18 April 2006

During our stay in California we chartered a Beneteau 423 for a full day of instruction in the use of RADAR by a retired US Navy Captain. We learned a lot, but mostly we learned that it will take a lot of practice to use RADAR to anything close to it's potential.

21 March 2006

Tenaya is in the water in Bruinisse, but there are still a few projects to be completed. The RADAR pole is mounted and everything is ready for the mast, lifelines, shrouds and stays to follow.

We need to return to the USA for a few weeks to finish storing things we shipped back from our place in Belgium. While we are in San Diego we will purchase a number of things for Tenaya that are much less expensive in America (handheld VHF, mooring lines, EPIRB, etc.).

We enjoyed the afternoon looking into all the lockers and spaces in Tenaya, taking measurements of everything. Which of our favorite things can we find space for? Probably our rice cooker and a wok. There seems to be enough room for all the books I want to bring.

I can't wait until we return in April and can actually take Tenaya out of the marina! We scheduled April 24 as the day to meet with our salesman and have a day of instruction on the systems and equipment. Most of the electronics we will learn as we go along, but other things are critical to understand immediately such as the In-Mast furling, something we have never used.

We both completed a Royal Yachting Association VHF class in March that gave us our SRC Certificates to operate a VHF radio with DSC in Europe. Being an American flagged vessel we did not have to obtain this license. In the US you can apply for the VHF license online, pay your fee and it is issued.