We just had our second potluck of the season and it was a huge success! we had about 25 people show up and a lot hadn't seen the schooner before. It is fun to show off this beautiful boat and all the work getting done. We have been receiving many donations in the form of boat gear and that has been great!!! We have also been getting a lot of school supplies for our next trip to San Evaristo and this year hope to extend our program to a few new communities. We are planning on heading out of La Paz and into the sea sometime in the beginning of December so there is still time to donate, either to the schooner(always time for that)or to the schools. Kevin, Tim and Sam are delivering a boat to Channel Islands Harbor so work on the schooner has slowed a bit. We are planning a big job of replacing most of the cabin top when they return. Keep checking in with the blog and email(sunbreakeducation@yahoo.com) when you can. Allison

Here it is, the end of October already and we are preparing for our second potluck aboard Vltava. We had a water pump donated to us from our friend, Steve, on Etosha, a boat here in town, and Tim has already gotten us hooked up with running water and a shower!!!!! It is wonderful to be able to come back to the schooner everyday and clean up easily, especially now that it is getting cooler. We had a very generous donation from our friend Kerry, on Anderson Island, of some much needed school supplies. We are planning on heading to San Evaristo by the beginning of December. I will post pictures after the potluck on Sunday. We are planning on showing Joe's Apartmaent as the movie. It is a hysterical story of a guy who gets in an argument with the cockroaches that live in his apartment and how, in the end, they become friends. You have to see it to believe it! Allison

This is our latest donation. It is a very big generator that we can us for both 110 and 12 volt power. It was quite a production to get it from it's place in our friends garage to the schooner. We needed a lot of help and Michael, from Tehani, and Billy, from Yellow Star came to the rescue. We had set up a block and tackle off of the fore boom and were able to get it on the boat with no problems. Tim has spent all day today cleaning and checking it all out. Prognosis is great! Allison

hurricane Norbert

As you have heard, there was a small hurricane yesterday.
There was about 55 knots of wind and the waves were about 2-3 feet.
Dad, Sam, and I were on Sunbreak with the animals.Freckles,our dog and Sinco(or Yaoweme) our new kitten. Surprisingly the kitten loved the rain,wind and salty fur when Freckles(our family diva) sat in blankets down stairs in the corner.The hurricane lasted about a day. Starting Friday night and ending Saturday night. Meanwhile dad Sam and I played four games of monopoly(all four Sam won) and watched two movies and read three books.I took some photos(me being the artistic one)on my film cannon camera and mom took some on digital. Only two boats broke loss. They both ended up on the sandbar and no one knows where they are now.Other then that it was basically roll roll pitch pitch ow ow wet wet(you know,the basic) well I hope to be able to write more later. Izzy
if you want to write me on my email it is izzypaz81@yahoo.com and Sam's is innoutkid@yahoo.com

We survived Norbert, the tropical storm that hit us yesterday. I have included some pictures for your enjoyment. We saw gusts up to 50 knots and at one point the spray off of the water left your lips salty. Vltava had one anchor out another to go. It was nice to see all that wind and know we weren't going anywhere! The second anchor got loaned to us in the last hour and Tim, Kevin, and I worked on getting it aboard and a bridle made for the anchor that was down. We finished just when the rain started. Sunbreak had a much bumpier ride as it is a lot smaller but everyone faired well and the kids and Kevin stayed occupied playing monopoly and watching movies. There is another storm headed our way but it is already weakening and heading away from us so maybe we are done for the season. I'm ready for cooler weather! Allison

We are spending our times these days tracking Norbert, the category 2 hurricane heading right for us. The little boat is taking down all their canvas and things on deck. They will stay on the mooring for the storm as our paperwork isn't in our hands from the purchase so we won't be accepted in a marina. We are probably safest out aT ANCHOR. For the big boat we are taking down all the canvas and Tim has covered all the holes, where hatches once were, with plywood to try to keep the water out. We will stock up on all we can and hope we get spared. If anyone is is interested in seeing what is going on down here, check in with eebmike.com and he has very updated weather for this area. Not much else. we are very busy and may loose internet so bear with us. Allison

I finally figured out how to get the pictures back to the blog. These are pictures of our potluck from last night. The trimaran was just sailing by and we talked them into coming on board and having a drink and some dinner. They had a great time and really got to see how the other half lives. They came from San Diego and were just borrowing their friends sailboat. They couldn't believe their luck! Not much else today. Allison

Well, The kids and I are finally settled back into life in La Paz, which means hauling water, walking the dog and of course, school. We purchased a new curriculum this year and the kids are really liking all the new courses. It takes more time during the day but they seem to be enjoying the content. The schooner is coming along great. Tim did a lot of the pretty work down below, even carving and painting the name plates by hand! Kevin has put a lot of work in on the bowsprit and is up to the 4th coat of varnish. You can actually see your reflection! Tom and I are planning to tackle the sail covers when Kevin and Tim head off on a delivery to the channel Islands at the end of October. We had a pot luck on board last night and it was a huge success. Isabelle counted 23 people here and everyone brought something to share for dinner. We topped the evening off with a showing, out side with a big screen, of the movie Captain Ron. Everyone who came commented on how great the schooner looks. Our good friend Mike had even surveyed the boat for us, originally, and at that point told us to run away screaming. Last night he told everyone how he has to eat his words as the boat is amazing!!! That was a great feeling! Anyway, I can hopefully post some pics with this entry of the party last night. More to come. Allison