Vinny Lauer is almost home!

by Vinny Lauer on 4 Aug 2000 only 700 miles to go for vinny

Date: 04 Aug 2000
Position: 37'31 S - 129'45 E

Hi everyone,

It's been a great few days out here for my girl Vision Quest and I. The wind had been
constantly around 30 knots and the sea kind enough for us to make good ground for home
without being thrown around. The seas under Australia so far have been so much kinder than
the South Indian.

I'm becalmed at the moment waiting for some breeze to come and carry us home. I'm really
enjoying the change in the weather. It's a lot more comfortable than what you have seen in
some of my recent photos. They were the constant views looking out the back while sailing
through the Southern Indian Ocean, all there was to see were mountainous walls of water.

I had a casualty yesterday. I dropped the computer and now it doesn't want to work. Luckily,
thanks to Advantage Credit Union who supplied me with two computers, I can still send and
receive emails and gas bag over the Internet, not that there's much time to do that at the
moment. I'm working hard at keeping watch day and night for ships and I've seen nine so far
since being under Australia. Without the radar working to detect them, it's up to me to keep a
good lookout. I don't mind toughing it out in the cold at night because I know home is just
around the corner and at least I won't get run down by a ship. I had one ship on a collision
course the other night. I called the ship on radio to tell him I would pass him on his port side,
(that's left for all you non yachties). The next thing I saw was the ship doing a sharp turn to
avoid me. I don't think he knew I was there.

The unfortunate thing about the computer is that I had a couple of hundred emails to reply to
which now I can't access until I get home. Sorry about that, I will reply when I have the thing
fixed. I have received a lot of emails from people telling me they really enjoy the website and
will miss it when the trip is over. Thanks everyone, though I won't abandon you all that easily.

My supporters are part of this dream and have helped in creating awareness and fundraising
for kids. For that I thank you. I will continue the website after setting foot on home soil. I know
there's a lot of supporters all around the world who won't be there as my girl and I cross the
finish line, so I plan to bring it to you. After the fun and festivities are over, and I have sobered
up a little, I plan to download footage and photos taken of the day.

I want to share the experiences that will continue on after my voyage is over. I will also keep
you informed on where all your generously donated hard earned dollars for the kids through
Parasail have gone to and how the kids are benefiting from it. This, as you can guess, won't
happen overnight, except for the party of course! So expect the website to be open for a while
yet. I have also had lots of compliments about the design of my website. I have Areeba, my
website designers, to thank for that because they worked hard to design a site that fit my
vision.

The biggest news of the day is that I am only about a week from home. While I am out here
sailing, my major sponsor, Skilled Engineering with help from the Royal Yacht Club of
Victoria, my co-sponsors and many other people, are working day and night to plan my big
homecoming. The date is set at Saturday 12th August. There will be lots of media coverage
about my homecoming and I hope to see as many people as possible there on the day to
welcome me home. I can't wait!

Must go folks, I can't say I can smell a ship close by, my nose stopped working a long time
ago. I think it's because of the way I smell. It's back to sailing for now to look out for some
more seafarers. Not long to go now!

Take care, and have a great weekend.

Ciao for now,

Vinny.