Well, today was our originally scheduled flight to Sweden to pick up our boat and start our sailing adventure. Like so many others plans, ours have been put on hold as we wait out the Covid crisis; we rebooked our flight for June 1 and are keeping our fingers crossed in the meantime. We feel very fortunate to be healthy and safely bundled into our cozy home in Montclair, and our thoughts go out to those who are fighting the disease or are waylaid in a location where they would rather not be.

In the meantime we are trying to make good use of our extra time. We have completed writing up our safety procedures, crew orientation notes, and emergency protocols. We monitor the Nordic weather conditions daily and imagine optimal route planning strategies as if we were there. Kitty is grocery shopping for those who need assistance around our community, and Ace and I have been exploring new hikes in New York's Harriman State Park. Most of all, we have thoroughly enjoyed our daughter Katherine's company as she works from home in our basement.

Our plans? Depending on when travel restrictions are lifted, we expect to travel to Ellos to pick up the boat in late spring or early summer. Then we will play it by ear... summer cruising in the Baltic, or the Irish Sea, or ??? We may need to postpone our Atlantic crossing until 2021, but we are lucky to have time. We will keep everyone posted.

The pictures of the boat are courtesy of Jonas at Hallberg Rassy. It floats!