OK. Here is an update...

We are still negotiating with one company to be title sponsor. We had interest from a couple of other companies, but we were so late coming to the party that one said 'No thanks' and the other said "Talk to me afterwards about sponsoring." So we have one company left and we should know something by the end of the week.

Sponsors to date include: Murray's, Zhik, Barz Optics, Harken, Larabar, Layline, Hobie Cats NW, Sperry, and our own Hobie Fleet 95. BIG thanks to all of them for stepping up and helping us out.

We have our gear pretty well organized & packed. Mine is in 2 dry bags -- one dry bag will go on the support boat to the next spot. It contains sleeping bag, tent, clothes and stuff. The other, smaller dry bag will go on the boat with us. When we get to Gubat I plan to unpack and repack everything.

On the trampoline we are planning to take along one smaller dry bag (to carry non-essentials like the 2 liters of extra water required for emergencies, paddle, etc.), 2 tramp bags to carry quick-access items (like shackles, Larabars, etc.), and a TackTick compass. I will mount the compass directly aft of the mast with the dry bag aft of that. Having all this extra gear on the tramp will make for some interesting boat maneuvers! I hope we don't have to carry all that crap on the buoy races!!

Waypoints have been entered into our GPS as well as Google Earth. I will attempt to attach the Google Earth file so you can view the route.

Additional information is available on the website that is (finally) up. (They swapped servers and it was down for a few critical weeks.) But all is good now. 9th Philippines Hobie Challenge

Been doing some mid-winter training (which is unusual for me this time of year!). Finally, Sailing World has indicated an interest in running the story.

We are looking forward to bringing this 'Survivor'-type event to the US sailors.