Catching the trade winds: On the road again...

Tonight is our last night in Palma, as the weather has finally decided to give us a break and we have a nice window starting sometime during the night. If Tilly Baby cooperates and doesn't throw one of her legendary tantrums (a classic occurrence before leaving a place where she felt happy), we should sail out of here early tomorrow morning.

Over the past month an incredible amount of work has been done on the boat, both in and out of the water. When we have more time maybe we will post some before/after pictures of the mini-refit we have just been through. I have to give credit to amazing Captain Bill for pulling it off while becoming a Master of the Ocean (understand: passing the theory exam for the Yachtmaster Ocean course), and also a little bit of credit to myself for acting as Captain and managing all the projects while he was sitting in a classroom. Oddly enough, some of the workers actually seemed happy to have traded captains for a week...

We are not quite ready yet for the Atlantic crossing but a pit stop in Gibraltar in about 3 days should give us time to properly provision for the rest of the trip, and we will also pick up our fourth crew member there. Some of you might remember Camille, the other Frenchie who delivered the boat back from the Caribbean with us - she has been on board for 2 weeks already and has been helping with all the yard projects and crossing preparation. I'm not sure if Bill is happy or sorry for himself that he has to cross yet another ocean with 2 French girls on board, but I can tell you for sure that Angus, who will fly in from England on Friday, has not complained.

Below are some pictures of the great weekend that we spent with the usual suspects in Nice, France, 10 days ago. The crew from the Gunboats Zenyatta and Panthera got together once again to celebrate Crystal's birthday and the end of another successful season, to eat some great food, drink good wine (and Smirnoff Ice...), drive sports car on mountain roads, and make some cash at the Monte-Carlo casino.