New news

Sunday, December 04, 2005
Subject: Okay….so we've had a change in plans and we're heading back to Channel Islands Harbor for awhile. After some long, exhausting discussion, we've decided that it's too much of a financial burden to go sailing and finance the shop until it sells. Our shop manager, Casey, & Dad are doing a fabulous job keeping the shop running, but as all of you small business owners know….a small business must be tended to, constantly grown, & changed to continue success. And because of several unusual circumstances in the complex where our shop is located, foot traffic has been lower and sales are down. We simply can't leave and go sailing while owning the shop and although we still have it up for sale, it won't sell itself, and certainly won't sell if it isn't making good money. If we leave now, we will be committing financial suicide and we've worked too hard and for too long to make a dumb decision now. We've been pushing so hard to take off sailing that we were willing to do about anything to leave, including making a silly mistake. Apparently though, a few weeks out on the water have helped clear our minds and bring us to our senses!

So what now? Well….we're going to try and find a slip in Channel Islands harbor for the boat, Rene will look for a job, Michael will work at the shop for a while, make some exciting new changes to the store, dig in, get the shop running like a top, and sell it for what it's worth.

Let's be clear though….this is just a postponement, we're not giving up the dream, just delaying it a bit. Obviously, we're pretty disappointed, crushed really, a little embarrassed, & feel somewhat defeated, but are kinda looking forward to kicking butt back home until it's time to leave again. And hey, since the boat is ready to go….we can really enjoy playing on the boat and get it all broken in before we leave again. We're looking forward to weekend trips, doing some scuba diving, & trying to break anything we can. We'll write more later….Rene & Michael

Monday, December 05, 2005
We headed out of Newport Harbor at approx 6:45am this morning headed to Marina Del Rey. We're going to stay there for the night and then head to Channel Islands Harbor. We had a great time in Newport, we did a TON of walking. If you check out the Newport area, it's a huge harbor and we walked the whole thing, several times. Yesterday was our most adventurous day by far, we walked a little over 7 miles. We checked out all of the gift stores and have some great ideas for how to doll up the shop when we return. Chad had a great time in Newport as well. He raced on both Saturday and Sunday - Saturday he raced on Lido 14's and Sunday he raced on a CNC 40 named Cha Cha Cha and they came in 1st!! They had some great wind - 30 knots when they first started the race.

This morning was fabulous, beautiful, sunshiny, clear. The winds are about 10 knots and we're letting Otto the autopilot drive as the wind is not on our side. We'll write more later….Rene & Michael

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

We made it to Marina Del Rey around 1:30 yesterday. We filled up one tank of diesel and headed to a slip. One of Chad's friends, Ty, arranged a 100' slip that belongs to Nicholas Cage for the night….the boat fit with room to spare! We were beside some very BIG boats that were all decked out for Christmas. Once we were tied up, we had cocktails with Ty and another friend, Mike. Victor, a dockman from CYC, was incredibly helpful and showed us to our slip, even loaning us his key from his keyring for the night. We had dinner at Tony B's in the harbor and had a nice evening. We left the harbor at about 7:00 headed to Channel Islands Harbor. Woohoo! J Will write more later…..Rene & Michael