We are back from another enjoyable cruising adventure. Due to some communications problems John Edwards and I got separated. John made it to the Dry Tortugas and I only went as far as the Marquesas so I will let him tell the sailing stories. Short highlights from the M15 standpoint. - the wind vane transom attachment came loose three times on the first day of trials - 2 - 3 ft waves and 12 kts gusting to 17kt was not the best of trials but I removed the wind vane for the rest of the trip. Best M15 sail was a 17 nm beam reach from Marquesas keys to Western dry rocks - GPS speed reading never dropped below 4.7 kts for over 3 hours and exceeded 5.4 kts on a couple of spurts - Bright sun, clear water 2 - 3 ft waves, never saw another boat until I reached the reef - AAAAAHHHHH perfection - a truly memorable sail. The 3 hours of snorkeling at the Western Dry rocks was superb - even meeting the 6 - 7 foot reef shark in person was a thrill. The second best sail was another M15 only sail in waters an M17 would not likely be found. The area north of Key West has a water depth on the charts of 5 ft to 1/2 ft. I sailed over the shallowest areas into the mangroves at high tide (adds 2 ft to charted depth) leaving sand contrails in my wake while I watched the Manta rays and turtles looking up in consternation. I found a roosting tree for frigate birds which was occupied by about 10 birds ( 6- 9 ft wing span) Winds were 8 - 10 kts and I was cruising along standing up looking through the crystal clear waters - yet another very good day. Wildlife sightings - The best was sailing 4 ft away from a 12 ft long nurse shark which swam parallel to the M15 for about 40 yards. This was in 9 feet of crystal clear water on the eastern side of the Marquesas. A mighty big animal. Lots of sea turtles, largest about 3 1/2 feet across, a few sharks, manta rays and dolfins - a wonderfully rich marine environment. First dive off the stern I found 4 "lobsters" within 50 feet. The must have known the lobster season just closed. I also found bushel basket sized basket sponges here. Lots of shallow waters in the areas I sailed and it reinforced my personal preference for the shallow water M15. To sail the same places in a M17 you would have to compromise the M17's excellent sailing characteristics by cutting off enough of the rudder so you could risk the inevitable groundings which will occur. All in all a very good trip. Doug Kelch M15 "Seas the Day" PS - not many pictures - the first 36exp roll didn't rewind and I lost it. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo http://search.yahoo.com