Joyce, the new Skipper of
Zephyr, now refers to
Too Tall as
St. John, The Boat Giver. It was last month that Too Tall, after reading the blog about Joyce, gives her the
Vagabond 17, Zephyr. You might remember back in Sept 2010, while I was taking some test runs across the Columbia River bar to get my keel wet with salt water I ran across
Storm Bay, the Tasmanian sloop with Chris and Margie at the helm.
I have kept up with their travels, which have landed them in the Sonora Desert of Mexico and Arizona.
Storm Bay is hauled out near San Carlos, Mexico, while their Captains buy a land yacht(RV) and travel on land for a while. I figured they might like to connect with Joyce and see if she could assist them. They couldn't be a better match for friendship to flourish and Joyce was able to assist them.
I'll let Joyce take over now, for this is her first boating blog entry. I'll let her tell some sweet stories and then she will have to start her own blog. Hira's Blog continues to shine on my life. Last month, on their way up from San Carlos, Sonora Mexico, the crew of Storm Bay stops at our house for dinner and to meet for the first time. We have been introduced via our mutual and dear friend Hira, who met Margie and Chris up north on the Columbia River. They are getting ready to find a land boat, an RV, and cruise on land for a while. We have a delicious meal together and instantly connect. My partner Phyllis has lived in Australia and the three share common love of the land and interesting perceptions of the culture. We say goodbye for the night knowing they will be back after buying their RV and driving down again, back to Mexico.
Margie, Joyce Chris and Phyllis
On Sunday, May 9, the land boat
Rocky arrives at our house as we get ready to leave the next morning for Lake Roosevelt to put Zephyr in the water and get some wind in her sails. It feels like a kind of role reversal, as I remember our 24' travel trailer, we had a few years ago. Chris helps me with the outboard bracket on Zephyr as it sticks, not going up and down easy. He sprays on some lube and we figure that my long shaft of the 25 ft. pd. electric motor I have will work just fine and he helps to get the solar panel connection to work to charge up my new marine battery. They stay the night in Rocky out front on the street and in the morning we say a quick good bye as we have errands before driving up to Tonto National forest.
There will be more coming about Joyce and Zephyr and in the meantime Hira is making another trip to Shatoosh getting preparations done for their upcoming adventure. Alot is taking place and the culmination of a year's planning is upon us. Excitement is building within Joyce and Hira as they are about to embark on another pacific voyage.
