Hello boys & girls, we're in getting-ready-to-go mode, with a list of boat tasks that we couldn't possibly complete (or afford). So we're triaging the list, and focusing on the weekend of July 4 for departure from Seattle. We got a small start on the list last weekend, helped by David C. (in photo above) trouble-shooting the fore and aft sump pumps and load-testing the house batteries. It's a true friend who will spend his Saturday playing in the bilge with the sump. Actually, credit where it's due, it was Dorothy who was actually down in the bilge, but that's 'cause she's the smallest (which I believe she thinks is not sufficient cause to have to go into the bilge).

Dorothy has finished her finals at Seattle Maritime Academy http://www.seattlecentral.edu/maritime/ while I have two more tomorrow. A very sad event involving one of our classmates in the engineering program at SMA: his dad is the captain of a high seas fishing boat which sank in the mid / south Pacific this weekend past. http://gcaptain.com/forum/marine-incidents/5196-majestic-blue-sinks.html While the majority of crew have been rescued, the captain and chief engineer were missing the last news I saw. A reminder that blue water sailing - like life -- has it's risks.

One of our Diesel Duck friends, Dean, is just finishing up a Maine to Scotland, Atlantic crossing as crew aboard the sailboat Wiki-Wiki; here's the blog from another of the crew aboard: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/glorydays/

In that blog last week, one of Dean's shipmates wrote: "...the ever present thin line that you sense when you're out here -- a line that divides our optimism and good spirits from dread and fear. The line is thinner than what we experience in our daily lives. To get closer to it without crossing over is satisfying and provides a feeling of "having lived" and looked over the edge..."

A thought I can definitely relate to, both from our cruising experiences aboard DE as well as a lifetime of adrenalin-addicted risk-taking in the police.

Tomorrow, our very good mate Mac (retired Victoria Police, AUS) shows up to play the role of "Gilligan" this summer. Then, just before departure, brother John, Birdy, Molly & Kelly arrive to join us for the run up the Inside Passage. As John is still a working stiff, and has only two weeks vacation, we'll be running every day to make it up to Ketchikan AK in time for him to return to work. It's a possibility that our nieces Molly & Kelly will remain as crew for a bit longer - I'm thinking Ginger and Maryanne?

Another good friend, Dennis (who was chief engineer at Choy Lee shipyard in Doumen, just a few miles away from Seahorse Marine where DavidEllis was built) will arrive from China with his family, to spend July at the Seattle condo. I'm very sorry not to have Dennis' help with the more technical of my boat jobs, but as my guru Banzai Bozo used to say: "timing is everything". Hopefully Dennis' family will have a great time in Seattle.

Warning: next blog-post will include lots of those pesky technical details of jobs we're doing to the boat.