Hi all,

We have been in Croatia for 4 weeks now. Rik and Dinska met us in Zadar and we had some good sailing with the spinnaker on 2 days. the weather was good with lots of sun. It was good to see them. We went north from Zadar and ther were not many sailing boats in the area. the water is clear clear when the wind is not blowing.

We picked JM down from Zadar in a bay wherewe were anchored. He just left an hour ago.

We went to a national park and spent a couple of days that was quite nice. we then wnt to Sali for a friday night and met the Bora wind. The Bora comes down from the mountains at 40 to 50 knots. We were stuck in Sali for 4 days. Small town, good bar, good resturants but after 4 days it was enough. the weather broke ans we had a run down 55 miles to the south at an average.f 7.4 kts. under a double reef main ans 30% jib.

Next day we ran spinnaker in 20 knots, low seas with an average of 7.8 knots, clear, warm, sunny, the days you look for.

We went to the Split area for 2 days were we meet Clive that we had met in Italy 3 weeks earily.

He was the Captain of a 77ft. sailing boat.

Moving from Split to Dubrovnik was another day of spinnaker for the entire way with 16 kts. and sun with low seas.

Dubrovnik is were we met up with Sam and Cindy that were in Malta. It was very nice to see them They were a bit jealoys when they saw all the good times in Malta because they left early.

Sam grew up here so he is a health of information.

Ian and i are moving to Corfu in the next days and on to Greece to meet Ian's friends on July14th.

Jm has been a good mate on the boat. He has caught up on his sleep, and he can sleep if he has the time. We have seen some great places. Never thought we would be in this part of the world. Hope all is well with everyone following. Make sure you follow us on the Spot.

Brad

Leaving Malta 5-31-10

We should be leaving Malta tomorrow. The wind are suppose to be strong, above 25 knots, but we will see.

We have to meet Rik and Dinksa in Croatia on the 10th. so we need to get moving. Should be about 580 NM, so we have a few days of sailing and not much time to fool around.

The stay at Malta has been very good. The people are so nice and the prices for services are fair and thats all you ask.

Ther is so much history here for all to see. I would recommend this for people to visit.

The engine is fixed. Everthing above the block has been rebuilt or replaced and I only had one diesel leak when it started back up. There was a small crack in the injector return line that i hd to get brazed by a local man you took 20 seconds to complete. He wa so good at what he does, it was perfect. Had been doing that type of work since he was 14 years old.

Would like to thank the crew and the captain from the Marlena for all of the nice meals we had together and the time we had to exchange ideas and concepts from all the different cultures. It is like a real family and I welcome any to sail in the future if they have time. Especially to my new sons Rod and Taylor. All of the food was fantastic by Leonna and she taught me how to fix calamari. It wa so good. We probably won't see Laura due to her engagement and will be in France in her free time, I know I would be, sipping wine and smelling the flowers. Make sure to take time and do that.

Next post should be from Croatia. We will put the Spot on once we depart. It will be nice to get moving again. Hopefully the weather will stay warm now.

Brad and Ian

Malta Still Here

We are still in Malta. There are much worse places than here, but here weare.

We took the boat out for the shakedown and evergthing worked well except the engine overheating.

We got back in fine but the engine has positive pressure after 1 mnute of running and when the RPM's go up the temp. follows.

we now have the engine completly apart and the head has 2 very small spots where the cylinder pressure is leaking to the coolant water.

This happened in Flordia when we had water in the oil. The salt water scored the gasket and time has taken its toll.

The bus drivers going to downtown now call me by name when I get on the bus, so there are some good things about staying around for a while.

The head should be fixed tomorrow and we will put it back together. Freddie is taking care of the grinding of the head andgetting the parts for me. This is the best place for this to happen. We know people that know people.

We will probably leave on Monday because the 100 year old yacht Mir is having aparty on Sunday and we don't want to miss that.

Vicky was here for a week for her birthday. We had a nice time and met a lot of new poeple while she was here. She skould of spent more time but not this trip.

We have to meet Rik and Dinska in Croatia on the 10th of June so the presure is on to move. We have a lot of good places to go in Croatia because we met people who have been ther for 4 years and have special spots. They think we are going to have a great time.

As JM would say " we just pissed away another day and we didn't do anything".

This is a great spot for people crusing and we have had just a great time and the people here are just freindly and helpful.

We also inflated are liferaft taht was quite interesting to see what was inside. It has a lot of stuff inside to last for 10 days if you have to use it. we don't ever want to see it other than in the shop.

Brad and Ian

The Boats Floating

We are in the water finally.

The water line has been changed to accommodate the extra weight we have in the aft.

The spots from the salt water have been touched up on the mast and spreaders. Allis repainted.

We think we may stay here another couple weeks. People say the wind in Tunisia is up and the sand and dirt is carried on to the boats and it gets into everything. So we think we will pass this time.

The ports on the east coast of Sicily are also good so we will move that way as soon as we get ready to leave. The weather is warm now and the sun is hot and we are in a beautiful port so what the hurry is.

We now know the market is for good buys on fish and fresh food. There are some other things to do here but we just haven’t had any time making sure everything is ready for the launch.

We have met some good people here which always make it more interesting and you get good information.

The Pope was here Sunday; we were in the area and saw the crowds’ downtown but not the Pope up close.

Once we get I the water we will activate the spot and in the next few days we will need to do a shake down sail off the coast before we head out.

Keep in touch.

Brad and Ian

The Start of a New Year

Hello everyone,

Ian and I are back in Malta. we arrived yesterday after a stop in Belgium to see Rik and Dinska and their children. They have changed a lot in the 5 months when we stopped last to visit.

we spent Easter with Danny Carrette and his family. It was a traditional dinner with some wines. all of the boys had their female friends at dinner also. It's nice to see them moving forward in their lives and there nice girls.

Malta is sunny and 70 degrees during the day. The boat came through the winter months OK. We need to put a new water line in paint and touch up the bottom where we ran into a few things, but over all everything is in good shape.

We are staying a few blocks off the waterfront in an apt. while we are completing the prep work. the mast needs a bit of touch where the salt has attacked the paint where it has been nicked or scratched.

The fresh water in the Great Lakes doesn't attack the finish like it does in the salt.

We are scheduled to go in the water next Tuesday and the a few more days here before we leave for N. Africa for 3 weeks while it warms up in EU.

We had the Spot on today for awhile so we should show up on google earth.

We are also going to do a better job of keeping up with the blog. Hope we don't see any pirates in Africa.

It is a blessing for the gopeds (small motorized scooters) we have with us, they save so much time traveling between spot to spot. Mine is electric and Ian's is gas. I have had to carry mine as much as driving do to great luck with a flat tire on the first day riding.

Brad

The Girls

Ian had a couple friends from home, Andrea Beldyga and Sydney Ball, come to visit for a couple weeks. During their visit they enjoyed themselves to the fullest. They were able to see a live performance by Fatboy Slim, a popular DJ throughout Europe as well as the United States. The following night the three of them went to a beach club until 8:00 in the morning. Once everyone returned to the boat and went to sleep, Brad and Suzanne began moving towards Spain. We set anchor outside a small island fishing village for the night.
The following morning we pulled anchor and made it to Spain in the early afternoon. We pulled into port for the next couple days. Ian, Sydney, and Andrea managed somehow to hitch hike back to Portugal to see their friends from Club NAU one last time.
The next pint of anchor was something else to take in. We were entertained with a parade of fishing boats and fireworks. The fireworks were launched from less than 100 yards from the boat.

Portugal

We are sorry for the delay on keeping everyone up to date on our travels.

We spent a few weeks anchored along the beachfront in Portimao, Portugal. During the time we found a nice location to relax along the beach, (Club NAU). It was more like a house without any walls, a beautiful view of the beach, and furniture made of pillows. There we met people from all around the world, whom we are trying to keep in touch with for possible future travels. The crew was also invited to celebrate the One Year Anniversary of Club NAU. The party included entertainment such a complete Jazz band as well as an electric violinist playing along side of a DJ. We all enjoyed ourselves that night, some may even say we had too much fun.