Finding myself in the Maritime Museum in Brisbane

I arrived back in Australia a few days ago, flying into Brisbane. Even though everybody there is still reeling from the double whammy of horrific floods followed by a cyclone, I was able to have a few useful meetings, including an all-important taste test of the rawfood crackers that are being prepared by ROAR Foods for the Indian Ocean crossing. There was also time for an interview with the Sunday Mail, and a surprise encounter with myself in the Maritime Museum. Many thanks to John Gardiner, David Tangye, and all who made us so welcome in Brizzie.

Now I’m back in Western Australia for a few days to check on progress in Fremantle (thanks to Janet for the use of her house for these few days). Yesterday June and I went to the Annexe of the Royal Perth Yacht Club, which will be my push-off point in about 7 weeks from now. A large pile of goodies had accumulated during my absence, so much fun was had opening parcels from Kakadu Golf Gloves and DaKine, as well as packages containing various technological bits and bobs from my trusty helpers in California, Ian Tuller and Jay Gosuico.

Sedna stripped of all her hatch covers, seat runners, etc.

Tomorrow I will see Sedna (formerly Brocade) for the first time since she went into surgery at Ben Punch’s boatyard. He has been sending me regular updates. There are various waggish jokes about boats and expenses, e.g. that “BOAT” stands for Bring Out Another Thousand, or that a boat is a hole in the water into which you throw money – and rowboats are no exception. Although Ben’s updates have been much appreciated, it seems they invariably include the discovery of some problem, and a resulting increase in costs. Ben is well aware of my tight budget, and is keeping the cost as low as possible, but even so I am now looking at a considerable shortfall.

Delamination on a solar panel. Two panels are affected.

I recently came across Hofstadter’s Law: “It always takes longer that you think it will, even when you take Hofstadter’s Law into account”. I’m sure that Mr Hofstadter would have had something similar to say on the subject of financial outgoings too.

Other Stuff:

If you’d like to sponsor a mile (or more) of my Indian Ocean row, it’s a bargain at a mere $10. I’ll be setting up a page on this website soon to track which miles have been sponsored, but for now it’s pretty wide open. To sponsor a mile, donate using the PayPal button on the right, and send me an email via the Contact form to let me know which mile(s) you would like to sponsor. Most numbers between 8 and 5,000 are currently available. On the day that I row your mile, I will give you a special mention and a thank you on my blog.

It’s your way to own a bit of my journey, and to send a bit of inspiration my way. Thank you!!