News About The Greer Family

November 3, 2001: Switzerland, Provence, and Boats

The Greer's in Switzerland

The start of October saw us in Switzerland, where we enjoyed a four-day visit in the mountains. The rest of the month was dedicated to launching and commissioning our new Jeanneau 43DS sailboat named Dragonsinger. From the coolness of fall in Switzerland we moved to the warmth of the south of France. David's diary provides the highlights of what we have been doing up to the point where we leave for our first trip on Dragonsinger in late October.

School

Susie Mah, Allen's Grade One Teacher

We have been home schooling Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen since the last week of August with the assistance of the Greater Vancouver Distance Education School. The children have a GVDES teacher assigned to them. While we follow the set program provided in the materials from GVDES, it is their GVDES teacher who marks the children's work and assigns grades. Over the last couple of months we have been getting to know the teachers better. Allen's teacher, Susie Mah, sent us a picture so that we could get to know her better.

Itinerary

Commissioning a new boat takes time and patience. Boats are large and complex. When the entire safety of our family relies on doing things right, we make sure that the professionals have the time to do their work. Testing our boat and finishing the final commissioning will take more time, but the end result will be worth it. Our itinerary could easily change, especially with weather changes, but right now we expect the next month to look like:

Nov. 1 - Nov. 10:	Shake-down cruise
Nov. 11 - Nov. 15:	Boat revisions
Nov. 16:	Head for Spain