July 31, 2008

Majuro News
All is well here. We are eagerly anticipating Zac’s arrival. He is the 16 year old who is aiming to be the youngest to solo circumnavigate. Ted is talking to him twice a day; he is only 400 miles out now (from Hawaii). Zac’s father arrives Friday with the support team. Zac will probably get in on Saturday. Zac is a budding photographer and has 3 cameras attached to different places on the boat. They plan to make a documentary of his voyage. He sounds like a nice kid on the radio. Seems very self-sufficient with a good head on his shoulders. The yacht club is planning on supporting his visit and the locals plan to meet him at the pass and sail with him down the lagoon in traditional sailing canoes. Should be a great photo op. If you want to check out Zac’s blog, just Google Zac Sunderland and his links will come up.
Last Saturday we went ashore and saw a bus-load of pale, white, confused-looking young people. The new teachers have arrived!! We welcomed them to Majuro and started talking to a couple of them and immediately enlisted Jack and Evelyn to crew on Sequester next race season. We miss “our girls” terribly and hope to make another wonderful connection with the new teachers.
We’re working on the “to do” list to get Sequester ready for our outer-island experience. We plan to sail up to Ailuk, about 250 miles north of here. That is where they still build and sail the traditional canoes. We will be gone from Majuro for about 2 months (September/October) and may visit some of the surrounding atolls near Ailuk. We’ like to get back here in November, as the next season of cruising boats will be arriving, the races will get underway and there are the holidays to celebrate. We’re expecting about 50 yachts next season. Last year we had 35. Right now there are 12 of us. Majuro is becoming more popular with the cruising fleet, as the anchorage is safe and there are no storms. The American yachts can stay as long as they like and shipping packages back and forth to the States is easy. It will be fun to meet lots of new people. Karen