Less than a week until our start in San Francisco Bay. It's crunch time. The number of tiny little details can sometimes be overwhelming. Luckily, we've had plenty of pens and paper to make sure they all get tagged, tracked and handled.

Jumping the final hurdles

Besides all the little detail tracking, the big hurdles for the month were completing our radio check and getting the boat through inspection. Thanks to Bill Huseby, we sailed through (pun intended) the radio check. The transmission was clean, clear and passable.

Then there was the inspection. That's where most of those tiny little details come into play - install two separate water carrying systems, binoculars on board, layout of emergency gear posted, and on and on and on. So after checking, rechecking, rechecking, and rechecking again, we nailed all those pesky little details and got through that final big hurdle.

Along the way, we participated in the inaugural Columbia Crossings Cup and the Aloha Luau that followed. Huge fun and a great turnout helped make it the perfect break from the usual, mundane task of getting the boat prepped for the Pacific Cup race. We even took time out to strut our hula stuff. WARNING: Peter and Jeff doing the hula is truly disturbing video - view at your own risk!

It’s official – she is the Keeli Quinn

The finishing touches were also applied to the boat by our supporters at Blackfish Creative, the agency that's been delivering all the great creative for the campaign since its inception. The agency's owner, Drew Force, came down personally to apply the boat's new name to the transom and the graphics to the hull. That's the kind of personal service those guys deliver. And the new name and graphics were the sweet, final touch needed to then have us go through our naming ceremony and officially christen the Keeli Quinn.

Press coverage continues

Another observer of our graphics application and naming ceremony was a sharp reporter from the Oregonian newspaper. Without any guarantees from her editor, Katy Muldoon headed down to the boat for a couple hours of conversation. Out of those conversations came a stellar article in the Sunday edition (June 25th) of the Oregonian. It's very satisfying to see our efforts to shine the light on the March of Dimes bearing fruit.

Final Preparations:

• June 28 & 29: Boat transport from Portland, Oregon, to San Francisco, California
• June 30: Step mast; shakedown sail in San Francisco Bay
• July 1: Skippers and Navigators Briefing, Richmond Yacht Club, Richmond, California
• July 2: Final boat prep, packing
• July 3: RACE START (11A PST)

Sunday’s Oregonian- 6/25/06
Portland Tribune - 6/9/06

See Video of the Crew celebrating at the Aloha Luau

Celebrating at the Aloha Luau
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