Moving Aboard Last Cruising Log   -   No more logs  return to Home  or  go to Galley Reports e sold our home in San Jose and gave away all our accumulated possessions with the exception of 10 boxes of things we just couldn’t give up.  It was hard to do -- we had raised Amy and Keith in the house and it held a lot of memories.  We spent a lot of time wondering if our decision would be worth the price of giving up everything we know.  Other than memories, we only have 10 boxes of moments.   Amy ended up with most of our furniture, she is probably the most well-stocked college student at Sonoma State!  Cheryl's sister Kathy took a few things, as did her brother Mike.  Our dog Clyde went to live with Cheryl's parents and is now enjoying life in the mountains with daily walks and people around all the time.  With his short legs and large body, he'd never make a good boat dog. Allen and Keith arrived in Tortola in August, 1995 to move aboard Sequel.  All the household goods we'd shipped had arrived and were stowed in the boat.  There was so much stuff it was hard to walk around the boat.  They barely had time to get settled before the worst hurricane season since 1933 came rolling through the Caribbean.   Allen and Keith spent 2 days preparing the boat for Iris which never materialized, but the constant worry was there plus all the work to take down all the sails and secure everything on the boat before leaving her to stay in a hotel, wondering if the boat would survive.   hampagne Awaits!  Shortly after Iris, Cheryl's brother Mike headed down to help Allen and Keith get Sequel ready to go sailing.  The goal was to be ready when Cheryl arrived.  Not only was everything organized, but they had champagne and appetizers waiting to welcome her aboard!  After relaxing and enjoying the champagne, we decided to move the boat about 2 miles away to Marina Cay to have a nicer anchorage.  We went about 100 yards when the autopilot went nuts, the steering locked up, and the drive chain broke.  We couldn’t steer!!  Allen called Keith who was out in the dingy cruising around and Mike quickly put in the emergency tiller so we could steer.  Welcome to wonderful world of boats!  We made our way to the anchorage, dropped anchor, and started looking at what it was going to take to repair.  Some links were broken, and with no spares aboard, we'd need some help.  We called a mechanic who came by the boat the next day with spare parts.  He fixed the chain and we were ready to take our first sail aboard Sequel.  This time, the four of us enjoyed a leisurely sail to Virgin Gorda.  Now this is more like it!  urricane season is definitely in full swing -- no sooner had we headed out on our first sail to Virgin Gorda when Hurricane Luis reared his ugly head.  So back to Tortola we went to again prepare for a hurricane.  This one was big news.  It was a category 4 hurricane and had already caused lots of damage to St. Martin.  It was headed our way.  Again everything was stowed and we went to the hotel, wondering if the boat would survive.  Was two days sailing all we would have aboard?  Were all of our possessions on the boat to be lost?  Hurricane Luis came close to Tortola.  The eye went through Anagada which is part of the BVI.  Other than big swells and howling winds.  We were spared.  The only damage was to our dingy which had a pontoon blown as it was smashed between our boat and the one next to us.  Mike and I returned to L.A. as soon as the airport reopened.  Allen and Keith again restored to boat to operating order and took the dingy to St. Thomas to be repaired.  Then Hurricane Marilyn made herself known.  She formed quickly and though a relatively small hurricane caused severe damage to St. Thomas (only 18 miles away).  The boat survived without a scratch ,which was one of the few boats in the marina to escape damage.  The only problem was our dingy that was in St. Thomas and we had no way of knowing if the repair show survived the hurricane.  We were scheduled to leave Tortola in a few days to move the boat to St. Lucia and get it out of the hurricane belt.  So, we got a new dingy and prepared to leave.  urricane avoidance is our plan for future seasons.  Three hurricanes in 3 weeks sets the stage for the most active hurricane season in years. Buying a boat in the middle of hurricane season in an active hurricane area is not an exciting way to start our life aboard.  Future years will find us OUT of the hurricane belt during hurricane season. We're looking forward to many happy years aboard Sequel