Hi Georgs, I am trying to decide whether to leave the boat here in Trinidad for a few months or take a chance with the hurricane season & go on up to Florida. Last year was calm although they had forecast a busy season; the year before they got slammed by Wilma which did damage to my house. I will decide in a couple of weeks. The advantage to going North during the hurricane season is that it's usually calmer. Chartwell's bottom needed painting anyway because, for some strange reason, the paint was peeling on the starboard bow. At the moment I am doing maintenance which was not done since Malaysia such as cleaning the upper dry exhaust stack which accumulates a lot of soot on these long passages. Also, I had new stabilizer wires made up because the old ones were stranded in places; they were made here in Trinidad after the last trip around the World. I guess that 40,000 miles is a good life for towing wires ! I have an all-wire system which allows the fins & poles to be raised & lowered by 240VAC electric winches; the downside is that the wires transmit sound throughout the boat. If I do go North soon I'll let you know; I will be staying until after the first of the year before heading West across the Pacific to Malaysia. Best regards, Larry >>We arrived in Trinidad on Monday, 8 days from our last Brazil stop which was >>Fortaleza. This passage really began in Cape Town > >Congratulations, Larry, on another long passage well made! > >Anyone on your latest crew take photographs? I'm still anxious to >get some so I can feature them on Trawlers & Trawlering site. > >When do you expect to tie the knot on this circumnavigation and >return to Florida? I very much want to meet you, see the boat, and >interview you for a feature story in Power Cruising.