On July 8,2005 I posted the below to the PUP list and I thought I would update it: "Reading my own post I started to get excited the way I did the first time I heard myself tell someone out loud that we were planning a circumnavigation. Cold chills ran up my back and I started to dance around shaking my fist and laughing like I had just heard it for the first time. I suggest that if you're in the early stages of planning that you practice saying it in front of a mirror first. Even if you're not planning going around, even if you're not a boater and you're just reading this on some else's computer, go into the bath room, shut the door and turn on the light, look in the mirror and whisper, "I'm planning to circumnavigate the world by boat". Be prepared to grasp the sink because your knees may buckle" Ruth and I have been living on Dora Mac since February 14, 2007. We moved on at the boatyard while the finishing touches were still being added to the boat. We departed the boatyard June 6, 2007 and stayed in Hong Kong for one month. From there a year was spent in the Philippines and then it was onto Borneo, Indonesia, Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Thailand, and now we are in Langkawi, Malaysia. In the almost three and a half years since leaving Seahorse Marine in China, we have only moved the boat 23 degrees in longitude. That is getting ready to change dramatically as next week we depart for the Mediterranean and will be adding nearly 70 degrees to our 360 degree quest. I have to admit I don't get quite as excited about the prospect because living and traveling aboard Dora Mac has become something of a routine now. I spend a tremendous amount of time maintaining the boat and planning our next move. I wish I had a dollar for everyone I have discussed this upcoming passage with. And of course no discussion of it would be complete without the courtesy mention of pirates. Our planned route will take us well north and entering Yemen from an easterly direction but from there on we will be in their waters and subject to meeting them up close and personal. Of course the odds are in our favor. Attacks against yachts in that area have been few and far between. I don't think the procedures for ransoming yachties are as clearly defined as they are with commercial ships. Ships are a business and although the ship's crew is being held the cargo and out of service time for a ship translates into money and the economics are in favor of the pirates. As long as piracy can be seen in that light it is considered a nuisance but when they start taking couples like the Chandlers of Great Britain, world sentiment turns against them in a hurry and a well of pressure to stop them builds and they know it. I know there are some of you that quite often say why risk it. You're probably not is SE Asia trying to figure a way to get to the Med. I do realize though that a boat load of desperate thieves who have been on the open water for perhaps weeks would use the capture of a yacht as an excuse to return home. There are not too many options. We have friends who are going around Africa, the boat could be shipped, or we could turn and go the other way but none of these seem feasible to us. Besides from what we hear the Red Sea is a place of beauty with it's pristine waters and sea life. Our planned stops are Cochin, India; Al Mukalla, Yemen; and in the Red Sea, Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt. It is a 5,500 NM trip and we intend to take five months to complete it. We will likely spend two to five years in the Med before crossing the Atlantic. Oh yeah, Happy New Year to you all. Randal Johnson www.mydoramac.com