Adventures of Bliss

Vessel Name: Bliss
Vessel Make/Model: Pearson 385
Hailing Port: Berkeley, CA
Crew: Jolanda de Boer, Tod Flak
30 September 2010
28 September 2010 | Napa, CA
26 September 2010 | Eden Isle
25 September 2010
24 September 2010
23 September 2010 | Bethel Island, CA
21 September 2010 | Suisun City
19 September 2010 | Pittsburg,CA
17 September 2010 | Vallejo, CA
06 August 2010
23 July 2010
31 October 2009
28 October 2009
26 October 2009
20 October 2009
20 October 2009
17 October 2009 | 34 14.75'N:119 15.94'W
14 October 2009 | Marina Del Rey, CA
Recent Blog Posts
30 September 2010

Wine tasting in Napa

Some times a change in plans is the best thing ever. In this case: taking a car with A/C and not a bike to do a wine tour as the weather was still in the lower 100's, and wineries are located on hills. I'm not a kind of person that wears butt padded shorts when I bike, so we'll take that tandem another [...]

28 September 2010 | Napa, CA

Leaving the Delta

We've enjoyed the delta, and were glad we checked it out. For us, September was a good time to go, as it was a quiet during the week, but not so much during the weekend, and we can imagine that the summer can get pretty busy here. It's a place where motor crafts seem to rule, and with that comes a certain [...]

26 September 2010 | Eden Isle

An adventuresome day

Jolanda: Tod wanted to spend some time fishing today, taking the dinghy, so we came up with the plan that we would tow the kayak 2 miles down the river to Paradise Marina, and he would go on his merry way into a more remote slough. Now, 2 miles might not be that much if you walk , however ½ [...]

25 September 2010

Eden Island

Down the Potato slough, up the Disappointment slough, you will find Eden Island, a small private island bought by some members of the BYC decades ago (principally motivated by microcomputer designer Adam Osborne) . Steve and Maureen [...]

24 September 2010

On the hook in the Delta

Friday 9/24: Time for some fishing and trying the tree tie. Three River Reach came up as a good location to anchor, but luck and weeds were not on our side. We approached from the river, and saw a couple of fishing boats close to shore. Ah, times you wish you had a retractable keel....The center of the [...]

23 September 2010 | Bethel Island, CA

Relaxing on pretty Bethel Island

As we sailed under the Antioch bridge on Wednesday and down the San Joaquin River to go to Bethel island, we both were not immediately warmed up to the scenery. Not much hills left, and surrounded by power lines. However, the moment we went up False River, we were more surrounded by tule, and pretty [...]

An adventuresome day

26 September 2010 | Eden Isle
Jolanda and Tod
Jolanda: Tod wanted to spend some time fishing today, taking the dinghy, so we came up with the plan that we would tow the kayak 2 miles down the river to Paradise Marina, and he would go on his merry way into a more remote slough. Now, 2 miles might not be that much if you walk , however ½ way down the trip I realized that this would require quite some upper body work out, but hey, what's a girl got to do in a bloody hot day in the Delta? So, the good thing, I stayed relatively cool (temps were in the high 90's that day), got really intimate with lots of tule, did not get run over by motor boats or PWC's (every thing motorized seems the preferred mode of transportation in the delta), and did get to take a break ½ way on a private dock.....But boy, 2 hours of continuing upstream paddling does tire you out. I declined a generous offer by some fishermen to tow me as I was now close to Eden Island. Ice cream aboard, a cold drink and a fan powered by our inverter makes you forget your sore arms and the immense heat, until............you get a call from your husband.

Tod was having his own adventure 2.5 miles away:

Tod: After spending too much unproductive time in a dead-end slough trying to fish under the hot sun, I found a lovely location-- tied up under a tree that was overhanging a turn in the slough (pictured above).

In preparation to return home, I stood up near the back of the dinghy (to take care of some business), and then heard a terrible ripping sound.... the floor of the dinghy had ripped away from the main tube in a small area, and water was coming in. After a momentary panic, I realized I could make it home anyway, since the two pontoon tubes are really what keeps the dinghy afloat. But anyway, I decided to not waste more time and to get going immediately. As I started the outboard motor, the prop started turning and propelled me straight toward the rocky bank. I tried to quickly turn... but it was too late, and I ran up on the rocks. I knew as soon as I heard the "sppewwwww....." that I had punctured a pontoon! I scrambled up onto the rocks to have a look... I could feel the gash in the vinyl where the air was still pouring out. So, in the course of about two minutes I had ripped out the floor and punctured one of the two main inflation tubes. I felt that I was completely screwed!

I was just about to call Jolanda to say that there was no way that I could make it home... but realized that it was really not an option. I was way too far away for her to reach me by kayak; it would have been nearly impossible to get Bliss that far down the shallow slough where I was; and to make matters worse, I had no shoes and no wallet or money! So I could not really walk anywhere. Just then I had an inspiration... I wondered if that dinghy could function with only one side inflated? I got in the thing, and it immediately started filling with water. But anyway I got the motor started and slowly started making my way. It seemed that if I kept my weight in the right place, it reached and equilibrium with only about 6 inches of water inside! A couple of times when the motor started to sputter (due to a faulty choke mechanism), I needed to kneel on the floor to adjust it -- and each time I heard the floor rip a little more.

But after about 45 minutes (and several more nerve-racking episodes), I finally made it to the half-way point of Paradise Marina, and called Jolanda to let her know what was happening.

Jolanda: As he called me he said I might need to pick him up. Not thinking clearly, I thought he meant by kayak, and I wisely decided not to comment (later, he told me, he meant I would get Bliss to pick him up)

Tod: Obviously I eventually made it home about an hour later. We pulled the resilient but sad little dinghy up on deck, emptied the water (from the floor and also the punctured pontoon), and evaluated the damage (not sure if it is worth fixing or not). And I propped up my box of fishing tackle to drain out without even looking inside :-(


Tod arriving back to Bliss in the half-deflated dinghy. The water is half-way up his calf!

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