The search for sponsorship for my voyage is still moving along, and there are a million other details to attend to from ordering food to studying the pilot charts. I had a great chat with Andrew Burton from Cruising World today about my trip and all of the preparations going on.
The trip around Vancouver Island was put of because my focus right now is finances, but getting some sea trials off the coast will be a must for before departure. A test run will show many of the weaknesses in the boat and allow me to fix them before it is too late. A few days of sailing to windward will reveal a whole lot about how a boat handles and what kind of improvements she needs.
As I am beginning to accumulate some piles of sailing the difficulty of fitting all the supplies for nine months is becoming more apparent. It will be a challenge, but I am sure it can be done. Since I will be living quite simply at sea, my most of the space will be taken up with freeze dried and non perishable food. That doesn't mean that a fair amount of room won't be sacrificed for sails, water, communication equipment, tools, safety gear... The problem will having some space left for myself!
There is a whole lot to do, and about seven weeks until blast off. I cant wait!
Fair Winds,
Ryan