We’ve had a bit of a setback with Tieton, which is difficult to write about ☹️.

Last season in Fiji, we hit a coral head, which was the reason we had to do some repairs there. We hoped that the damage had been fixed, but when we pulled Tieton out in April to apply anti fouling paint, we discovered some damage that hadn’t been detected earlier.

We filed a claim with our insurance carrier and have been working with them to provide requested information, pull the boat back out for inspection by their surveyor, and make arrangements for Tieton to be repaired. The process is ongoing and will likely take a few months.

Unfortunately this means that Tieton needs to stay in New Zealand and we won’t be heading north this season. Disappointing…

The good news is that we now can visit friends and family in the US during the summer. We arrived from New Zealand today and will start out this weekend in Poulsbo.

Now that this news is out, we may go back and do some blogging about our experiences for the last few months in New Zealand. In addition to our boat maintenance, we’ve also had some great times!

We are so grateful to have our health, loving families and great communities.