Dear All,

    The Marquesan Islands of Hiva Oa and Tahuata provided a wonderful introduction to French Polynesia. Our activities over our 10 days ashore were as varied as they were satisfying. Any pain from getting the legs used to supporting our body weight again was washed away by the sights and smells a walk in any direction revealed. Some highlights included the giant Tikis, the view from the grave of Paul Gauguin and our final farewell feast given by a local friend and family.

    As we are currently underway I am just going to try and hold your attention until I get a chance to fully describe these events and those of the long crossing.

    Many thanks go out to all the entrants in our little guessing game. The emails came in from all over the world and took much longer than we imagined to go through. (The power going out in town didn't help!)  The closest entry came from Steve Botts of the USA. Steve not only gets the calendar but can take pleasure in knowing that he played a huge role in the fact that we are here with Avalon in the first place! His excellent website dedicated to Yankee 30's gave us the our first knowledge of these great little boats. From our cold basement apartment in London many years ago we dreamed of sailing one. I can't give you the direct address know but search Yankee 30 through Yahoo and it normally comes up tops. I think its (www.stormprohosting.com/yankee30)???

    Second place goes to Rich Malone, formally of the UK, currently in NZ picking up his new charge. If you are in the market for a custom 72 footer check out this website. www.premiersailboats.com

    Congratulations to you both we will be in touch. Although Avalon could have gone faster with a little more wind we had the perfect passage and after 20 days you kind of stop counting. (Two bigger boats just got done in 24 an 26 days compared to our 22!) Our buddy boat for the passage Tramonto has a great website (They both used to work for Microsoft!) and their photos are of many places we have been together. www.svtramonto.com