Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! 

Today Paul and I are feeling a deep sense of gratitude for all the love we have in our lives - loving and supportive families, loving and encouraging friends, wonderful neighbours (both ashore and at the dock), creative and inspiring people to work with on our multimedia, television and writing projects, and all the helpful and caring strangers we continue to meet on our travels aboard Two-Step. Today we celebrate Love and send you all our thanks and good wishes for a wonderful day!

Sheryl and Paul 
SV Two-Step


IN THIS ISSUE OF CRUISING NEWS: - we continue the story of our cruise along Spain's Costa Blanca - direct you to February's Recipe - HERB-ROASTED ROCK CORNISH HENS - update you on our upcoming shows/seminars.

THIS MONTH'S RECIPE - HERB-ROASTED ROCK CORNISH HENS If you're looking for ideas for cooking up a sumptuous and romantic dinner, check the recipe data bank on SeaRoom. This month we share our recipe for HERB ROASTED ROCK CORNISH HENS. The flavour and aroma of this meal is indescribable! To our surprise, we were able to find frozen Rock Cornish Hens in some of the most remote settlements we sailed to, so it is possible to try this recipe wherever you happen to be. It also works well using a regular chicken. Please give it a try and let us know what you think. Find the recipe at http://www.searoom.com/recipes.htm Contact us by email at shard@interhop.net

SAFE BOATING CHALLENGE We have been members of the Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons for many years and helped design their popular Offshore Sailing (now Extended Cruising) course. As part of our commitment to safe boating, we created a number of question and answer video clips which have been aired during broadcast of our Exploring Under Sail TV series. The clips are now available for on-line viewing at the CPS website.

CRUISING THE COSTA BLANCA When we returned to Spain in May (2000) where we had stored our Classic 37 sailboat, Two-Step, on the hard at Almerimar Marina for the months we were editing "Distant Shores" at home, we found the boat to be in excellent shape despite sitting in the hot Spanish sun. The Cetol finish we had sealed the teak with stood up to the test. However, we discovered to our dismay that our Windpilot self-steering windvane had been stolen - unbolted right off the stern. (This valuable piece of equipment is essentially an automatic pilot, that steers the boat giving the crew member on watch freedom to move around the deck, tending to sails, etc. rather that being held captive at the helm.) 

This was the first theft we had experienced in 11 years of cruising, but despite the security at the marina, when a boat is unattended for a few months it is vulnerable to determined thieves. Everyone was very helpful and our insurance agents, Pantaenius UK, handled the replacement (we chose to go with a new Canadian system, Voyager Windvanes) swiftly and efficiently. (See our article for the hilarious account of reporting the theft to Spanish officials in the Fall 2000 issue of Canadian Yachting magazine.)  For info on Voyager Windvanes visit their website. 

 Once we had freshened up Two-Step's anti-fouling bottom paint, cleaned and scrubbed the hull, deck and interior, and provisioned for the voyage, we launched and set sail to continue our voyage into the Mediterranean Sea along the southeastern Costa Blanca or White Coast. This dry rocky coast is so named for the brilliant white light that reflects off the water and white sand beaches.

Our first obstacle was rounding the headland at Cabo de Gata where winds and currents collide, but the winds were light and we had an easy sail around this dramatic cape. Due to the upheaval of the land over the millennia, there is a distinctive white mark at the cape where a large piece of white limestone is encased in dark igneous rock. As we rounded the headland and saw it, our Canadian minds thought "snow" (?) - but it was 25C!