We
are the Grafs, Sharon and Michael, of Springfield, Illinois, proud owners
of the Larabeck, a 42-foot yacht. Sharon is an ethnomusicologist
at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Michael is an engineer who
can build or fix just about anything and who caught the sailing bug at
a very young age.
Read
more about us --More about
the Grafs
--How the
Larabeck
got its name
--land-locked
friends
Sailing to
the South Pacific is a big adventure and we spent years planning for it.
Read an in-depth
interview of Michael and Sharon about how our dream became a
reality.
We
left Florida in early May, 2010, sailing to the Panama Canal, the Galapagos
Islands, and our longest trek--3000 miles--to the Marquesas Islands! We
have meandered through French Polynesia, Niue, the Cook Islands, Tonga,
and the eastern shore of the north island New Zealand. We toured NZ's south
island by car with friends, then stayed in Auckland where Sharon researched
south pacific music and culture at the University of Auckland. In
late April, we returned to Tonga, spending the summer exploring it and
the islands of Fiji.
We flew back
to Springfield August 4, Sharon to resume teaching and Michael to consult
for his former employer. Michael returned to Fiji September 1. He is now
in Vanuatu,
and will sail to New
Caledonia and Australia
where he will sell the boat. Stay tuned for more adventures.
We send daily
updates (via SailMail) and photos
when we find internet. We hope you enjoy following our journey.
NEW PHOTOS!!
Millenium
Cave
WHERE
WE ARE
Oyster
Island, Vanuatu
15 deg 22.2683
S & 167 deg 11.4350 E
Michael is
still at Santo,
Vanuatu preparing for the Larabeck's passage to Bundaberg Australia,
and he says "hello."
I am now in
Richmond,
Virginia with UIS adjunct music faculty member Brian
Pryor, where we had a delightful day. We walked the historic
James River and Kanawha Canal district and experienced a lot of history
this morning before the College
Music Society conference began. We met lots of interesting and
friendly colleagues at the Music Technology Pre-Conference. The keynote
speakers talked about interdisciplinary Music Technology projects and gave
us not only new ideas to think about but also something to be proud of
in that we are already integrating disciplines with our MUS/SOA
281 "Music, Technology and Culture" course, that Brian and I developed
as a team at UIS.
Cheers, Sharon
and Brian
Larabeck
Land Contingent (we're pretty close to the Atlantic here in Richmond so
we won't say we are "landlocked" as is the case when in Springfield, IL)
Tuesday
October 18
Entry #2
Ahoy this is
Sharon.
I arrived in
Richmond,
VA this evening without any trouble. Even managed to take the
ONE bus that runs in the afternoon from the airport to downtown.
This was $1.50 ride compared to the $35 taxi ride I would have otherwise
had to take. So I'm off to a good start. I'm here for the national
College
Music Society meeting.
Cheers, Sharon
Entry #1
Hi everybody,
It is sure
nice to just relax and enjoy a nice place. Today there was a lite rain
in the morning; the rest of the day dry and sunny .
