Another Braley

Well, it has been almost 2 years since our last post, but we are as determined as ever to sail away. We have had a lot happen in these past two years. Though we haven't blogged about the work towards sailing or the things we have done to accomplish that goal, believe me we are definitely closer. We have really focused on building our computer repair company in order to create our sailing kitty and pay off our "land lubber" commitments. We have paid off three major debts thus far and from here on out the rest of our debts will disappear rapidly, due to the snowball effect. The biggest news to report is that instead of a family of 6 we are now a family of 7 with edition of our fourth son Liam on October 21, 2009. He was a huge, but welcome surprise. Just another crew-member for our ship.

We are still here and steadfast in reaching our sailing goals and we will be much more active from here on out in updating our blog.

~Tyra

Our Flag Explained

~Chris

Who we are.....

Looking through our posts we realized that they don't contain much about who we are, so I'll try to describe us the best I can. Here we go, we are the "Braley's", Chris (Dad), Me or Tyra (Mom), Kenna (12) (our only daughter), Ty (10), Jackson (8), and Quinn our newest and surprise addition (3 1/2 months). We currently are landlocked in beautiful but ocean-less Colorado. So, might you ask why and how are you going to become sailors? Well, the sailing bug bit us for the first time on a vacation in Mexico where we were able to sail small catamarans provided by our resort. Once we took those babies out we were hooked and looking for more and have since sailed on numerous other vacations. We have all loved the ocean since we first laid eyes on it all at different times but the reaction the same. We just new this is where we wanted to be or should I say had to be. Of course our first thought was the safest and most sane,"let's move to a state that is near the ocean." Still that wasn't going to be enough, we have to have an adventure. A learning, helping, teaching, crazy a** adventure; one that we could look back on someday with our children and say "We did it, we really lived!" So that is our plan to sail around the world with our 4 children and really live. I'm not going to say that we don't have a good life here, because we do. We have a decent but shrinking house due to our expanded family, we have nice cars, go on vacations and at the end of the day can still afford some fun. So life isn't bad for us just routine and ordinary and this life would suit most just fine but not us we are spontaneous dreamers, adventurers and citizens of the world. This is how we want to live the rest of our lives while at the sametime giving our children the opportunity to learn about the world. We think that this would be one of the best learning experiences we could give them. We want them to know that there is more to the world than just the U.S and Colorado; we don't want them becoming isolationists like so many others we know, we want them to be good world citizens not just U.S. citizens. This journey, though great for us in so many ways is not just for our benefit. We plan on helping in anyway we can wherever the wind and tides should take us. Whether it's helping to build homes, donating time or just keeping someone company. We are not going to be a burden on the societies that we visit nor are we going to try to change them;we just want to experience them and likewise give them an experience. So this is us, a family of six with thoughts of grand adventures and a world circumnavigation. We are determined and steadfast in our goals and we will reach them!

Thanks for reading and any support is appreciated!!!

~ Tyra

Help us circumnavigate! Please....

We could use all the help we can get in realizing our sailing goal. There is more than one way you can help us. First, you can donate money to our cause by hitting the "Donate" button and contributing whatever amount you choose. Secondly, you can visit our shop @ http://www.cafepress.com/svthegoonies or click the link displayed in our side column to buy some cool pirate and sailing gear, all proceeds will go into our circumnavigation fund. Lastly, you can help without spending a dime just by visiting our sponsors links listed on our page. When you visit our sponsors we will be given a small percentage deposited into our sailing fund without purchasing a thing!!!

ALL HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED AND WILL BE USED WISELY!!!

One Day Closer

Well, today is almost over and hopefully that means that we are one day closer to our launch date. We have'nt set an official date, but we estimate about 3 years until our world sailing adventure begins. Everyday we dream about the freedom and excitement that awaits us out there on the deep blue ocean. The thought of exploring places that most will never see keeps us headed towards our goal. Sometimes it is hard to believe that that day will ever come but we are optimistic and commited to getting there. Unfortunately we still have to go through the motions of an ordinary life until then. Chris said something yesterday that boosted my excitement level and also stirred some emotions, he said "just think, somewhere out there there is a boat that has a destiny with us." That profound thought made me shiver. To think that 'our' boat is out there somewhere makes me happier than I can express in words, but it also gives me comfort and hope for the journey to come. Hold on "Sailing Vessel The Goonies" we'll be united soon!!!!

~Tyra

The Boat Name

As you can tell by the name of this blog .Our boat, once we acquire one will be re-named "The Goonies" We figure this name says a lot in the way we think of ourselves. Goonie is another name for the majestic Black Footed Albatross , These birds can fly up to 6250 miles in one flight .With a wingspan of 11 feet this is the largest on the planet. That's the way we would like to think of our sailboat, traveling great distances with our sails (our wings) and the power of the wind.

I've heard that there are some superstitions with boat re-naming so we will be following those to a "T" we don't want to upset Neptune.

Our first blog

We are new to blogging, but wanted a place where we can begin making a journal about all the things we did before we set off on our adventure.

We are a large family planning to sail around the world within the next 3 years. We plan on doing as much research as possible on blue water sailing . We have started to liquidate things in order to accomplish this and know that we can't use 99.9 % of the things we currently own on a sailboat. We have both sailed small catamarans on vacations to Mexico that's when we were hooked by the ocean.

We know this is going to be alot of hard work since we don't yet have our sailboat and we are landlocked in Colorado. But it's something we really want to do.