Preparations.

Around 199_ we decided we wanted to do a "long" cruise on a sailboat.

We didn't have a firm date, but started general preparations for the adventure. Began studying morse code to get a Ham radio operators license; took first aid courses, and navigation lessons etc etc.

In 1996 we committed to the idea and set a date around August 1997. (to quit job, move out of house, and begin home scholling Anna and Chris.

A thorough search of Sailing magazines, internet, etc led us to Annapolis, MD. There we found a __ft ketch rigged sailboat (__) which was stucturaly sound but needed a lot of fixing up!.

We had it trucked cross-country, and in July 1997 she was once more in the water, floating on the Sacramento River. She was now named "Cygnus".

We put household stuff in storage and moved on to "cygnus" moored in a river marina just west of Sacramento. After 4 months of heavy work preparing her and us for the long travels ahead, we left the marina and sailed/motored down to San Francisco to start our 1 & 1/2 year sailing Odysesi.

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