Lunch With Friends

Headsail on deck finally bagged

Alfredo to my right, George to left

I wake up every morning wondering what the day will bring and today turned out to be a very good one. 

I decided to dedicate the day to getting the damaged headsail onto the jetty so that I could fold it up, either on the jetty or by somehow lugging the thing up to the breakwater and over to a spot where there was ample space for the job.  Getting out of the forecastle was a problem because I had compacted it into a ball with my legs and it was difficult finding a starting corner then pulling like mad to unravel it.  I got the headsail onto the foredeck then saw Alfredo approaching his boat.  I had seen him the previous day after his return from BA and we had arranged to visit Alejandro at Moscuzza's between 9 and 10 AM today to check on the status of the rigging wire.

Alfredo asked for some help with his staysail setup and we spent 30 minutes reversing the roller line and making other adjustments.  He has had a lot of trouble with that roller and he wishes that he had a simple wire and hank setup like Pachuca's.   I asked Alfredo if he could help me drop my headsail onto the jetty when we got back from Moscuzza's.

On the way to Moscuzza's we ran into John, the captain of the French boat.  He expects a response to his appeal to the Prefectura today, and he is hoping for a reduction in the size of the fine for having visited the Malvinas.

We saw Alejandro who explained that the company's intranet service had gone down and for four days he had been cut off from the head office in BA.  Nevertheless there was some progress.  He produced a proper mechanical drawing of my requirements and everything was as specified.  At this point he sees no problem.  Next Wednesday Alfredo will sail to a place called La Paloma and it could well be our last goodbye, so Alejandro and I exchanged cards and we agreed to communicate via email in Spanish,which will be no problem for me because I'll be assisted by an internet  based translator. 

On the way back we ran into a friend of Alfredo and he introduced me to George (pronounced “Horhe”).  We got back to the jetty and the two of them took my sail as I handed it over the pulpit and I thanked them and told them that I would be OK from there on.  They found out that I wanted to fold the beast and before I knew it the three of us had the sail stretched out on the jetty.  Alfredo flaked it in a way that I had not seen before: lengthwise along the luff rather than crosswise along the foot.  That actually made a lot of sense on the narrow jetty and before long the three of us had the sail flaked and neatly rolled up.  I produced a sail back and asked if it was too small.  The didn't think so and we managed to cram the sail into the bag with a lot of effort. 

It was getting near noon so I invited them for lunch at the club.  With Alfredo's help I ordered a very nice grilled fish with salad.   The lunch conversation was very helpful to me.  I asked where I could buy fresh fish and they told me how to get to the fishing harbor where there were all sorts of seafood outlets. 

We discussed my plans for sailing to BA and I told George the major items to be repaired.  Radar?  No problem.  He said that there is a good radar man here at MdP who could probably also fix the autopilot.  Given that this is a major fishing port it's not surprising that there are electronic repair services around.  The trick, of course, is in finding one, but George has solved that problem for me.  He will come by the boat on Monday morning and we will go together to the radar man who is within walking distance.  I asked if the man would be able to climb the mast to get to the radar and George said No Problem.  I told George that I'd remove the autopilot computer tomorrow so that we could take it with us on Monday.

Then we discussed my sail issues.  They have no doubt that the place to have new sails made is Hood Sails in Buenos Aires.  But they saw no need to take the boat to BA just for that. I suggested that I could take the mainsail with me on the train and ask them to replicate it (with 3 reefs instead of 2) but they didn't see a need for even that – just send in the measurements.  Regarding the repair of the damaged headsail they said that Pato Salas of North Sails here at MdP could do it.  I replied that Martha had told me about Pato but I hadn't made contact because I expected to take the boat to BA.  Just then Pato and his wife baby showed up at the restaurant.  Alfredo spotted them and said “magic moment”, which was a pretty sophisticated thing to say for a man who claims that he doesn't know much English.  I was introduced and soon I was discussing the sail problem with Pato (who speaks English).  I explained that it is made of some sort of laminated material.  “Kevlar?”  No, I didn't think that it is kevlar, but it certainly isn't Dacron.  I also told him about my amateurish sewing repair work and he dismissed that not being a problem.  I was happy to hump the sail across the bridge to Martha's office where Pato could pick it up but they all figured that it would be easier for someone to come by in an inflatable boat and load the sail straight from the boat.  The sail is on the deck ready for the inflatable, and I'll probably drop the backup sail that got me to and round the Horn and include it for a checkout and strengthening.

So the radar and autopilot might be repaired, the headsail would be repaired, and new sails could be ordered from Hood Sails in BA.  And just yesterday John had told me where he was getting stainless steel welding done on his pulpit, which gives me an avenue for having a new deck fitting fabricated for the staysail.  Hmm.  Very interesting.

Then Alfredo and George both questioned the need of going to BA when they figured that it could all be done here at MdP.  Yes, I should be able to make it to BA alright, but with a 2.3 meter draft it will be very very difficult to make it to the Tigre-San Fernando area.  Alfredo has sailed the area and he quoted me some depth figures and didn't like my chances.  I'm certain that were it his boat he wouldn't try it. I had heard all of this before and was relying on a local to pilot the boat to Tigre, but then they threw in a couple of factors that I had not considered.  Sure, the BA has plenty of services, they say, but the problem is that they are spread out all over the place and it can require hours of travel, whereas here in MdP everything (what there is) is within walking distance.  They also said that BA requires a bit of care when moving around the city because of a criminal element. (This isn't surprising, given that any large city such as New York, Los Angeles, or London would require similar care.)

I haven't changed my plans at this point.  However, I'm going to see how far I can get here in MdP with the electronic and sail repairs as well as the stainless steel work.  If that works out OK I'll make contact with Hood Sails in BA. 

After a nap I cleared out the forecastle, put the cushions on the deck go get some sun, cleaned all of the surfaces with fresh water and bleach, then opened up the sail locker lids to give them the first airing since La Paz.  The starboard lid had come free of all of its hinges, so there was work to be done there.