I arrived in La Rochelle two days ago. POV 2 is in the water on a small canal next to the Maritime Museum. Pictured here is the boat nestled among some other boats that have been recently launched. It's an interesting process to see how they move the boat from the factory (almost 2 hours away) to La Rochelle and then get it commissioned with a mast and rigging. Take a look at the gallery of pictures of other boats before they're launched.

Zach, my nephew, arrived yesterday morning and helped me unpack boxes all day Sunday. We unpacked over 50 boxes. Take a look at the gallery for some pictures.

Last night Zach and I went to dinner with Jim and Debbie Veiga, the dealers in Puerto Rico (Atlas Yachts) who sold us POV 2. Jim has spent 4-5 hours giving me briefings on all of the boat systems. A ton to remember but the good news is there are also written manuals!

Today we do a sea test and will leave the canal where we're docked right now and move to La Rochelle's main marina. To get into the maing harbor, we will wait for high tide (around 10am) because the canal is behind a lock and each side of the lock has to have the same water level before the gate can be opened.

I have a feeling the rest of the week is going to be just like the last two days: an endless number of provisioning tasks to complete before we set sail early next week. But there's no place better to do it than in La Rochelle, a medieval town on the ocean with perfect weather.