiting out tropical storms and hurricanes. Even though you’re ready to go, all you can really do is muster patience and wait for the right conditions to get on your journey.

I knew there would be lots of unforeseen variables when we planned to sail around the world. So far, the biggest variable is the weather; and not only because we’re ship-bound, but because every time we wait for a storm to pass, we’re delayed in our route. I made some assumptions about how quickly we could sail from place to place. The goal was to be in the southern Caribbean by September, possibly Aruba. This location is out of the main hurricane tracks. However, we’ve been in Salinas, Puerto Rico, which is right in the midst of those very hurricane tracks. The area has had two close calls already. We spent them in a "hurricane hole" - a supposedly safe place to ride out a hurricane, if there is such a thing.

What I’ve truly learned to appreciate is that even when you have ideal conditions, the weather is always shifting. The rule is that you never “need” to be someplace, so if the weather is not good enough to sail through, then you wait. Similarly, you never need to “stay” someplace either, so if you have an opportunity to make a passage, you take it. As a southern California native, I am used to the weather being fine or stormy. When sailing, we actually need some storms to change the general trade winds and current. And when the trade winds come through, it is NOT good sailing weather. You need to adapt to the fact that the weather is always a work-in-progress and factor this into your route.

What I also learned is that while I can accurately plot the time it will take us to get from point A to point B, I was ignorant of the downtime we’d encounter as we waited for decent weather to depart from point A. Initially, we planned to sail from Florida toward Puerto Rico, and from there we would make a big jump south. However, as that track is mainly east, it places us right against the trade winds. So not only did we sail slower than I’d hoped, we had to wait out for little lulls in the prevailing conditions in order to move on. The wait was usually only 1 to 4 days, but that adds up. Also, since we were anxious to “stay on track,” we didn’t really enjoy the locations as we could have, since we were always waiting to leave.

In addition to Mother Nature, the other issue is timing. We either started too late, or too early- depending on your navigational perspective. So now we’ll wait out the rest of hurricane season where we are. And in November we will be on track with the more "typical" cruising plan. While I always knew the trip would be dictated by weather, I was not aware how much it would affect our day-by-day sailing. This is a factor especially when heading east (which will be seldom from this point on).

If you’d like to track our progress to date, click on this link to our website and note that the right-bottom side contains a map of our ports-of-call, with tracking provided by our partner GOST.

This link is to our second, kind of weekly, newsletter. If you are not receiving this via email, and you would like to, visit our ThreeLittleBirds.ORG site and provide your email in the form on the top left of the website.

When was the last time you played hide-and-seek? Or built a sand castle? Imagine your daily calendar as follows: snorkel, read the morning paper, email office and clients, build sand castle, conference call, play hide-and-seek. That's my work/life balance.



It's easier than I thought to mix work and family. And, as our lives are much simpler - no after-school commitments, TV, or play dates - we have more time to spend together. After dinner we take walks along the beach.

Technology has really liberated me in how I approach a work/life balance. My office on the boat resembles a little nook at the Mac store. I am connected to the California office via my iMac, iPad and iPhone. Being connected this way enables me to handle the boat and the kids while being available to the office. This multi-tasking energizes me because it keeps my contact with the business lean and focused and I am able to participate in most of the boys' daily activities. Our days are structured around their school, which starts promptly at 8:00 AM. Jake and Griffin have Math first, so I sit between them, read the Wall Street Journal on my iPad, have coffee, and help them when needed.



A big part of our days are spent at the family table, either with school or meals; and it is where the Leonard family multi-tasks best. We eat most meals together, so we use that time to review school assignments. Many of the boys' assignments provide discussion sections, so Mandi and I lead the discussion topics, and the boys bounce ideas off of us as well as each other. This process has helped build critical thinking skills in the boys - a valuable skill to encourage at any age. The "round-table" nature of these discussions also really helps ensure that they grasp the material.

We have always been an active family, and discovered that morning exercise helps the boys sit through school. That job has fallen to me. Also, during the school day, we try and take a recess to expend some more energy. Again, my job. And it's a win-win because I get to exercise with the boys. Yeah, I could drink coffee and greet the day in front of a screen, but this routine brings harmony to the day. Some of the activities we enjoy are walking around the local towns, kayaking, stand up paddleboard, Pilates on the boat, swimming, snorkeling and water polo.




One of the best parts of our trip- and it is by design - is that there are so few life distractions that we just spend time together. I love walking down the beach at night, holding hands with my boys. Or when we sail at night and one of the boys can't sleep, we watch the stars and contemplate life on other planets. And, after we put the boys to sleep, Mandi and I have time to be together to talk. Sounds simple, but we rarely did that on land- we were either too busy or too tired. Striking a work/family balance involves navigating each day by what is truly important, and being able to wear many hats. You'd be surprised how efficient balance is if you take time to think it through. Trust me, it's worth it.

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We are emailing an e-letter ever week or so with all our updates. This is the link to the web version. If you want to be added to the distribution list, send me an email at sailingontlb@gmail.com

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It was a relaxing beach day at a small little island just off the coast of the Dominican Republic. Picture a typical tourist spot complete with palm trees, vendors, drinks, etc. Mandi and I were sipping some local color known as the Coco Loco. Basically, it’s rum poured into a hollowed out coconut with a little coconut milk added – and I mean a little coconut milk. It was perfect.

Then Jake starts complaining that his head itches. This we’ve heard before. Mandi tells him “It’s just dry scalp.”

As Jake continues itching, a hat vendor swings by with different types of “Island” hats, some made with palm fronds. The vendor has a routine and keeps putting six different hats onto each of the boys. We thought they were funny looking, and kept laughing- which I suspect must have had led the vendor think he would get a sale. After a while, we were finally able to send him on his way.

Jake again complains about his head. Mandi finally takes a look…

Oops…

Then she checks Griffin and Luke.

Yep.

Lice.

So there we were, distraught by the notion of having to rid the boys – and the boat – of lice. Where do we get medicated shampoo? How do we wash all the bedding on the boat? Is there any more Coco Loco?

Then we notice the hat vendor way down the beach, putting the same hats on another group of people. He is relentless, putting hat after hat on the group. All we can think about is the lice. Unfortunately, in an attempt to get our situation under control and alleviate the boys’ discomfort, we didn’t get a chance to chase down the hat vendor.

We spent the rest of the day trying to find something to deal with the situation…no luck. We were in full combat mode by the time we got back to the boat. I got out my trimmers and gave each boy a military cut – they looked like official sailors.

Fortunately, we got on the phone with MedLink, part of our MedAire medical provider. Because of the language barrier in the Dominican Republic, and the fact that they have different medical policies and medicines we were at a loss for how to deal with the situation. However, MedAire was able to handle the research for us. We then had to wait until we moved to a new location with a pharmacy where we received a FedEx with the medicated lotion. (An over-night package takes 5 days to arrive in the Dominican Republic). Not sure what we would have done without the help of MedAire. Not only were they able to procure the proper lotion for us, they responded to our multiple emails in a very timely manner. Out and about in the DR, away from the boat, we were away from our satellite phone, but with wi-fi we could email questions and get responses from MedAire.

Then there was the laundry. Washing sheets for three boys on the boat is not easy. Without a nearby laundry facility, we spent an entire day washing all the bed linens, towels and clothes to finally rid the boat of our stowaways.

Now, where is my Coco Loco…