Merry Christmas

I know it has been way too long since my last post but Rog and I have been very, very busy what with having to find Christmas presents for Santa to bring to Nicholas. We shouldn't have worried though because so so many people worried that there might not be anything under the tree for him that it is now impossible to walk by the tree! Well, it might not be quite that bad but he sure is going to be busy Christmas morning and after opening presents he will play hosts to friends on the islands and a few just sailing by. To our surprise, Judy & Torben Bentsen in the sailing boat Tivoli are anchored just offshore in the Georgetown harbor and will join us for Christmas brunch.

We will return to the boat shortly to begin our cruising season. Di's Dream has been in a slip way to long and she will attach herself to the muddy bottom on Banderas Bay if we don't get going soon. But First we must take a trip back to Carmel to celebrate my father and r

emember fondly all the stories he so loved to tell. We lost Dad on Dec 23rd after 96 wonderful years so we all need to get together to toast him with " in your eye" with his favorite Rob Roy Perfect cocktail .

This beautiful picture of Di's Dream crossing the finish line of leg three of the Blast was taken by Janet of the power boat Ozzie. According to her husband Jim,who was crewing for us, she has never centered a boat in a picture before! She certainly caught our boat in this picture and the following just perfectly.

If you look closely at this picture you will notice how flat the seas are, no waves, no sea chop which means no wind. At 3 1/2 miles from the finish the boat spread was all of 3.5 knots and quickly dropping. The guys had to get across the finish before the wind dropped completely.

The team got the spinnaker down and away quickly, they must have wanted that cold beer waiting on the docks pretty badly. I think they were hungry too!

There is certainly more of a wake behind Di's Dream as Rog motors her into the harbor than when they were sailing but that is ok. It was a wonderful three day adventure that had raised lots of money for school supplies for the children of Punta de Mita and we were happy to participate.

I took this last picture from the beach rather than at the end of the jetty where Janet was shooting. It had been an overcast afternoon but the sun kept trying to break through. Temperature was still very comfortable and all the beach chairs occupied to watch the boats sail across the finish.

Results not in yet

Wednesday was the start of the Banderas Bay Blast and we thought we were ready to go but our dockmate Mic was convinced we needed a little more bottom cleaning. Turns out he was very right because the winds were certainly light for the first leg of the three day event. Hopefully there will be more today.

Rog and our crew member Rog did a great job of supervising the last moment scrup. We had planned a boys day race so the girls were off at the beach having a "cold one" while we awaited the start off the Paradise jetty. We were very confused because we thought Rog was over early until he headed back to take the start perfectly timed. However, this being a very informal race people were starting at will so the girls on the beach just couldn't quite tell when the start actually was. Rog looked to be a little late.

So with plans for a great three days of sailing Rog has left the docks. Our crew will be returning home every night and hopefully returning for more fun. No injuries along the way is what we are shutting for.