Weed, California
Much has happened to me since I last wrote, and much has happened to my boat since I last saw her.
Last night I arrived back in San Francisco at 5pm. First stop, a meeting and dinner with the guys from Landfrog – who are keen to get involved with my Pacific row, despite being Landfrogs not Seafrogs.
Then this morning I met up with Perry Dillon from Davis Instruments to take delivery of a Vantage Pro weather station, which will gather weather data while I am on the Pacific, to be fed back to my website and also to the Royal Navy to help improve the accuracy of the weather forecasts that they are providing.
I met with Perry at the workshop where Sedna is now living. I hadn’t seen her since I dropped her there a month ago. It is rather salubrious – mostly used for the maintenance of helicopters, the workshop is immaculate. You could eat your dinner off the floor.
It has two extremely good things in its favour:
1. It is being provided free of charge by Bob and Kelly, a very kind couple who as a result of my Woodside fundraiser are providing the use of their workshop as a form of sponsorship
2. That sponsorship includes the services of their helicopter engineer, Rich Crow, who in my absence has buffed Sedna to a shine not seen since pre-Atlantic days, repainted her decks, and is refurbishing her damaged rudder.
Time is now getting very short – just 7 or so weeks to go until launch (actual date to be determined by the weather) – but with Rich’s help I am confident that Sedna will be ready… despite the fact that she is now on the road again. I am driving her north to presentations in Oregon, then in Colorado, before returning to San Francisco at the end of the month for the final countdown.