By John Ranahan, owner of Kijro

It seems like time for me to put some comments on the post. I’m sitting at TTSA in Chaguaramas, Trinidad, waiting for Lara and Jason to arrive on 2 February. Kijro is finally back in the water, and lots of work is still being done on her, getting her ready for the crossing. Today I’m having the new roller furler put on and having more electrical work done.

I decided about a year ago that I wanted to take the boat “home” to Micronesia, where my wife, Jean, and I now live. It is also the home of our elder daughter, her husband, and two sons. It is a beautiful, affordable place to live. Plus, it gives us the chance to watch the boys grow up. The plan for the trip is to go from here to Tobago, for the Tobago Race Week, then go to Carriacou and on to Curacao, where the final important piece of equipment, the water maker, will get installed. From there we travel to Panama, through the Canal and onto the Galapagos for a visit. The Marquesas and Tahiti will be the next stops, and then we will head north, winding up in Micronesia sometime late summer, if all goes well.

I came to sailing much later in life than Lara and Jason, but am excited about this journey. I have been an English teacher, both in the US and abroad, for nearly 38 years, which means I haven’t been too handy with my hands. This is changing, though.