Grado to Gibraltar Update

John Kretschmer and I had a good talk over the phone last Thursday night. Due to work demands, it's not going to work out for me to help him with delivering his sailboat Quetzal from Grado, Italy to Gibraltar, Spain. He still has a crew of four, counting himself, so he thinks he'll be able to manage just fine.

John told me that the new mast has been delivered from the Selden Company to the boatyard in Grado. He and Bob Pingel, who is a good friend of John and owns a boat rigging outfit in Wisconsin, were supposed to fly out this past Monday to step the mast and finish up preparations for a November 1 departure.

Perhaps to make me feel better, John told me the trip was not going to be much fun: almost 2000 nautical miles with only two planned stops, one in Messina, Sicily and another in Mallorca, Spain. He was hoping to make it to Gibraltar by November 15 in order to return home for a week before his scheduled November 22 trans-Atlantic departure, but he wasn't too optimistic about that.

I shouldn't be too disappointed. There will be other sailing opportunities. Nan and I already have plans for next year. Details to follow.