Hi there! We are Sue Meinzinger and Mark Bunje. We reside in Mount Vernon, work on Whidbey Island, moor our boat in Anacortes, but we live on Lopez in our hearts and minds. Oh wait! We do have an address here in that we are the DNR lease holders on a mooring buoy in Fisherman’s Bay. We find ourselves spending more and more time on Lopez through our pet sitting adventures, visits with friends, as well as visits to our buoy. We love this island community and we’d feel honored to be a part of the yacht club. 

We’ve been boat owners since 2014 when we purchased a 1979 San Juan 28 sailboat. She was a fine boat and will always have a special place in our hearts because she introduced us to the world of boating. As we got more comfortable in our boat handling and sailing skills, our desire to be on the water for longer periods of time grew. With that, came a desire to spend more time above the waterline looking out of larger windows, especially while moored somewhere in inclement weather. The idea of an inside helm while underway was attractive to us as well. 

In August 2022, we welcomed Ariel into our lives. She’s a 1979 North Sea 34 pilothouse sailboat and is one of just 28 boats made before the builder passed away.  As with any old boat, we’ve inherited some projects, so thankfully Mark loves working on the boat and is capable of handling many of the projects himself. I, Sue, prefer to go places! Together, we do share the dream of spending summers on Ariel exploring remote inlets of British Columbia when we retire. I envision fishing and crabbing, picking berries, and canning kelp pickles, while Mark looks forward to tinkering with his lithium batteries and solar arrays. In the meantime, we’re certainly excited to continue exploring our local waters or just sit on our boat at our buoy enjoying dinner and drinks with friends. We hope you’ll visit us when we’re in Fish Bay! 

To the Membership:

Please say hello to Sue & Mark and welcome them into the club.

In accordance with the club’s By-laws, they have completed all the requirements of sending in their application, initiation fees, photo, etc. Publishing their photo and bio is the last step in the process. After ten days for comments from the membership, the governing board will vote them in for membership.

Members can send comment to our Commodore, Jan Wagner: edenhill@comcast.net.

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