Kelcey Chandler-Yates and Jim Yates present...
UnderSeaPhotoVideo.com
About our Journey...
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About our family and our journey.
In August of 2000 we departed for a five- to eight-year circumnavigation aboard our ship Lady Starlight. My husband, Jim Yates, and I have decided to share the next few years raising our sons and growing closer as a family. The world is changing so rapidly and as it becomes smaller and smaller, cultures are disappearing. We have seen enough of this culture to know that we want our boys to have a choice in how and where they wish to live. We have the opportunity to raise our sons through their teenage years, instead of letting them be raised by our culture.
We are both Chiropractors by profession but adventurers at heart. When time has permitted we have spent the last 15 years diving the world. At home climbing, paragliding and both water and snow skiing are our passions. Our boys -- Nicholas age 11 and Christopher age 13 when we left --have joined us on as many of our adventures as possible. At age 10 Christopher flew with Jim in his paraglider from 15,000-foot mountains in the Andes of Ecuador. That same year both Jim and I made it to 18,000 feet on El Pico de Orzaba in Mexico. Both boys are avid divers-- Nicholas is an incredible free diver for his age and Chris is PADI certified.
We have been planning for the past few years to take our boys, home school them and travel on a sailboat during their most formative of years. In five years Chris will be in college and the opportunity would have been lost. Soooooooooooo the American dream begins and the adventure continues………
Our sailboat is Lady Starlight, a Dean 400 catamaran. Dean has been producing catamarans in South Africa since 1985. Dean catamarans are without doubt leaders and cause heads to turn wherever they go or sail. The most striking feature of the Dean range is the raked mast, high freeboard and ultra modern curved lines. The decks are spacious and uncluttered. The cockpit is large and comfortable and sports dual helms. Down below, the enormous saloon has full standing head room and a large seating area. Forward, there are two queen-size state rooms. Aft, there are two large double state rooms. Lady Starlight can be easily handled by a crew of two. The Dean 400 is ideal for a cruising family and as a platform to dive from. Lady Starlight was built in July of 1997 and sailed to St. Vincent in the West Indies where we purchased her in March of 1999. She is well equipped with a state of the art Autohelm integrated chartplotter/radar/autopilot, Inmarsat C satellite communication system, Icom 710RT SSB/HAM radio and onboard computer. She is also equipped with a Balmar generator, a Mako commercial dive compressor, all of our Scuba equipment, camera and video equipment, JOBO Developer and a 15-foot Caribe rigid inflatable with a 30hp Mariner outboard.
Special thanks to Patagonia, Scuba Pro, Diveskins, Oakley sunglasses, Cascade Designs/Seal Line, Yates Gear, and Howell’s Dive Shop for their generous sponsorship and support. Also thanks to John Slowe at Airpower International for fabricating our custom Balmar generator & Mako commercial dive compressor.
This website built with Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver ... by Jim Yates
