Since I have returned from sailing the Caribbean Reach to Los Angeles, both Sarah and I have been taking maritime training so that we can be fully qualified crew on any boat.

We both have completed our Basic Safety Training (fire fighting, survival, first aid) and I also have been receiving training to meet international standards for seamanship and navigation.  I have my US 100 ton captains license, and other qualifications now.

We hope to be returning to active ministry in the beginning of the year.

Stay tuned!

Sorry it has taken so long to put this up, but I did go to Mazatlan and we did sail the Caribbean Reach to Los Angeles.  Here is a quick video of leaving the Bahia du Tortugas and the rest of the crew.

I have been asked to help crew the Caribbean Reach on its leg from Mazatlan, Mexico to Hawaii.  The Caribbean Reach has been making its way from the Caribbean Ocean towards the Pacific.  This boat will eventually be used in the South Pacific islands to help some of the most isolated people on the earth.

Of the 1,000 inhabited islands, over 700 don't have airports.  The only access is by water, but there are no routine trade routes between the islands.  For example, Fanning and Washington Islands are supplied from Christmas Island, but the ship only goes a couple of times a year.

This is the beginning of a fleet of 40 YWAM ships in this area of the world.

Of course, as part of YWAM, we pay our own way.  I will need to have about$2,000 for airfare to Mexico and back from Hawaii, as well as crew/staff fees while I am on the boat.   I need to have these fees by the middle of May.

Please pray about partnering with us in this work.

http://ywamships.net/about/se/

So it has been a nice summer.  After spending the summer at home with our youngest daughter Mary, having her graduate after 12 years of homeschooling, taking care of things, we are back out on the move!  I am back in Los Angeles, I will spend a week working at Mountain and Sea Adventures on Catalina doing marine science camp for middle school students.  After that I will board the El Encuentro to help sail her to San Francisco.  The boat will continue to be outfitted and then make the jump across the Pacific to Hawaii, where it will be used to continue to train students in the School of Navigation and also ministry to the small communities around the islands.  Thanks to all the supporters and donations that have made this ship possible, including the donation of the boat itself.

So we have made it back home.  We flew out of Hamburg on May 27 to Los Angeles.  We spent the week in LA with the rest of our DTS, finding out what each team did and saying our goodbyes.  We came back to our house on June 2.  We are know tyring to figure out what our next thing is, since we have so many more options now.

More news coming soon....

We have been sailing and moving from country to county.  Of course, as we are sailing, we don't have internet and each country has their own cell phone network, so we have to get off the boat to find internet access.  At the moment, we are in the YWAM Amsterdam base, so we can get online!

We sailed from Liverpool on April 12.  We sailed overnight and stopped at Douglas, Isle of Mann.  We could only stay for 12 hours, so we continued and did another overnight sail to Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland.  We were docked in the commercial container port, so we didn't have a lot of visitors.  We stayed in Warrenpoint and worked with YWAM Rostrevor and also went to Belfast for a day.  We sailed out on April 23.  After 2 days and a Force 8 Gale (about 20 foot waves), we arrived in Falmouth, Cornwall, England.  We were there so a sailmaker could measure the ship for new sails.

Another overnight sail across the English Channel to the Island of Gurnsey to take on about 4000 liters of fuel.  We stayed 6 hours and then sailed back to the Isle of Wight.  Because of the weather, we had to anchor off shore for 2 days before we could enter the town of Cowes.  We arrived on April 29.

In Cowes, we worked with the local Youth for Christ program, had an Open Boat for the public, hosted several school groups and also hosted several youth bible studies on board.  We left on May on May 3 and arrived in Roterdam, Netherlands on May 5.

The city allowed us to dock in the Maritime Museum, so we were on public display!  We worked with the local Seamans Christian Fellowship Ministry.  We spent a day on several cargo ships in the Europort with mostly Phillipino crews.  We also spent a day with YWAM South Holland and did some evangalism in the local park.  We left on May 9 and made a day sail to Amsterdam.

We  are actually staying in the YWAM Amsterdam base for a few days and helping with several of the ministries that they have here.  The is a very urban area, we are in Amstersdam Central, so we are near everything Amsterdam is known for.  We will be here until May 17.

We will then sail through the interior of the Netherlands to the town of Kampen.  From there  we will go to Hamburg, Germany and we will be flying back to LA on May 28.