We'll be in Coyote Bay for the next couple weeks getting as much done on the boat as we can. Then we'll head south to a marina in La Paz for the last week of March to provision the boat full of tons of food goodies. French Polynesia is extremely expensive ($12/beer; $2/roll toilet paper) so we will fill every nook and cranny that Confetti has. The plan is shove off for the 2800nm passage on April 2nd.

Crowded parking lot!



After a great sail down the coast we returned to the branch (by vehicles and trailers) and took everyone out for a sail on Confetti. The weather is finally starting to warm up and the days are getting longer!

Dan sailed Confetti 60nm down the coast to meet our course on day 6, in a beautiful bay called San Basilio. He spent 2 nights with us at anchor and then took 2 days to make the trek back upwind in a "norte."

Liz Hammond was on the trip to finish becoming a NOLS instructor, which she successfully did!




Getting ready to sail off the anchor, reefed down in some strong wind.



Our good friend "Dooglaz" Knapp.

The 10-day sail clinic was for NOLS instructors from other skill areas wanting to get into the sailing program. We had a nice small group of 7 people.

Our sail clinic departing from Coyote Bay in the Drascombe Longboats to head down the coast for 10 days.

Self-portrait by Dan of him squeezing into a very small space and contorting his body to fix our bilge pumps. Success!!

The blogmaster started work today on a 10-day instructor sail training trip. She will return on Feb. 19th. In the meantime, Dan will be doing projects on the boat (fixing bilge pumps, continuing work on the engine, and a million other things). We do make sure to have some fun, though, in between working on the boat and working for NOLS!

Dan returning the new branch dog, "Chelsea," to shore after she tried to swim after us in the dinghy all the way out to our boat.

Thankfully she befriended some folks heading out for a Drascombe sail.

Rich and Sheri Crowe, who built Confetti in 1989, launched a sistership, their new Farr 44 last month! We are hoping to get the two boats together sometime next month when they sail, "Tabu" down here. You can see pics at:
http://www.latitude38.com/LectronicLat/2007/0107/Jan19/Jan19.html#anchor463502

Our friends, Colin and Pablo, on their way back from a spearfishing trip in a Drascombe.

It's been rainy and cold here in Baja.

But the full moon last night was so beautiful as seen from a little boat ride we took.

And the clouds are clearing out, as the north wind begins to blow again today. Dan has been in the field teaching an alumni NOLS course this week. He comes back Sunday and we'll have a few days together before I head out on a course.