Hands Across the Sea was launched in early November, 2007, in Aracaju, Brazil

A traditional Brazilian fisherman's canoe, called a jangada; when the wind fails, the paddles come out

First on our list is learning how to manage this boat, which is both much larger than our previous 28-foot long-distance cruising yacht, and also more complex. We have nearly all of the modern conveniences of land life, including a telephone (handheld satellite phone) and computers (though we have no onboard Internet connection — we have to find that ashore in Internet cafes). And for sailing we have networked electronics, including radar and a GPS chartplotter, and powerful winches for trimming and furling the sails. Because Hands is a catamaran, we'll be able to cover miles quickly on offshore passages, though that means we have to "stay ahead of the boat" (reduce sail area before squalls hit) to safely handle the large-size sails. We have about 2,400 nautical miles ahead of us to reach the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, and we're excited about the passagemaking challenges that lie ahead. As we move up through the Caribbean chain this winter, we will begin to tackle the other challenge of our new life afloat — lending a hand where we can through Hands Across the Sea. — T.L. and Harriet

Harriet with (l-r) Jr. Pimenta, owner of Dolphin Catamarnans; Paulo, project manager of our boat; and Diego, Dolphin's systems specialist	Philippe Pouvreau, designer & builder of the Dolphin 460, testing the custom-built ship's tender for Hands Across the Sea	Paulo and TL with Hands in July, 2007, during the early construction stages before the interior finishing and deck hardware installation
The master woodworker at Dolphin Catamarans, Paulo, who oversaw all of the handcrafted joinerwork of Hands	Jr. Pimenta with a member of his CAD/CAM design team, reviewing the boat's anchor retrieval system	First sail! Harriet, Philippe, and Jr. enjoy some Brazilian sunshine and light winds during our first sail on Hands Across the Sea