We sold our house, cars and most of our belongings in Halifax and the two of us left on the boat from Lunenburg on June 23rd 2001. We did a lot of work on the boat before we left painting inside and out, sandblasting and painting (epoxy) below the waterline, we added a dodger and lee cloths . Also a 75 W solar panel, 6 man liferaft, new GPS (the old Magellan never recovered from the Year 2000), and a flexible water tank. Otherwise though, not much has changed. 1st stop was the Azores (Lajes in Flores), after 18 days at sea. The first few days of the crossing were quite rough, with fog and  mal de mer, but things improved a lot once we got into the Gulf Stream. The Sailomat self steering broke in a gale on day 13, but we repaired it OK and overall the trip was not too bad we were very pleased with ourselves and the boat for our first crossing. Flores was very beautiful and tranquil, still one of our favourites, and we spent a week there before going on to join the crowds in Horta. By this time, in warmer water, the steering was getting very tight, so bad that Charmain needed to use her foot to even move the tiller, so we dropped the rudder out of the boat and loosened up the nylon bearing where the rudder shaft leaves the hull (all done with the boat in the water). This was a big improvement and now the steering is very light and easy. After Horta we visited Sao Jorge and Angra do Heroismo in Terceira. A week long passage then took us  to Portugal, the other end of our first Atlantic crossing.