News Direct From Yacht Bumfuzzle

[Lighthouse]

This email just in from yacht Bumfuzzle:

It's hard to believe, but we are actually about three hours from crossing our line. Pretty exciting. Of course I just spent an hour upside down in the engine compartment changing an impellar. The boat doesn't seem to care that we're almost done.

I have followed their adventure all the way and I SALUTE them.

They have done it!

They untied their dock lines and SAILED!

They did not just sit by and pass comment!

They had their up's and down's but they got out and DID IT!

Congratulations on a fantastic adventure Pat and Ali. I loved your brutally honest writing style on your website - a lesson for all.

Pat & Ali's website is definitely a MUST to read for all those still wondering whether or when to "take off".

http://www.bumfuzzle.com



Well done!

[Bajamas]

I too have followed their travels from the day they set sail in 2003. Pat and Ali have been a warming inspiration for my own desires to set sail and explore. Unfortunately, not everyone has had the same appreciation for what these two young adventurers had accomplished. There were many postings in forums that I have read that belittled the Shulte's for what I have come to know as true spirit! I have often fought the idea that small minded people with little or no ambition, beat down the accomplishments of others, perhaps to feel less useless to themselves. Jealousy has always been an unwholesome companion! Pat and Ali may have taken a few risks, but without risk, we would not have had some of the most honored accomplishments as we have achieved and I certainly applaud their undertakings (even if I myself had felt some jealousy, although on an early Monday morning with a full calendar of client meetings, while Pat and Ali are snorkeling Ashmore reef off the coast of Australia, it is hard not to).

So, regardless of what anyone else may have thought of their endeavors, I am elated to have been able to feel apart of their adventrues around the world and can say that I admire their spirit and what they have been able to set their minds and hearts to. If only half of us could have that kind of gumption, WHAT A PARTY THIS WOULD BE!!!!

Congratulations to Pat and Ali and thanks for all the great stories!!

Bajamas

[Trim50]

A truly gutsy couple....cheers to them!

[JeanneP]

My comment when I first read about the Bumfuzzles and their travails was "they don't know what they don't know", an premature judgment, as it turns out. They've enjoyed their travels and kept their sense of humor, and entertained many of us. Their pictures and commentary will keep it fresh for them for a long time.

I am even more impressed by their future plans. I most fervently wish them fair winds. (and boy, does Peter love their Porsche!).

They remind me a bit of a couple I truly adored. Rod & Diana married in England just after WW II, they got into their car and drove from the UK to India where they plonked themselves and their car onto a freighter and continued on to New Zealand, Rod's home. Such an adventure for a young woman in a time when things weren't as easy as they are today.

When they retired they started cruising the S. Pacific in their little steel boat. A marvelous, wonderful couple who enriched the lives of the people they met. (I'll stop now before I get too maudlin).

[Swagman]

I'm possibly the only one whos not read the blog yet but one has to say congratulations for completing such a trip and enjoying themselves en-route - plus inspiring so many others to do the same......

Well done Pat and Ali.

JOHN