Messing with Boats
Messing with Boats - Part VI
Barnacle Bliss
Back to Bundy and Bliss

 

San Diego, California
July 12, 2000

Messing with Boats, Part I
By Gunter

In addition to the goals we set, part of our plan is “just messing around with boats.” Along this line of thinking, I was given a plaque by a dear friend that says: More....Messing with Boats, Part I by Gunter

February 25, 2002
San Diego, California
Messing with Boats, Part II: a Woman's Perspective
by Lois

There is a thing that comes over men when they give up the corporate life to become cruisers: it's called messing with boats. If it works, it is a good thing. If it doesn't, it could signal the end of a couple's cruising life. Men need to mess with boats because boats break-a lot. And if they don't learn to fix them, and to enjoy the process, they will be frustrated in paradise, with no place to go, and-usually, no-one to come to their rescue. More... Messing with Boats, Part 2 by Lois

February 25, 2002
San Diego, California
Messing with Boats, Part III
by Gunter

Of course, everything starts with a list. Due to the very short time we had in Canet, France for sea trials, we had compiled a list of issues, which needed to be corrected in San Diego under warranty, even before we left. During our passage across the Atlantic, the list of problems grew even longer. After our arrival in St. Lucia, Catana sent two technicians over to correct many of the smaller problems, leaving the bigger ones until Pacific Bliss arrived San Diego. More...Messing with Boats, Part 3 by Gunter

September 4, 2002
Port of Refuge, Neiafu, Vava'u Island Group, Kingdom of TongaMessing with Boats, Part IV
by Lois and Gunter
:

Tina of Alii Kai tells the most humorous story of how captains act when they are repairing boats: Her spouse Dennis rushed into the galley, after hearing an awful noise. It was a metallic pounding, like he'd never heard on the boat before, interspersed with groans and cusses. "What's happening?" he asked, his mouth dry with fear. Here was Tina, his trusted partner, gone crazy, with a knife in one hand and a large spoon in the other, pounding on the bottom of a pan, and occasionally banging the counter! More...
Messing with Boats, Part 4 by Lois and Gunter

 

November 1, 2002
Vuda Point Marina, Viti Levu, FijiThe Anchor Story
By Lois Joy

A thin wiry man with wild black hair, wearing nothing but grimy denim cut-offs trudged up the gangway to med-moored Pacific Bliss. Stooped shouldered, he was burdened like Atlas. Conveniently draped around his neck was a piece of rusty, curved iron. He grinned as Gunter and I rushed out to meet him. “Rolf, you’ve brought our Delta anchor back from the sea!” Gunter shouted joyfully, as he gently relieved him of his heavy burden and clasped his arm around his shoulders. More...The Anchor Story, By Lois

May 28, 2004
MidTown Marina, Bundaberg, Australia
Messing with Boats - Part V
By Gunter


We rejoined Pacific Bliss the last week of April with a long list of overdue repairs and maintenance. Though one can find sometimes knowledgeable tradesmen in the islands of the Cook, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu, the real return to civilization and expertise is in Australia, where services as good as in the States are available. We planned to use Aussie services to bring Pacific Bliss up to near perfect standards again.
(Messing with Boats Part 5 by Gunter)

August 30, 2005
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Voyage 5

Messing with Boats- Part VI
By Gunter

It is raining in UBUD, BALI. Sitting on our terrace at the beautiful TJAMPUHAN Hotel and Spa early in the morning, sipping a Balinese coffee graciously delivered to us by a petite Indonesian waitress, and being far away from Pacific Bliss, which is at the Benoa Marina—our thoughts wander back to the trials and tribulations which we encountered in this sailing season. And there were many, some planned, some unexpected and frustrating. More...Messing with Boats- Part VI

October 29, 2005
Telaga Harbour Marina

Messing with Boats, Part VII
by Gunter

Leaving Bali on a seven-overnight voyage to Singapore , Pacific Bliss appeared to be in good shape (we call it a State of Grace ). However, on the second night, in the wee hours of the morning on my birthday September 9th, all navigation instruments failed. They just went blank.
More... Messing with Boats, Part VII.

 

January 4, 2001
Rodney Bay Marina St. Lucia, West Indies
By Gunter 

 
   Don't stop de carnival-or, how to become
   a cruising sailor on a new boat and
   remain functionally sane.   

Being docked in Rodney Bay Marina here for several weeks gave me plenty of time to reflect on my life in specifics and on my situation in general. More

 

August 22, 2007
Back in San Diego after our Voyage Six

Messing with Boats Part VIII : Lessons Learned
by Gunter

We have sailed over 30,000 miles with only one season to go (from Turkey to France) before the big circumnavigation party. As I sit here back in San Diego, I’m thinking back on the lessons learned so far, many of them the hard way. Messing with Boats Part VIII

 

February 22, 2008
San Diego, California

Messing with Boats, Part IX
by Gunter

My esteemed navigator and scribe informs me that I never did write about the repairs of 2006.  And I realized that I did not tell you about the second, and hopefully last, radar repair on Pacific Bliss.  So here goes: Messing with Boats, Part IX