Update From Triumph

Greetings from Fiumicino, Italy. Thursday was a Roman tour day. We took the fast train into termini station from the airport, and caught a tour bus for the day. The on/off arrangement allows you to get off at sites of interest and by pass those already visited. We had a quick lunch between stops and then walked back a couple of blocks to the train station. All in all, a good day. The attraction of Rome has waned and our next adventure will be north to La Spezia in the Tuscany region of Cinqueterra.

Boat work has gone well. Our outboard needs a tune up, and it was picked up on Friday. I had parts machined for our davits, and they are already installed . Tomorrow I hope to launch the dinghy and clean the decks.

The morning cruisers net from Turkey is to far for us to hear clearly, and the local cruisers net ended today since all the cruisers are leaving the area for points south. Propagation will improve as the summer approaches and we get closer to Turkey, so we will again become part of the net. Echolink, an Internet based ham radio communication system is very active here. I have talked to my Florida friends several times over my little radio on the boat. It is like having a phone link to Sun City Center, Fl and the world. The six hour time difference makes it a challenging catch hams monitoring the radio in our retirement community.

We are doing fine and enjoying our community of Fiumicino along the canal, 20 miles from Rome. Ciao, Dick

Sailing Triumph

Sailing Triumph

Update From Triumph

Greetings from Italy, We arrived on time, at Leonardo Da'Vinvi /Fiumicino airport, in Rome about 9am local time today. It was a two movie/two meal flight. US Air counts a donut and coffee for breakfast as a meal! Triumph is in good shape and all is like we left it last September. I'll try to keep the blog updated via e-mail. Dick

Second update:

Our first night aboard was long. We awoke about 3am and watched TV for and hour. "Watched" is literal, sound is not important since it is all Italian. In honesty, we try to pick out words and phrases on News programs. I watched the Audi diesel win Sebring. I live 70 miles from Sebring and could not get news on the event in our local paper or TV. The diesel won by 4-5 laps.

Last night, the boat was cold and a little damp since the weather here is still cool. It rained late yesterday but the sun was still bright. I started the reverse cycle A/C to dry out the boat. It is toasty warm now.

Hank and Julie on Tapestry came over last night for wine and cheese . They were on our flight so we have been catching up with their winter activities since Tampa. We will cruise together this year as we did last summer.

We also met our boat neighbors who have a Nauticat 43 just like Triumph. They are Italian but live in Germany. Fairwinds, Dick

Back to Rome

Hi, well the winter in FL has been great. We have kept very busy and could easily stay 6 more months, but it is time to think about sailing. Tomorrow we fly to Rome and move back aboard Triumph. She has spent the winter in the Fiumicino canal about 20 miles south of Rome and 2 km from the airport. Getting ready to leave the country for 6 months is tiring and at times, frustrating. Can you think of all the things you could forget to do over the next six months? It is hard enough to live every day and forget things, but anticipating all the thigs you might forget is a big deal for us.
We are about packed, and the airline limit is being pressed. I'll have a back ache for a week from this trip, but rerigging the boat will take my mind off of the pain for a couple of weeks.

Maybe I can keep up a more regular blog once I am aboard.

This years trip may take us to Sicili, Malta, Greece, and Turkey. That is if all goes well. I'll keep you posted, Dick