Aboard the vessel "Finalamente" the owner Ni Orsi with Ray Hawkins from the Stockton Sailing Club, myself Randy Sparks from the Santa Cruz Yacht Club and a Brazillian delivery captain named Babaloo from Dolphin Yachts in Aracaju we are pleased to be doing the boats maiden voyage to it's new home in Genoa Italy. So far the new Dolphin 460 has proved to be a comfortable rocket ship as we are enjoying the ride in 10 to 14 knots of wind at 8 to 10 knots over the ground.
The last thing we scratched our heads about before we left this morning was the E-mail system but with much perseverance and patience we seemed to have made it work just in the nick of time. The next to last thing we made work was the radio. Last night I talked to Don and Katie Radcliff who are from Santa Cruz and finishing up there 16 year around the world trip. At the moment they are "tying the knot" on this passage from the Canaries to Puerto Rico on there Beneteau 463. Last night (04-13-07) they were at 17 degrees North and 34 degrees West and averaging 150 miles a day. We hope to do so well, but today we may hit 200 miles.
We are comfotably blazing North by Northeast on a course of 60 degrees @ 05 Degrees South (Yes, headed for the Equator) by 34 degrees West. We plan on stopping tomorrow at the Archapilago Fernando Naranjo. It will be a quick stop because we are days behind our schedule that we planned by but the Archipelago is one of Brazil's natural wonders and has been protected by the government longer than any land under Brazillian claim, over 36 years.
More later.
if you E-mail me back do not use your "Reply" button. You must start a new E-mail so you do not send back the text of this message. (It clogs the system and takes a whole lot longer to download)
Thanks everyone and warm winds at your back,
Randy Sparks
Santa Cruz Yacht Club
/EX