Attentive readers will have noticed by now that there has been no word about our departure date and may begin to suspect that we have not perhaps actually left. We meant to leave today, but at some point in our preparations we observed that this was supposed to be a vacation and that we were stressing ourselves out over that date. So a couple of weeks ago we decided to be flexible about our departure. There's no reason not to be.

As it stands we'll take the boat to a boatyard in Richmond on Monday the 29th to have the bottom painted and the cutless bearing assessed, and we'll leave after that, so the real departure date is perhaps October 4th or 5th or 6th. We'll have to leave SOMETIME, but we're in no great hurry. We want to get to Mexico in early November, and it'll take us a few weeks to get down the California coast at the leisurely pace we intend.

For those of you curious about the lifestyle associated with going cruising, here's a summary of the sorts of things we're up to these past few days. We're doing more work ourselves than most people do, and we're more relaxed than many people this close to the departure date.

Friday, Sept. 19th: Drove in borrowed car (thanks, Richard!) to Santa Rosa to get a new gypsy (or wildcat, for the uninitiated) for the anchor windlass because the long-anticipated 5/16ths-inch anchor chain didn't actually fit on the very expensive 5/16ths-inch gypsy we had. The extraordinarily helpful people at ABI Marine took care of us and now we have a good, new anchor chain.

Saturday, Sept. 20th: Spent the morning provisioning for our Bon Voyage party. Afternoon spent with 75 of our closest friends, who turned out to see us off and see the boat. It was lovely seeing all of you--I just wish we'd had a few more days of party, although I don't know how we'd have survived. Sarka and I didn't speak to one another all afternoon because we had to many people to talk to! Thank you all so much for coming.

Sunday, Sept. 21st: In a fog after the party, installed the radar display and SSB radio.

Monday, Sept. 22nd: Began installing the new Monitor windvane self-steering device. If you want the very definition of a labor-saving contraption, the Monitor windvance self-steering device is it. This stainless steel monstrosity hangs off the stern of the boat like we broke off a piece of a bridge. They tell us it's as good as a third crewmember, one who doesn't eat or sleep or complain about the conditions. All it cares about is steering, they say, so we can catch a few winks or cook dinner when we're at sea.

Tuesday, Sept. 23rd: Continued installing abovementioned labor-saving windvane self-steering device. Drilled holes in the hull of the boat, which is the sort of thing any idiot would know better than to do. But the promise of a third, uncomplaining crewmember led us to do it, and the instructions (3.3.1, Step 4: "Level the gear athwartships") made it clear that drilling new holes in our old boat was the way to go. We discovered that cutting and drilling 316 stainless steel is possible but not pleasant--it reminded me of trying to chip away at a castle wall with a fork. There are other materials much nicer to work with.

Wednesday, Sept. 24th: For a labor-saving device, it sure is a lot of work to install. I suspect it's more of a labor-banking device where we put labor in and it pays back later. Got sunburned. Discarded two-day aspect of schedule. I am now convinced the windvane is stronger than any other part of the boat or rig. But we finished! Now we have a third, stainless-steel crewmember and a hundred bruises. I toasted the completion of this dreadful task with some Kriek ale courtesy of my Belgian colleague Corinne. Cheers!