In the final part of the three step intro to our world tour I’m go to focus more on our noble steed than on us.

What about a bigger boat? – In an earlier blog we signaled that we were looking to upgrade to a larger Nordhavn and this is still on the cards. Once in the USA we will contact both James Knight and PAE to see what is available. As we never buy anything new it will depend on what is on the market at the time. That being said however, Pendana is truly a cracking little ship, is in great shape and more than capable of handling the passage we have planned for her in her sleep. As I have said many times before she is like part of our family now and would be hard to give her up for any reason. Burning 5.5 gallons per hour at 9.5 knots, she certainly is very economical which will be near impossible to beat if we do upgrade. For now Pendana is off the market and very much part of our planning process.

Upgrades – later this year Pendana will go back to the Gold Coast and have some final work done in preparation to this voyage. For example, I want to repaint her foredeck with non-skid and make a few cosmetic repairs to her gelcoat. We have also bought a Jet Ski so that will need to be added to her foredeck. We also need to have our two Maxwell’s 3500 windlass fully serviced and checked and want to also have our Davit (crane) fully stripped down and checked. All fire extinguishers will be replaced and our Nobletec navigation system will be upgraded to the newest version, which in turn also means new marine monitors to handle the graphics output of NobleTech Time Zero Odyssey which are a minimum of 1024 x 600. Also all through-hulls and every single hose in the engine room will be checked and replaced where needed. In fact, when you come to think about it, Pendana is basically ready to go!

Just as a side note both Claire and Abi recently received their Jet-ski licenses and Abi also received her junior boating license which is well done to them both. In Australia all folks on the water must be licensed via a government department and while the idea is a good one as it improved overall boating competence the process is a wee bit complicated and takes time and real commitment to succeed. I now need to get my Jet-ski license as well, plus Claire and I should really look at revisiting a scuba course….hmmm…..where’s that list…

Blogs – as part of this adventure, and as a reminder to our children of all that they have achieved as they get older, Abi and Bianca will be setting up their own (Talkspot) blogs to capture the journey from their perspective, as well as provide a platform for them to share the trip with their friends back home, as well as the new friends they meet along the way. The charming Claire who is always ready for something out of left field is either going to have her own page on www.pendanablog.com or (drum-role please) even have her own blog (yet to be decided).

At this stage the first year at sea looks a little like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3Y_MrI–4

It has to be said that anything can change and as such, we will plan as we go and report accordingly. These are some of the stops, in order, that we are hopeing to achieve in year one:

  • Sydney, Australia
  • New Caledonia, Port Moselle
  • Fiji, Port Denaru
  • American Samoa, Pago Pago
  • Kiribati, London
  • Honolulu, Hawaii
  • San Francisco, California

As always we will keep all posted to changes from this plan as we voyage her and on our blog.

At the end of the day we just have to let the lines go and go with the flow. One thing is for sure we will be as prepared as possible, Pendana will be ready and we will carry enough spares on board to rebuild Pendana, from the keel up, if required.

As a safety measure we will be taking regular nice guy Captain Mark James with us on our first leg to ensure both Claire and I are mentally okay with being so far from land. As some would know, sometimes people can feel very, very scared being in open water so far from land so in the vein of playing it safe Mark has agreed to come to make sure we are all A-okay! We are blessed to have him on the first leg to New Caledonia and having his experience over the past three years. It seems only fitting that Mark Join us on exiting Australia as he did with Pendana’s entry into Australia. Something poetic about that, just not sure what! Thanks Mark, your cabin is at the ready!

So, in short Pendana and her crew have made the decision to explore the world, be enriched by all it has to offer rather than continuing to conform to societal norms. I hope that my blogs remain of interest as we transverse the world’s oceans and as always I promise to share the good, the bad and the ugly with you as well as, the lessons learned, along the way.

www.Pendanablog.com will continue as usual to post the monthly ‘Guest Interviews’ on the first of each month and I am happy to say I have some great characters lined up – so make sure you stay tuned and check back monthly for the latest installment.