Read
more about us
--More about
the Grafs
--How the Larabeck
got its name
--land-locked
friends
Sailing to
the South Pacific is a big adventure and we spent years planning for
it.
Read an in-depth
interview of Michael and Sharon about how our dream became a
reality.
We
left Florida in early May, 2010, sailing to the Panama Canal, the
Galapagos
Islands, and our longest trek--3000 miles--to the Marquesas Islands! We
have meandered through French Polynesia, Niue, the Cook Islands, Tonga,
and the eastern shore of the north island New Zealand. We toured NZ's
south
island by car with friends, then stayed in Auckland where Sharon
researched
south pacific music and culture at the University of Auckland. In
late April, we returned to Tonga, spending the summer exploring it and
the islands of Fiji. <>Sharon returned to Springfield
in August to resume
teaching. Michael
sailed with crew member Mari from Fiji to Vanuatu.
From there, he and two new crew members, Megan and Tom, sailed to Ile
Huon and Chesterfield
Reef in northern New
Caledonia. They arrived in Bundaberg,
Australia
in mid-November where Michael spent the rest of tyhe month preparing
the boat for sale--an Australian buyer now sails it. Michael
flew from Bundaberg to Chicago, arriving in Springfield December 16.
This has been the adventure of a lifetime!
Please read
our holiday
letter about our year's adventures. Happy Holidays to
all!
Sunday, October 21
Hello Everyone,
We have exciting news—the new Larabeck is alive and well in West
Alton, Missouri. “How could this be?” you might ask, for the Larabeck was sold last January in
Bundaberg, Australia. Alas, we could not stay “boat-less” for
long. In August we purchased the 1985 Passport 47
center-cockpit, cutter-rigged sloop “Aquamanda” and rechristened the
boat “Larabeck.” The sailboat was dry-docked for several
years at the Deltaville Yachting Center in Deltaville, Virginia, just
waiting for us to come to its rescue. Passports are sturdy boats, and this one
would take us practically anywhere we might decide to venture. Alternately, it is a spacious vessel
offering a comfortable weekend respite on the west shore of the
Mississippi River at our old haunt and main port, the Harbor
Point Yacht Club, and it would do nicely as a summer retreat on
Lake Michigan. We had to patiently wait our turn for the
Larabeck
to be delivered by semi-truck, as fall is a busy time for seasonal boat
shipping. It arrived in early October, and it
remains on the dry until we complete a few below-waterline improvements. So
that’s the big news for now. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
There’s more exciting news: Michael took a new job several months ago
at a company called Airfloat in
Decatur, Illinois, a forty-five minute drive from our house in
Springfield. The company specializes in air bearings
for moving heavy objects like large aircraft
bodies or locomotive engines. For more information on the kinds of
projects Michael now works visit the Airfloat
website.
