It's been a long road...

Tonight, I sent the following email to a photographer who really was also
acting as a mechanic's helper and there, probably, only because he's dating
the owner's daughter, while the owner and his boat-tender/mechanic worked
for 3 weeks to get the boat ready for sale:

From: "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach@earthlink
To: "Michel"
Cc: "rmtg" lfell@regionsmortgage; "Lydia A. Fell" ; SEATRADESINTL@aol;
charley@charleymorgan; "CHARLES E MORGAN" chasmorgan@juno; "Pete Brown"
surveypete@aol.
Subject: Tehamana
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2004 10:45 PM

Hi, Michel!

Well, we have a deal. Lydia and I will take possession on Tuesday,
March 23, 11 months to the day after we got married! We can't wait, and
John will be happy to know that we'll continue the adventure of sailing
her all over the Caribbean, and, perhaps, if we get the notion, even
around the world.

I don't know if you took any pictures as you were working on the boat,
but if you have any you'd be willing to share, I'd be grateful for them.
John was very good about keeping records, and some pictures, too, of the
kinds of work which have been done. I'll find those invaluable, and I'd
like to continue that tradition, as much as possible. I have nearly 200
pictures of when we were surveying, which will be a good starting point
for the current boat.

As much as possible, as I gather John did, I like to know everything I
can about the boat, including all the history I can gather, as I want to
honor her past as we enjoy her present. I'm the same way about cars -
we own several Pontiac Fieros, and I spent many months tracking down the
history of them after we got them, because they're classics, and in
addition to wanting to know the maintenance history of them, we wanted
to know the original owners' thoughts and feelings so we could further
appreciate them.

Another bit of trivia which may be of interest to you and John is that
we traveled many thousands of miles, and investigated over 3000 boats on
YachtWorld, narrowing the possibilities to over 300, and, between the US
and British Virgin Islands, and the entire east coast between Baltimore
and St. Petersburg, including 6 trips around the perimeter of the
Florida peninsula, actually went aboard almost 200 boats before settling
on the Morgan 46 as our boat. Of course, since Lydia is still working,
I did most of the investigation, filming and taking stills of the boats
which appeared as though they might work, so that her limited trips
could be only on the ones which seemed like they'd fit after her review.

Actually, when I went aboard my "AHA! boat" - one of the sister ships in
Ft. Lauderdale - in November, it was like a cartoon figure with the
light bulb over the head signifying a revelation. It was as though
Charley Morgan (who, by the way, is a prince of a guy!) was looking over
my shoulder when we wrote the prospectus of what we wanted in a boat.
After that, when considering the types of M46 which were made, we
concluded we preferred the deep draft (we really like to sail, and value
the performance), the sloop (taller rig, more sail area, better
performance), and the flexibility of the removable inner forestay, which
some of the prior owners have added in the years since they were built.

Extensive research led me to several past employees of the Morgan Yacht
Company, including Pete Brown, who was Quality Control and Service
Manager during the entire time these were built, so I learned a lot of
how this line came to be. The first 12 of this model went to Moorings,
and, eventually, 45 of the same design were put into Moorings service,
all in their Tortola charter base. To have hull number 2 is a real
honor, in addition to the fact that most likely the very early ones were
built with somewhat more attention than others, as it was a very big
order, and they needed to be "just right."

As Pete Brown can tell you, I'm somewhat obsessed with Morgan 46 deep
draft sloops, nearly all of which were the 461 model (they were offered
that way in the 462, but I have not encountered any in the more than 30
I actually looked at, nor the nearly 30 I researched in the sold boats I
found). So, we're particularly happy to have an excellent example of
the type for our home for what we expect to be the rest of our lives.

Finally, without knowing your or John's spiritual inclinations, I also
want to say that this has been a directed purchase. I went aboard this
boat about 6 weeks ago, and basically walked through the interior and
had a brief glance around the exterior from inside the awning in the
cockpit, and went on about my business - which, at the time, was the
engine survey on a boat across the canal. That boat didn't work out,
and we renewed our search, not even considering this boat, as I'd
presumed it wouldn't work for Lydia, who, in the past, has rejected the
thought of a white interior. (Of course, once she actually saw one
which had been well done, she agreed with me that it worked very well!)
A contact I'd made during our initial M46 search, a from-new owner of a
1980 M462, was in Playboy Marine renewing his contacts there in
preparation for bringing his boat in for its annual service, and took
some pictures of the boat while you were working on her, sending them
off to me in email. We'd been in casual email negotiation on another
M461 for sale by owner, and were going to call him, but he had other
commitments that evening. So, we called Mike, and then Tony, and the
rest, as they say, is history.

Those we've told about our story have said that our first accepted
offer, during which we spent more than $2000 in engine and hull surveys,
and which was rejected after survey, had the owner doing us the biggest
favor in our boat buying and research time by rejecting our post-survey
offer. In the end, it led here. We feel we were led, not accidentally,
to this boat. We'll have bought her, start to finish, in less time than
it took to merely see most of the other boats in which we had an
interest. So, we're very blessed to be in this position, and consider
it an honor to keep this vessel operating in top condition.

Thanks again for contributing to our eventual purchase. If Tony had
email, I'd include him in this note - but you can share it for us. And,
we're dying to see how the picture you took of us in the cockpit came
out - would you email it for us?

Finally, I'll let you know when they're up, but if you'd like, you can
look for pictures of Tehamana at www.justpickone.org/gallery/skip
shortly!

L8R

Skip and Lydia

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

Yeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Congradulations Skip. It's been a long hard trail. Now where are those
pictures?
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Skip Gundlach wrote:
It's been a long road...

Tonight, I sent the following email to a photographer who really was also
acting as a mechanic's helper and there, probably, only because he's dating
the owner's daughter, while the owner and his boat-tender/mechanic worked
for 3 weeks to get the boat ready for sale:

From: "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach@earthlink
To: "Michel"
Cc: "rmtg" lfell@regionsmortgage; "Lydia A. Fell" ; SEATRADESINTL@aol;
charley@charleymorgan; "CHARLES E MORGAN" chasmorgan@juno; "Pete Brown"
surveypete@aol.
Subject: Tehamana
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2004 10:45 PM

Hi, Michel!

Well, we have a deal. Lydia and I will take possession on Tuesday,
March 23, 11 months to the day after we got married! We can't wait, and
John will be happy to know that we'll continue the adventure of sailing
her all over the Caribbean, and, perhaps, if we get the notion, even
around the world.

I don't know if you took any pictures as you were working on the boat,
but if you have any you'd be willing to share, I'd be grateful for them.
John was very good about keeping records, and some pictures, too, of the
kinds of work which have been done. I'll find those invaluable, and I'd
like to continue that tradition, as much as possible. I have nearly 200
pictures of when we were surveying, which will be a good starting point
for the current boat.

As much as possible, as I gather John did, I like to know everything I
can about the boat, including all the history I can gather, as I want to
honor her past as we enjoy her present. I'm the same way about cars -
we own several Pontiac Fieros, and I spent many months tracking down the
history of them after we got them, because they're classics, and in
addition to wanting to know the maintenance history of them, we wanted
to know the original owners' thoughts and feelings so we could further
appreciate them.

Another bit of trivia which may be of interest to you and John is that
we traveled many thousands of miles, and investigated over 3000 boats on
YachtWorld, narrowing the possibilities to over 300, and, between the US
and British Virgin Islands, and the entire east coast between Baltimore
and St. Petersburg, including 6 trips around the perimeter of the
Florida peninsula, actually went aboard almost 200 boats before settling
on the Morgan 46 as our boat. Of course, since Lydia is still working,
I did most of the investigation, filming and taking stills of the boats
which appeared as though they might work, so that her limited trips
could be only on the ones which seemed like they'd fit after her review.

Actually, when I went aboard my "AHA! boat" - one of the sister ships in
Ft. Lauderdale - in November, it was like a cartoon figure with the
light bulb over the head signifying a revelation. It was as though
Charley Morgan (who, by the way, is a prince of a guy!) was looking over
my shoulder when we wrote the prospectus of what we wanted in a boat.
After that, when considering the types of M46 which were made, we
concluded we preferred the deep draft (we really like to sail, and value
the performance), the sloop (taller rig, more sail area, better
performance), and the flexibility of the removable inner forestay, which
some of the prior owners have added in the years since they were built.

Extensive research led me to several past employees of the Morgan Yacht
Company, including Pete Brown, who was Quality Control and Service
Manager during the entire time these were built, so I learned a lot of
how this line came to be. The first 12 of this model went to Moorings,
and, eventually, 45 of the same design were put into Moorings service,
all in their Tortola charter base. To have hull number 2 is a real
honor, in addition to the fact that most likely the very early ones were
built with somewhat more attention than others, as it was a very big
order, and they needed to be "just right."

As Pete Brown can tell you, I'm somewhat obsessed with Morgan 46 deep
draft sloops, nearly all of which were the 461 model (they were offered
that way in the 462, but I have not encountered any in the more than 30
I actually looked at, nor the nearly 30 I researched in the sold boats I
found). So, we're particularly happy to have an excellent example of
the type for our home for what we expect to be the rest of our lives.

Finally, without knowing your or John's spiritual inclinations, I also
want to say that this has been a directed purchase. I went aboard this
boat about 6 weeks ago, and basically walked through the interior and
had a brief glance around the exterior from inside the awning in the
cockpit, and went on about my business - which, at the time, was the
engine survey on a boat across the canal. That boat didn't work out,
and we renewed our search, not even considering this boat, as I'd
presumed it wouldn't work for Lydia, who, in the past, has rejected the
thought of a white interior. (Of course, once she actually saw one
which had been well done, she agreed with me that it worked very well!)
A contact I'd made during our initial M46 search, a from-new owner of a
1980 M462, was in Playboy Marine renewing his contacts there in
preparation for bringing his boat in for its annual service, and took
some pictures of the boat while you were working on her, sending them
off to me in email. We'd been in casual email negotiation on another
M461 for sale by owner, and were going to call him, but he had other
commitments that evening. So, we called Mike, and then Tony, and the
rest, as they say, is history.

Those we've told about our story have said that our first accepted
offer, during which we spent more than $2000 in engine and hull surveys,
and which was rejected after survey, had the owner doing us the biggest
favor in our boat buying and research time by rejecting our post-survey
offer. In the end, it led here. We feel we were led, not accidentally,
to this boat. We'll have bought her, start to finish, in less time than
it took to merely see most of the other boats in which we had an
interest. So, we're very blessed to be in this position, and consider
it an honor to keep this vessel operating in top condition.

Thanks again for contributing to our eventual purchase. If Tony had
email, I'd include him in this note - but you can share it for us. And,
we're dying to see how the picture you took of us in the cockpit came
out - would you email it for us?

Finally, I'll let you know when they're up, but if you'd like, you can
look for pictures of Tehamana at www.justpickone.org/gallery/skip
shortly!

L8R

Skip and Lydia

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain


--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

Yeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Congradulations Skip. It's been a long hard trail. Now where are those
pictures?
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Skip Gundlach wrote:
It's been a long road...

Tonight, I sent the following email to a photographer who really was also
acting as a mechanic's helper and there, probably, only because he's dating
the owner's daughter, while the owner and his boat-tender/mechanic worked
for 3 weeks to get the boat ready for sale:

From: "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach@earthlink
To: "Michel"
Cc: "rmtg" lfell@regionsmortgage; "Lydia A. Fell" ; SEATRADESINTL@aol;
charley@charleymorgan; "CHARLES E MORGAN" chasmorgan@juno; "Pete Brown"
surveypete@aol.
Subject: Tehamana
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2004 10:45 PM

Hi, Michel!

Well, we have a deal. Lydia and I will take possession on Tuesday,
March 23, 11 months to the day after we got married! We can't wait, and
John will be happy to know that we'll continue the adventure of sailing
her all over the Caribbean, and, perhaps, if we get the notion, even
around the world.

I don't know if you took any pictures as you were working on the boat,
but if you have any you'd be willing to share, I'd be grateful for them.
John was very good about keeping records, and some pictures, too, of the
kinds of work which have been done. I'll find those invaluable, and I'd
like to continue that tradition, as much as possible. I have nearly 200
pictures of when we were surveying, which will be a good starting point
for the current boat.

As much as possible, as I gather John did, I like to know everything I
can about the boat, including all the history I can gather, as I want to
honor her past as we enjoy her present. I'm the same way about cars -
we own several Pontiac Fieros, and I spent many months tracking down the
history of them after we got them, because they're classics, and in
addition to wanting to know the maintenance history of them, we wanted
to know the original owners' thoughts and feelings so we could further
appreciate them.

Another bit of trivia which may be of interest to you and John is that
we traveled many thousands of miles, and investigated over 3000 boats on
YachtWorld, narrowing the possibilities to over 300, and, between the US
and British Virgin Islands, and the entire east coast between Baltimore
and St. Petersburg, including 6 trips around the perimeter of the
Florida peninsula, actually went aboard almost 200 boats before settling
on the Morgan 46 as our boat. Of course, since Lydia is still working,
I did most of the investigation, filming and taking stills of the boats
which appeared as though they might work, so that her limited trips
could be only on the ones which seemed like they'd fit after her review.

Actually, when I went aboard my "AHA! boat" - one of the sister ships in
Ft. Lauderdale - in November, it was like a cartoon figure with the
light bulb over the head signifying a revelation. It was as though
Charley Morgan (who, by the way, is a prince of a guy!) was looking over
my shoulder when we wrote the prospectus of what we wanted in a boat.
After that, when considering the types of M46 which were made, we
concluded we preferred the deep draft (we really like to sail, and value
the performance), the sloop (taller rig, more sail area, better
performance), and the flexibility of the removable inner forestay, which
some of the prior owners have added in the years since they were built.

Extensive research led me to several past employees of the Morgan Yacht
Company, including Pete Brown, who was Quality Control and Service
Manager during the entire time these were built, so I learned a lot of
how this line came to be. The first 12 of this model went to Moorings,
and, eventually, 45 of the same design were put into Moorings service,
all in their Tortola charter base. To have hull number 2 is a real
honor, in addition to the fact that most likely the very early ones were
built with somewhat more attention than others, as it was a very big
order, and they needed to be "just right."

As Pete Brown can tell you, I'm somewhat obsessed with Morgan 46 deep
draft sloops, nearly all of which were the 461 model (they were offered
that way in the 462, but I have not encountered any in the more than 30
I actually looked at, nor the nearly 30 I researched in the sold boats I
found). So, we're particularly happy to have an excellent example of
the type for our home for what we expect to be the rest of our lives.

Finally, without knowing your or John's spiritual inclinations, I also
want to say that this has been a directed purchase. I went aboard this
boat about 6 weeks ago, and basically walked through the interior and
had a brief glance around the exterior from inside the awning in the
cockpit, and went on about my business - which, at the time, was the
engine survey on a boat across the canal. That boat didn't work out,
and we renewed our search, not even considering this boat, as I'd
presumed it wouldn't work for Lydia, who, in the past, has rejected the
thought of a white interior. (Of course, once she actually saw one
which had been well done, she agreed with me that it worked very well!)
A contact I'd made during our initial M46 search, a from-new owner of a
1980 M462, was in Playboy Marine renewing his contacts there in
preparation for bringing his boat in for its annual service, and took
some pictures of the boat while you were working on her, sending them
off to me in email. We'd been in casual email negotiation on another
M461 for sale by owner, and were going to call him, but he had other
commitments that evening. So, we called Mike, and then Tony, and the
rest, as they say, is history.

Those we've told about our story have said that our first accepted
offer, during which we spent more than $2000 in engine and hull surveys,
and which was rejected after survey, had the owner doing us the biggest
favor in our boat buying and research time by rejecting our post-survey
offer. In the end, it led here. We feel we were led, not accidentally,
to this boat. We'll have bought her, start to finish, in less time than
it took to merely see most of the other boats in which we had an
interest. So, we're very blessed to be in this position, and consider
it an honor to keep this vessel operating in top condition.

Thanks again for contributing to our eventual purchase. If Tony had
email, I'd include him in this note - but you can share it for us. And,
we're dying to see how the picture you took of us in the cockpit came
out - would you email it for us?

Finally, I'll let you know when they're up, but if you'd like, you can
look for pictures of Tehamana at www.justpickone.org/gallery/skip
shortly!

L8R

Skip and Lydia

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain


--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

"Dan Best" wrote in message
...
Yeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Congradulations Skip. It's been a long hard trail. Now where are those
pictures?
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Working on it - there's nearly 200 of mine, and I'm hopeful of getting more
from the photog/boyfriend. I've just finished doing color balance, and I
still have to orient, crop, name, and upload to directories I've not yet
created. I have to call the documentation agent, call the insurance agent,
call the west coast boatyards to see where we're going to put her, and try
to get two of the houses I manage for my ex-wife rented tomorrow, so I'm not
sure I'll get them up yet - but I'll drop a line to the group when I do.

Thanks to all who stuck with me, and ...

.... Well, prudence (that's Lydia's sister, ya know) prevents me from
further comment :{))

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

"Dan Best" wrote in message
...
Yeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Congradulations Skip. It's been a long hard trail. Now where are those
pictures?
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Working on it - there's nearly 200 of mine, and I'm hopeful of getting more
from the photog/boyfriend. I've just finished doing color balance, and I
still have to orient, crop, name, and upload to directories I've not yet
created. I have to call the documentation agent, call the insurance agent,
call the west coast boatyards to see where we're going to put her, and try
to get two of the houses I manage for my ex-wife rented tomorrow, so I'm not
sure I'll get them up yet - but I'll drop a line to the group when I do.

Thanks to all who stuck with me, and ...

.... Well, prudence (that's Lydia's sister, ya know) prevents me from
further comment :{))

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

"WaIIy" wrote in message
...

FYI to the replies : Please don't post the e-mail addresses in a usenet
group.

:{)) That's why I munged the addresses....

You're right - we're very happy:{))

Lydia's beside herself, and I'm happy to be off the road and looking forward
to the water!

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

"WaIIy" wrote in message
...

FYI to the replies : Please don't post the e-mail addresses in a usenet
group.

:{)) That's why I munged the addresses....

You're right - we're very happy:{))

Lydia's beside herself, and I'm happy to be off the road and looking forward
to the water!

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

Exhaustion, mental and physical...

It's www.justpickone.org/gallery/skip not the other way around...

I probably won't have it populated before the end of the weekend; there's
too much to do today, and I get my wife for the weekend (we still don't live
together; her home and job is 80 miles away - kinda like a traveling job!),
so I likely won't address that project until she leaves.

Which is at noon Sunday, so she can move the last of her kids out of the
house which is listed :{))

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
message link.net...
It's been a long road...

Tonight, I sent the following email to a photographer who really was also
acting as a mechanic's helper and there, probably, only because he's
dating
the owner's daughter, while the owner and his boat-tender/mechanic worked
for 3 weeks to get the boat ready for sale:

From: "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach@earthlink
To: "Michel"
Cc: "rmtg" lfell@regionsmortgage; "Lydia A. Fell" ;
SEATRADESINTL@aol;
charley@charleymorgan; "CHARLES E MORGAN" chasmorgan@juno; "Pete
Brown"
surveypete@aol.
Subject: Tehamana
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2004 10:45 PM

Hi, Michel!

Well, we have a deal. Lydia and I will take possession on Tuesday,
March 23, 11 months to the day after we got married! We can't wait, and
John will be happy to know that we'll continue the adventure of sailing
her all over the Caribbean, and, perhaps, if we get the notion, even
around the world.

I don't know if you took any pictures as you were working on the boat,
but if you have any you'd be willing to share, I'd be grateful for them.
John was very good about keeping records, and some pictures, too, of the
kinds of work which have been done. I'll find those invaluable, and I'd
like to continue that tradition, as much as possible. I have nearly 200
pictures of when we were surveying, which will be a good starting point
for the current boat.

As much as possible, as I gather John did, I like to know everything I
can about the boat, including all the history I can gather, as I want to
honor her past as we enjoy her present. I'm the same way about cars -
we own several Pontiac Fieros, and I spent many months tracking down the
history of them after we got them, because they're classics, and in
addition to wanting to know the maintenance history of them, we wanted
to know the original owners' thoughts and feelings so we could further
appreciate them.

Another bit of trivia which may be of interest to you and John is that
we traveled many thousands of miles, and investigated over 3000 boats on
YachtWorld, narrowing the possibilities to over 300, and, between the US
and British Virgin Islands, and the entire east coast between Baltimore
and St. Petersburg, including 6 trips around the perimeter of the
Florida peninsula, actually went aboard almost 200 boats before settling
on the Morgan 46 as our boat. Of course, since Lydia is still working,
I did most of the investigation, filming and taking stills of the boats
which appeared as though they might work, so that her limited trips
could be only on the ones which seemed like they'd fit after her review.

Actually, when I went aboard my "AHA! boat" - one of the sister ships in
Ft. Lauderdale - in November, it was like a cartoon figure with the
light bulb over the head signifying a revelation. It was as though
Charley Morgan (who, by the way, is a prince of a guy!) was looking over
my shoulder when we wrote the prospectus of what we wanted in a boat.
After that, when considering the types of M46 which were made, we
concluded we preferred the deep draft (we really like to sail, and value
the performance), the sloop (taller rig, more sail area, better
performance), and the flexibility of the removable inner forestay, which
some of the prior owners have added in the years since they were built.

Extensive research led me to several past employees of the Morgan Yacht
Company, including Pete Brown, who was Quality Control and Service
Manager during the entire time these were built, so I learned a lot of
how this line came to be. The first 12 of this model went to Moorings,
and, eventually, 45 of the same design were put into Moorings service,
all in their Tortola charter base. To have hull number 2 is a real
honor, in addition to the fact that most likely the very early ones were
built with somewhat more attention than others, as it was a very big
order, and they needed to be "just right."

As Pete Brown can tell you, I'm somewhat obsessed with Morgan 46 deep
draft sloops, nearly all of which were the 461 model (they were offered
that way in the 462, but I have not encountered any in the more than 30
I actually looked at, nor the nearly 30 I researched in the sold boats I
found). So, we're particularly happy to have an excellent example of
the type for our home for what we expect to be the rest of our lives.

Finally, without knowing your or John's spiritual inclinations, I also
want to say that this has been a directed purchase. I went aboard this
boat about 6 weeks ago, and basically walked through the interior and
had a brief glance around the exterior from inside the awning in the
cockpit, and went on about my business - which, at the time, was the
engine survey on a boat across the canal. That boat didn't work out,
and we renewed our search, not even considering this boat, as I'd
presumed it wouldn't work for Lydia, who, in the past, has rejected the
thought of a white interior. (Of course, once she actually saw one
which had been well done, she agreed with me that it worked very well!)
A contact I'd made during our initial M46 search, a from-new owner of a
1980 M462, was in Playboy Marine renewing his contacts there in
preparation for bringing his boat in for its annual service, and took
some pictures of the boat while you were working on her, sending them
off to me in email. We'd been in casual email negotiation on another
M461 for sale by owner, and were going to call him, but he had other
commitments that evening. So, we called Mike, and then Tony, and the
rest, as they say, is history.

Those we've told about our story have said that our first accepted
offer, during which we spent more than $2000 in engine and hull surveys,
and which was rejected after survey, had the owner doing us the biggest
favor in our boat buying and research time by rejecting our post-survey
offer. In the end, it led here. We feel we were led, not accidentally,
to this boat. We'll have bought her, start to finish, in less time than
it took to merely see most of the other boats in which we had an
interest. So, we're very blessed to be in this position, and consider
it an honor to keep this vessel operating in top condition.

Thanks again for contributing to our eventual purchase. If Tony had
email, I'd include him in this note - but you can share it for us. And,
we're dying to see how the picture you took of us in the cockpit came
out - would you email it for us?

Finally, I'll let you know when they're up, but if you'd like, you can
look for pictures of Tehamana at www.justpickone.org/gallery/skip
shortly!

L8R

Skip and Lydia

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as
self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and
one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

Exhaustion, mental and physical...

It's www.justpickone.org/gallery/skip not the other way around...

I probably won't have it populated before the end of the weekend; there's
too much to do today, and I get my wife for the weekend (we still don't live
together; her home and job is 80 miles away - kinda like a traveling job!),
so I likely won't address that project until she leaves.

Which is at noon Sunday, so she can move the last of her kids out of the
house which is listed :{))

L8R

Skip and Lydia

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
message link.net...
It's been a long road...

Tonight, I sent the following email to a photographer who really was also
acting as a mechanic's helper and there, probably, only because he's
dating
the owner's daughter, while the owner and his boat-tender/mechanic worked
for 3 weeks to get the boat ready for sale:

From: "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach@earthlink
To: "Michel"
Cc: "rmtg" lfell@regionsmortgage; "Lydia A. Fell" ;
SEATRADESINTL@aol;
charley@charleymorgan; "CHARLES E MORGAN" chasmorgan@juno; "Pete
Brown"
surveypete@aol.
Subject: Tehamana
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2004 10:45 PM

Hi, Michel!

Well, we have a deal. Lydia and I will take possession on Tuesday,
March 23, 11 months to the day after we got married! We can't wait, and
John will be happy to know that we'll continue the adventure of sailing
her all over the Caribbean, and, perhaps, if we get the notion, even
around the world.

I don't know if you took any pictures as you were working on the boat,
but if you have any you'd be willing to share, I'd be grateful for them.
John was very good about keeping records, and some pictures, too, of the
kinds of work which have been done. I'll find those invaluable, and I'd
like to continue that tradition, as much as possible. I have nearly 200
pictures of when we were surveying, which will be a good starting point
for the current boat.

As much as possible, as I gather John did, I like to know everything I
can about the boat, including all the history I can gather, as I want to
honor her past as we enjoy her present. I'm the same way about cars -
we own several Pontiac Fieros, and I spent many months tracking down the
history of them after we got them, because they're classics, and in
addition to wanting to know the maintenance history of them, we wanted
to know the original owners' thoughts and feelings so we could further
appreciate them.

Another bit of trivia which may be of interest to you and John is that
we traveled many thousands of miles, and investigated over 3000 boats on
YachtWorld, narrowing the possibilities to over 300, and, between the US
and British Virgin Islands, and the entire east coast between Baltimore
and St. Petersburg, including 6 trips around the perimeter of the
Florida peninsula, actually went aboard almost 200 boats before settling
on the Morgan 46 as our boat. Of course, since Lydia is still working,
I did most of the investigation, filming and taking stills of the boats
which appeared as though they might work, so that her limited trips
could be only on the ones which seemed like they'd fit after her review.

Actually, when I went aboard my "AHA! boat" - one of the sister ships in
Ft. Lauderdale - in November, it was like a cartoon figure with the
light bulb over the head signifying a revelation. It was as though
Charley Morgan (who, by the way, is a prince of a guy!) was looking over
my shoulder when we wrote the prospectus of what we wanted in a boat.
After that, when considering the types of M46 which were made, we
concluded we preferred the deep draft (we really like to sail, and value
the performance), the sloop (taller rig, more sail area, better
performance), and the flexibility of the removable inner forestay, which
some of the prior owners have added in the years since they were built.

Extensive research led me to several past employees of the Morgan Yacht
Company, including Pete Brown, who was Quality Control and Service
Manager during the entire time these were built, so I learned a lot of
how this line came to be. The first 12 of this model went to Moorings,
and, eventually, 45 of the same design were put into Moorings service,
all in their Tortola charter base. To have hull number 2 is a real
honor, in addition to the fact that most likely the very early ones were
built with somewhat more attention than others, as it was a very big
order, and they needed to be "just right."

As Pete Brown can tell you, I'm somewhat obsessed with Morgan 46 deep
draft sloops, nearly all of which were the 461 model (they were offered
that way in the 462, but I have not encountered any in the more than 30
I actually looked at, nor the nearly 30 I researched in the sold boats I
found). So, we're particularly happy to have an excellent example of
the type for our home for what we expect to be the rest of our lives.

Finally, without knowing your or John's spiritual inclinations, I also
want to say that this has been a directed purchase. I went aboard this
boat about 6 weeks ago, and basically walked through the interior and
had a brief glance around the exterior from inside the awning in the
cockpit, and went on about my business - which, at the time, was the
engine survey on a boat across the canal. That boat didn't work out,
and we renewed our search, not even considering this boat, as I'd
presumed it wouldn't work for Lydia, who, in the past, has rejected the
thought of a white interior. (Of course, once she actually saw one
which had been well done, she agreed with me that it worked very well!)
A contact I'd made during our initial M46 search, a from-new owner of a
1980 M462, was in Playboy Marine renewing his contacts there in
preparation for bringing his boat in for its annual service, and took
some pictures of the boat while you were working on her, sending them
off to me in email. We'd been in casual email negotiation on another
M461 for sale by owner, and were going to call him, but he had other
commitments that evening. So, we called Mike, and then Tony, and the
rest, as they say, is history.

Those we've told about our story have said that our first accepted
offer, during which we spent more than $2000 in engine and hull surveys,
and which was rejected after survey, had the owner doing us the biggest
favor in our boat buying and research time by rejecting our post-survey
offer. In the end, it led here. We feel we were led, not accidentally,
to this boat. We'll have bought her, start to finish, in less time than
it took to merely see most of the other boats in which we had an
interest. So, we're very blessed to be in this position, and consider
it an honor to keep this vessel operating in top condition.

Thanks again for contributing to our eventual purchase. If Tony had
email, I'd include him in this note - but you can share it for us. And,
we're dying to see how the picture you took of us in the cockpit came
out - would you email it for us?

Finally, I'll let you know when they're up, but if you'd like, you can
look for pictures of Tehamana at www.justpickone.org/gallery/skip
shortly!

L8R

Skip and Lydia

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as
self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and
one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin

This is getting ridiculous. It's /skip/gallery

Sheesh. I think I'll go back to bed.

L8R

Skip

--
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you are
quite alone on a great, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought, and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin