For many of you who read our position updates and/or read our website, www.svwindarra.com, we seemed to just fall off the face of the earth or the surface of the ocean or drop over the edge. Well, we are still alive and we are getting ready to go cruising again.
2004
In our last position update, October, 16, 2004, Rich, Sarah and I had sailed Windarra back to Shilshole Bay Marina in Seattle and Katmandu had flown from Brisbane, Australia to Seattle to join us and Jesse had gone off to college at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Many changes have taken place since then including the heater system Rich put on the boat. It is cold in Seattle !!!
2005
In January, I started work as a contract engineer at Boeing, working in the power lab on the 787 program. I did system engineering and helped add the airplane simulation capability to the lab to enable 'flying' the power system. It involved working lots of overtime.
Rich helped out with my parents, as well as keeping tabs on Jesse at college, Sarah finishing high school on the boat and boat projects.
2006
Rich and I moved my parents from their home to assisted living in the north end of Tacoma in January after my mother stay in the hospital and a rehabilitation facility with a broken pelvis. When we first returned in 2004 we realized that both my parents had memory impairment issues. Rich would go down frequently to check on them. It took an event but finally they agreed to move. Having regular meals, medication and someone to help made a real difference. In July we sold their house after sorting through a lifetime accumulation of possessions.
In August, Sarah started school at Reed College in Portland, where she is majoring in chemistry.
The crew of Windarra is now just Rich, Katmandu and myself.
2007
The summer of 2007 was a tough time for our fathers. Thankfully Rich was able to go back east shortly before his father passed away. Unfortunately my father had a traumatic stay in the hospital at the same time which resulted in a move from assisted living to nursing care at the same facility. Shortly thereafter we moved my mother to nursing care as well.
Sarah's friend from Reed, Rae, came up to visit us in August. Rae left not only as Sarah's friend but also as a special friend with Jesse.
Rich replumbs and installs flush toilets on Windarra. What a great luxury!
2008
Rich, Sarah and I flew back east in May for Jesse's graduation from Widener. He now has a degree in Mathematics and a minor in Computer Science. Our friends, the Hansmann's, joined us. Sarah and I flew back to Seattle while Rich and Jesse took a road trip across the United States, including a stop at the Grand Canyon in a snow storm. Jesse and Rae drive from Pasadena to Portland.
Rich replaced the old electrical panel with a new one and rewires to ABYC standards. In July, Rich and I (and Katmandu) go cruising up to the Broughton Islands at the north end of Vancouver Island for 5 weeks. It was a great break from work and a chance to get away from the dock.
Jesse starts work at HP in Beaverton, as a software engineer, taking after dear old Mom and Dad.
Here is a group photo of all of us taken in December.
2009 My father passed away after his fourth bout of pneumonia in January. My mother was sad but she does not always remember him.
At the end of her junior year, Sarah decides to take some chemistry classes and do some undergraduate work at the University of Washington. She lived on board Windarra for the summer and then moved into an apartment of her own in September. I guess Rich's boat work was too much for her.
Windarra now has hydraulic steering and a new autopilot thanks to Rich and our friend, Dave Stearns.
In October, I switch from working in the lab to working on the 787 program directly in the systems engineering group but only working part time. There is too much boat work to do.
2010
So far this year has been consumed with boat projects. We are replacing the refrigeration, the radar, the HF radio, watermaker, wind generator, adding solar panels and other changes. Rich has been converting much of our lighting on the boat to either LED or cold cathode. You can read more about the changes on the Boat Projects page of this website.
My contract engineering position at Boeing ended on March 25. Now I am available full time to work on the boat.
Sarah has a paid research position at the UW for the summer in the CENTC program. In the fall she will begin her senior year at Reed College and plans to do a thesis in organometallics.
Jesse and Rae are planning to move to Seattle sometime this summer. We will be attending Rae's graduation from Reed before we leave.
So many projects, so little time. We can't wait to be out cruising again. We plan to head north to Alaska in May and we want to be in San Francisco before the end of September. In 2011, we will head south.
