This cruise is dedicated to Neil and Sue Albitt.  Without their generosity and boat this cruise would never of come to be!  

Thanks!

We flew into Santa Barbara and went to the harbor to get on board.  Maude is a great boat.  It is a Swan 37.  The best thing about it was that it has a dinghy.  I love dinghies.  Dinghies are little inflatable boats that you can go exploring in all over the harbor or anchorage that you are in.  And best of all you are the Captain!  If you are lucky enough, your parents will let you take it out by yourself.  Haley and I love to do that.  Sometimes they make us use the oars instead of the engine, but that's okay.  It is fun to be out exploring.

The first thing we did was check out the harbor in the dinghy. Uncle Eric came down to show us around.

We went all over the harbor.  Then we went to the sand spit.  This is a sandy beach that is at the entrance of the harbor.   We landed there and took a look around.  I got a little to close to the surf and oops!

               I got all wet.  That was fun.  The water out here is real salty.  And when it dries, you get real sticky.  This is not like fresh water.  You have to rinse everything out or it will never dry.  It was not too cold, so I did not mind too much.

Well first things first, before you go anywhere on a boat you have to check it out from top to bottom.  So Dad went over the engine, Mom figured out the galley (that is the kitchen), while Haley and I headed for our berths (that is our beds).  We got to sleep in pipe berths in the forepeak (front of boat).  These are berths that have pipes on each side of them that are fitted with canvas.  They are pretty comfortable if you are not too big.  Dad and Mom slept in the aft cabin on a big berth.  The middle of the boat had the galley, navigation table, main table and head (that's the bathroom).  Check out this link for more details on the Swan 37 sailboat.

Now it is time to check out the mast.  So Dad, gets the bosuns chair on.  That is a chair you sit in while someone winches you up the mast.  Dad checked everything out and took a picture of me on the foredeck.  Try and find me...

Now it was time for a shake down sail.  We tossed off the dock lines and headed out to sea.  The wind was blowing and we were able to go pretty fast.  I even got to skipper Maude...that was great!

             As the sun set, we headed back for the harbor to get ready to cross the channel to the islands the next day.  Haley got to drive on the way back to the harbor.