Thanks Chas. The young ladies at the pulmonary rehab center think I'm doing great, and I guess I am compared to some of the other patients who are there at the same time. I walk in with a blood pressure of 120/65 and a pulse of 60, and my room air O2 saturation is about 96 percent. There is a 45 year old guy there that just started last week who has a blood pressure of 175/90 at rest, and his O2 saturation is about 88 percent on room air - not good.

Today, the ladies put me through the ringer, but all my readings were about the same when I left as they were when I arrived, which they said is fantastic for someone pushing hard on 77 years old with bad lungs and 2 prior heart attacks. These ladies are in their late 20s, with six-pack abs, brick hard bodies and very, very attractive - I'm not looking forward to completing the program next month, but that will give me more time for sailing to distant ports.

My wife said she would have traded me in for a newer model a long time ago, but she never could find one that would do the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, sewing, lawn and garden work, shovel snow, then go to work and pay the bills. I told her to stop looking - they no longer exist. She got the last one off the production line.

Chas, with luck, I hope to sail south October 1st and possibly arrive in Hilton Head Island, SC where I'll be spending a few days in the middle of the month visiting with an old sailing friend who lives there on his wife's houseboat. Maybe you could sneak over and join me for a day or two there. Usually, I bypass Georgia because the ICW segment through GA is in pretty bad shape these days. For me, it's easier to just sail 24 hours straight through to Ferandina Beach, FL then duck back into the ICW again before continuing south.

All the best,

Gary