Just thinking about leaving home . . .

Hi everyone,

Welcome to our first Heron Reach Odyssey blog.  We are leaving our quiet log home in the forest

for the tight quarters of Heron Reach to circumnavigate the world.  We will be traveling with a rally of 35 or so boats to help bring awareness to climate change and how it is affecting the oceans.  We will be collecting data and working with NOAA, MIT, U. of Miami, Cornell University, UNESCO, and Plymouth University.  To find out more about the rally, check out Www.blueplanetodyssey.org.

But the life in the forest will give way to life on Heron Reach.  She's a 40' J Boat.  If she were a vehicle, she'd be a cross between a race car and a motor home, sleek and maneuverable, and some, but not much, living space.  Here's a pic of Jerry taken a couple years ago on a very quiet (windless) sail near Birch Bay on the U.S./Canadian border.  At that time we had no idea that within a few  years we'd be leaving our 20 acres and exchanging them for a full-time life on Heron Reach.

Right now, she's a total mess!  We have taken almost everything apart and we're in the process of repairing, adding systems, and outfitting her for the off shore passages.  Preparation for the trip has two main parts, changes in the boat, and changes for us.

We've been working out, building up core strength to increase balance and stamina.  This is a safety factor for rough seas and long watches.  We've also taken weeks worth of classes including: Spanish, using our new IPads, navigation,both using GPS and celestial, marine weather forecasting, sail rigging, sail repair, emergency medicine, provisioning, diesel systems and repair, refrigeration systems, marine electrical systems, using a life raft (here's hoping that won't be needed!), using radar, and much more.  We've also taught ourselves how to do all the boat up grades. 

Heron Reach is a 1987 fiberglass sloop J Boat.  The J Boats are famous for speed and ours rides easily in a light wind as well as heavy storms.  We've making several changes to her in perpetration for a circumnavigation.