June 3, 2007

It is always hard to say goodbye to friends and family.  I am going to miss my loved ones very much during my eight-month trip.  I think it is the hardest to explain to young children, because they don’t understand how long I will be gone.  This was the case with my friend’s five-year-old daughter Margo, who my wife, Nancy, and I baby-sit.

After I said goodbye, my wife and I left home and began our journey to the place where I will launch my boat.  On our way there, we stopped to visit with my friend from the Ocean Rowing Society, a club for people who like to row boats in the ocean.  My friend’s name is Tom Lynch.  Tom has a beautiful home with redwood trees in the backyard. 

During our visit, we remembered Peter Bird, a legendary British ocean rower.  Peter was lost at sea in 1996.  In his memory, we put two stickers that said his name on my boat.

After I said goodbye, I felt better about leaving.

When we arrived at San Francisco Bay, we met many new people.  The first person I met was Peter Hogg.  Peter is a member of the local yacht club and he is an expert in sailing.  He introduced us to other club members and I was allowed to tie up my boat at their marina. But Peter wasn’t the only friend we met.  A group of people from Turkey also came to see me off.

I hoped to depart on Saturday.  My plan was to travel under the Golden Gate Bridge, then drop my anchor.  From there, I would row to the ocean.  We kept a close eye on the weather.  It was too windy and we decided I should wait until Monday to begin the journey. 

The delay was for the best, but I was sorry that my friends from Turkey missed the launch.  They had to leave today and could not wait.  But their visit really inspired me to achieve my goal.

I will post more as we go on, but right now I am standing by.

*Entry adapted for grades 5-8 by Andrea Rogers