Hello All!

This is Plus-Sixteen's first Blog entry via the Iridium satellite phone.

Paul sent me an email saying the spinnaker pole end is now working properly.
After our spinnaker practice on the bay last weekend we noticed that the pin
was sticking on one end. Paul called Forespar to order a new one and they
said to soak it in white vinegar to see if it would loosen it up first. Sure
enough it did and seems to be working now.

Tony has been busy getting the communications worked out for using the sat
phone to post our logs here while we're at sea. We hope to be able to post
regularly this way while underway..we'll see J

The SSB Radio is installed and seems to be working perfectly. The Fugawi
software is pretty cool, but makes the windows laptop run slooooow! We'll
carry the Mac with MacENC for a back up to the PC .. Well OK I'll probably
just use the Mac anyway since I've managed to get it to work with the
Iridium also.

Paul and Kathy will be showing off Plus-Sixteen at the RYC this Saturday at
the party so stop by and take a look. We have only very minor tasks left
before declaring ourselves ready to go! Me, I'll be stuck in Portland OR.
Cross your fingers I get to see some sunshine before leaving for Hawaii.
It's been pretty rainy up here.

We've also been talking to folks about putting together another RYC team for
the race and hope to make an announcement within the next week.

Cheers!

Tony
Team Plus-Sixteen, Navigator

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, But rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming --WOW!-- What a
Ride!"