One of the things we love about this business is recieving family photos. This series is of a Deerfoot 61, built in fiberglass at Salthouse Brothers in Auckland, under Kelly Archers’s watchful eye. Of historical interest may be the fact that hull shape is the first to be built from lines drawn with the then amazingly powerful HP 6800 work station running George Hazen’s Fast Yacht.

The owner, Jon Rodriguez-Atkatz writes “Hi Steve, I am the fellow who hung on your rail in Mosquito Pass, San Juan Islands a few years back and directed you to the Orcas. Well, we went out and purchased and then fully refitted the Salthouse built Deerfoot 61 hull formerly Condor. We have been cruising for some time now. We are currently in Rabaul after 4 months in the Solomons. That bus hasn’t gotten me yet!!!! Thought you might find this of interest. Cruising has been a trip. Hope all is well. Cheers, Jon”

Jon’s comment about the bus is in reference to our urging him to go cruising sooner rather than later, with what he could afford now rather then at some mythical date in the future.

In the late 1970s we spent a year in Melanesia aboard Intermezzo, exploring Vanuatu, the Solomons, and Papua New Guinea. The entire area is still as wild as you are likely to find on this  planet, with fascinating cultures everywhere you turn, but a serious lack of detailed information. Elyse and Sarah, then six and nine, were often the first Caucasian children the locals had seen. They frequently wanted to touch Sarah’s golden curls, or pat Elyse’s arm. Looking at Jon’s photos makes us want to dust off the charts, now packed away in the garage, and head west with Wind Horse.