From: Veleda IV [mailto:svveledaiv@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 9:07 PM
To: Hasan Kaçmaz; Faruk Gunlu; Marina Türkiz Kemer Umut Tepe; SYMashona Kath & David Gerrard; 'SYMashona Kath & David Gerrard'; 'SYThreeSheets' Shirley&Geoff Withrington'
Subject: From Veleda IV Re; the EMYR

Salinas, Puerto Rico
Feb. 23, 2008

Hi Hasan,

It was good to receive your update to EMYR sailors and to hear of all the good marina developments completed and under way. Give our fondest regards to Umut and Faruk.

Judy and I have been over here in the Caribbean for the past two years. Our experience on the 2002 13th EMYR was a highlight of our four years in the Mediterranean, and we were honoured to be awarded the Metin trophy for that year. Since then we did our own circumnavigation of the Black Sea in 2004. (We had to leave Veleda in Fenerbahce Marina across from Istanbul for the winter of 2003/2004 to return home as Judy's mother was very ill. We were very appreciative of the help of Tuncay, the manager and graduate of the "Hasan School of Caring Marina Management".) We then went down the Turkish Aegean coast and over to Crete before making our way across to Ostia in Italy for the winter of 2004/2005. From there we wandered over to Elba, Corsica and Sardinia before heading for the south of France. We went up the Canal du Midi to Bordeaux, across the Biscay to Spain and Portugal before heading out to Madeira. From there we went to the Canaries for a few months before going down to the Cape Verde Islands. We made a very good crossing in February of 2006 covering 2100 nautical miles to Antigua in 16 days. Not bad for our Ontario 32, Veleda IV. Over here we have been up and down the island chain a couple of times, from Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands to the Dominican Republic, and down, visiting all the islands from there to Grenada, Trinidad, and Venezuela. We are not tired of full time live aboard cruising and have no plans to "swallow the anchor". All of my logs are at www.searoom.com, a Canadian sailing website, and I am still writing them, and may get around to incorporating them into a book some time.

Since it is doubtful if we will have Veleda back in the Mediterranean, we will not be able to join the EMYR with Veleda. However we have very fond memories of the EMYR and would be willing to fly over this year or next to join any vessel which could use extra crew or have room for another couple on their boat. We could put Veleda up in a local marina for a couple of months and would enjoy the opportunity to participate in the EMYR or the KAYRA and revisit Turkey, our favourite country in all our travels.

All the best,

Aubrey & Judy Millard
svveledaiv@hotmail.com

PS - Attached is a recent picture of the two of us in the Antigua Rain Forest.

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