March 2004

This first day of March I swam in the outside heated pool and later it 
snowed!!  Barcelona is filled with contrasts!!

Our guests, Pete and Donna Dayger have been walking down the Ramblas and the 
beaches, visiting Gaudi’s Cathedral and apartments, eating tapas and other 
Spanish delights and seeing many other sights and sound of Barcelona. On 
March 5th, they experienced the company of most of the cruisers at the 
weekly cocktail party.  The Barcelona cruisers welcomed them with open arms 
and we all enjoyed stories told by all!!!

On Sunday, we took Pete and Donna and their luggage to the airport with two 
of our over stuffed bags!!  We enjoyed their company and we will see them 
again in a couple of weeks in the states.

Today, Monday the 8th, Rudy finished the 5th informational meeting for the 
cruisers.  He has spent over 200 hours putting together our digital 
pictures, which were projected on a screen, maps, charts and packets of 
information.  We discussed Turkey, Italian and French Rivera, Corsica, Elba, 
the West Coast of Italy and Croatia.  Everyone seemed to appreciate his 
effort immensely!!

Today, Tuesday the 9th, there was some excitement in the marina between dock 
D and E.  Jackie, one of the cruisers, was riding her brand new bike and 
went over a water hose.  She lost control and she and her brand new bike 
went into the very cold water. Rudy rode past and noticed the commotion. 
Jackie was safe but the bike couldn't swim.  So Rudy got a dinghy anchor and 
he and another cruiser with a large magnet went fishing for her bike. A half 
an hour, they found the bike. Rudy was a HERO again!! After Jackie and her 
bike had a shower, they both felt a lot better!!!  We were

all very happy that Jackie wasn’t carrying her two-year-old daughter in the 
carrier on the back of the bike!!!

On March 10th, Boundless was hauled at Port Olympic Marina in Barcelona.  We 
provided a picture of the stern of Boundless out of the water so that the 
people running the hauling operation could see the proper placement required 
for the slings. Rudy also informed Sebastian, the person overseeing the 
hauling operation and responsible for placing the slings, that he thought 
the slings were not correctly placed and told him that they were too far 
forward! He said that it was OK and told the lift operator to proceed to 
lift Boundless. They lifted Boundless about six inches and stopped so that 
they could look under the boat to see if he could see the placement of the 
slings. A sling was in fact not placed properly and caught the end of the 
propeller shaft. There was only an inch of the web caught on the nuts on the 
end of the propeller shaft. When the weight became too great for this small 
surface of web, the web that was on the shaft nuts parted allowing the 
balance of the that web to catch the boat along with the other two webs 
which were already holding the boat. This happened before the propeller was 
lifted clear of the water. After it occurred Sebastian said that he would 
take care of any problems. He told us that his insurance would cover any 
damage. There was no visible damage to the shaft, propeller or the strut 
holding the shaft. So we thought everything was O.K.  When we put Boundless 
back in the water Rudy started her slowly and found no problems at low RPMs. 
At 2000 RPMs, however there was a vibration, which we could feel throughout 
the boat. We immediately went back to the yard and asked to be hauled again 
to start repairs. They had no room or the ability to make repairs. They 
asked us to find a way to get the problem fixed and they would inform their 
insurance company of the problem and not to worry because they would take 
care of damages.  On March 15th, Rudy found a yard to haul Boundless and put 
in a brand new shaft!!! The yard is Monty North, in Barcelona.  Rudy asked 
if Port Olimpic could pay the costs directly to Monty North and he and his 
boss agreed that they would do this.  However, it is now April 12th, and 
Port Olimpic boat Yard and Sebastian have refused to contact our insurance 
company inquires.  I hope this will have a happy ending!!!

March 11th, Madrid trains were bombed…… Spain and the rest of the world 
mourned!!!!

As planned, we got hauled out again on March 16th, this time in strong 
winds.  It was not pleasant, but we were hauled out safely and correctly.   
We were hoping this would be repaired before Bonnie and Dave from the boat 
Icarus came to visit on the 24th.  It didn’t happen!!!  Bonnie and Dave were 
great!!!  They helped us clean the boat for half of the day and then they 
went sightseeing the other half.  The four of us went to the Tapas Bar with 
most of the marina on Tuesday and they really enjoyed the company and the 
food!!!  They only stayed three nights…just a stop over from visiting with 
their married daughter in London.

Thanks to Dan and Karen we had a wonderful place to stay while the work was 
being done on Boundless. They went on a road tour of France and Italy and 
allowed us to stay on their beautiful new 54 foot Hylas called Dakare. She 
is extremely comfortable and BIG!!!  We owe Dan and Karen much gratitude for 
letting us stay in their home while they were gone. The two to three days 
planned, turned into about two weeks with all of the problems. The use of 
Dakare made life much easier for our guests and us. Thanks again Dan and 
Karen!!


On March 25th, two days before we were to leave for the states, we sold our 
car to a Spanish merchant.  He works across the street from the marina and 
saw my hand written For Sale sign. (En Vende!!) He had given us a deposit a 
week before, but knew we still needed the car so he waited until today to 
buy it. He then told us we could use it until the next day and would pick up 
the keys at around 4 p.m.  Very generous!!!!


So on the 25th, we had met the buyer at 11 a.m. in the parking lot and felt 
we had plenty of time to get back to the boatyard at noon to be put back 
into the water!!  Plenty of time….Wrong!!!!  We had to go with him to get 
the car inspected.  The inspection center was a good half an hour away and 
we had to wait for about 45 minutes, so we got back around 2 p.m.  We were 
supposed to be next after they put one more boat into the water. We waited 
and waited…. I called Ton and Tinia on Lady Cath to let them know that their 
invite for dinner for 6 p.m. was going to pushed back for about an hour.  
Around 4 p.m., it started to rain and very hard with lightning and thunder 
so close together you could hear the static electricity in the air!!!!  But 
to make manners worse, it started to hail the size of dimes.   All the 
while, they were getting Boundless ready to be put into the water through 
this horrible storm!!!  When it got to be about one and half inches of hail 
on the boat, it stopped.  Now it was about 6 p.m.  So we got on the boat 
with Rudy at the helm and John from Windsong and me slipping and sliding on 
the hail throwing lines and pushing off!!!!  Oh what fun!!!! When we got to 
the dock, Elena, Ton and Tinia were waiting for us to give us a hand with 
lines.  We were all so cold and wet that I just wanted to go inside a warm 
boat and that is exactly what we did.

After a delicious dinner on Lady Cath, we went back to Dakare to 
sleep….since our boat was still in disarray and we had all our clothes, food 
and toiletries on Dakare.


The next day the cruisers all got together and gave us a going away party.  
Many expressed their appreciation of the informational talks and information 
we provided and the many activities we initiated and organized. We really 
appreciated the work that Winnie on Grand Jete and Karen on Antigua Lady did 
to put the party together. We also felt privileged to have many friends that 
did make the effort to attend and make this a wonderful ending to our stay 
in Barcelona.  After the party, we went to dinner with Nancy and Jerry from 
Lame Libre.

Saturday the 27th, we gave our bikes to the cruisers whom bought them and 
allowed us to use them up to the very last minute.  Then we packed Elena and 
Carlos’s car with SEVEN luggage bags and went up and down the docks saying 
good bye to the cruisers.  It was an emotional few weeks and this was over 
the top!!!

We flew from Barcelona to London and were told that our seats for the flight 
from London to New York were not together.  When we got to London, British 
Air told Rudy that the plane was full and couldn’t put us together so they 
asked if we would mind an upgrade.  Rudy didn’t tell me this so when I was 
looking for my seat, I asked the steward to help me because my seat number 
was in Business Class.  I said I wish I was correct, but I was sure it 
wasn’t.  He looked at my ticket and said, my wish came true!!!!! Rudy and I 
enjoyed being in the huge seats on the 747!!!  A happy ending to a hectic 
few weeks!!!!

Our reflections will follow……

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