Welcome Conan

Our crew member, Conan, arrived yesterday.  His positive and inquisitive spirit is a welcome addition to Wayward Wind.  He brings with him some serious sailing experience - and experiences - as we learned from his stories.  Probably the most exciting was on his journey across the Atlantic with Force 8 winds (dat's alotta wind!) and 40-foot waves.  From Calgary, he's a science and physical education instructor at a university there as well as a physical health consultant.  Through crewing, he hopes to gain knowledge and experience so that he may take his wife and twin sons (now 5 years old) on an extended journey on a sailboat of his own.  I think, however, that he will teach us more than we will teach him.  Welcome aboard, Conan!

An hour after Conan arrived, Brian came by to help us with our SSB.  Another friendly and knowledgeable spirit, Brian, who holds a PhD in communications, is in a local radio club and knows just about everything about radios.  Our SSB receives communication as far away as Canada and Panama but cannot transmit.  Through phone calls and emails, Brian has given many suggestions which has gotten us this far.  Yesterday he brought his testing equipment to WW to see if we could solve the problem.  We were able to transmit at a low level and had a response, so someone out there heard us and called back.  The level, however, was low, so Conan cleaned the connections, and this morning we will drive to Jacksonville to get a part, although it's just a covering of a connector so probably won't make a difference.  Brian would not accept any compensation for his time and only asked for an email about our trip.  We'll send him the blog link.  Thanks, Brian!

The past three days, we've stowed the rest of the food and other things.  In the next few days, we'll finish setting up the satellite phone and email (for emergencies), finish orienting ourselves with the chartplotter, register the dinghy (still waiting for the title in the mail), go out for a sail close by with Conan so he can become oriented with the boat under sail, drop the car off at the used car lot, and buy the fresh food.  We'll plot our intended course and take off, hopefully within the week.