2002

Ocean Planet Report
Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Ocean Planet Report
Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Last days in Cape Town…

It is a flurry of activity on the docks here in Cape Town, as all of the boats madly prepare for the Saturday start. Simone Bianchetti has perhaps the most overwhelming task as he arrived just yesterday (he broke his mast and had to install a replacement in Spain!). Most of the other skippers and myself greeted him on the dock yesterday…he is one very happy Italian to have arrived on land.

We have several logistical obstacles as we wait for critical parts (like some new custom battens from Composite Engineering) to clear customs. Some other parts have not even yet arrived in South Africa, as some vendors didn’t comprehend our pleas of urgency along with warnings about the customs delays, and then sent items late….

But we will make do! One example is that we wound up with the wrong adapters between our batten sliders and new batten receptacles, but fortunately a local machine shop is making us new ones. I hope they are done today so we can assemble the mainsail and test the sail tomorrow.

Thanks so much to all of you who have pitched in the last few days to get me going. Special thanks to Supplier Sponsor Intensive Nutrition, whose continuing support includes a batch of the latest Prometan Bars, and an additional new donation of $10,000! To all my supporters: please visit their website:(http://www.intensivenutrition.com/) and let them know how much I appreciate their help by ordering some great vitamins and/or Prometan Bars!! Please make their investment in me worthwhile.

Also thanks to recent (several are repeating!) contributors who have pitched in to get me going on Leg 3 (listed in no particular order):
Ayn Woodruff
Dan & Linda Newland
Rich Jones
Jim & Margaret Callahan
William Hoffman
Kaya Westling
Scot Lindblom
Stephen Washburn
James Rosman
Tom Thayer
Winton Cleary
Jocelyn Nash
Glenn & Paula Dewell
Brian Leary
Ashley Long
Ben Mewes
Randy Repass
Singlehanded Sailing Society (hi gang!)
Art Fowler
Svendsens Boat Works (my alma mater!)

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support! We are about halfway to meeting my financial survival cost estimates for the next couple months, keep em coming if you can!

Heading back to the bilge . . . I’m almost finished with our system for transferring the spare diesel in our keel fuel tank to the primary tank . . . .a brilliant setup, if it works like I planned….

Bruce and OceanPlanet