Date: 31 May 97 10:50:27 EDT
From: Nellie Gruender <104675.2134@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Going to the States

Everyone,

Today Rainbow Chaser heads for the states. Many people have asked us if we miss home. Our reply always is, our boat is home, but we do miss our family and friends.

As much as I love sailing, long passages get boring after awhile. 6-7 days out is a long time, and my rear gets sore from sitting a lot. With any luck we should have the winds and the currents with us, so hopefully it will be a swift trip. We're planning for no encounters with BIG BOATS, or oil rigs.

Once we're in Rockport we're going to take everything off the boat, and re-evaluate what we need. Then will come the process of fixing, redoing, and changing all of the things that we want to make better for next year. We have learned a lot during this first season. We can't wait to see all of our friends, and family.

I think the most comforting thing that we've confirmed is that by in large everyone, sailors, and natives of the countries we visited, have been wonderful. The boating community is a very tight knit group of people that will always go out of their way to help. We found in Georgetown, Bahamas that if you needed a spare part, and announced it on the radio, you usually had numerous offers of the part. We've met people in the afternoon and had them over for dinner that night, and we'll most likely never see them again. I think about the neighborhoods where people live next to one another for years and never exchange a greeting. We would allow Zach to take the dinghy to the beach by himself and play for the afternoon without concern for his safety. Everyone knew he was Zach from Rainbow Chaser and we were standing by on VHF 16.

We won't be emailing for about a week, but we'll be back on line once we hit the states. Even though we'll be somewhat land locked, we'll keep the stories coming.

Nellie
Aboard Rainbow Chaser
Isla Mujeres, Mexico