Planning to Move, Quotation Surprise

This morning I visited Martha and told her that I was paid up at Club Nautico until this Saturday, the 24th,  and I was hoping to move the boat to Club Argentino in the inner harbor on either Friday or Saturday.  She told me that Saturday was not possible because it will be a national holiday.  Monday is also out because Club Nautico is closed on Mondays during the winter and there will be no staff to help me free the lines and pull me out of the slip.  Sunday is OK, so that leaves either Friday or Sunday, as long as conditions are suitable.  Martha is OK with me staying a few extra days if I have to, and paying later.

At the club I saw Jorge who was on his way to his daily tennis session and he told me that he would  be glad to help me move the boat, and not to worry because there would be plenty of sailors about who would help. 

I then visited Luis at Club Argentino and he seems pretty relaxed about which day I move the boat in, as long as the conditions are right.  I asked him what slip I would get and he seemed pretty relaxed about that too, pointing in the general direction of one of the jetties.  Again he told me that depth was no problem.  I walked to the ends of the jetty to become familiar with the area and there were some fairly big boats in the slips and the water looked deep enough, for whatever that's worth.  I'll probably return to the jetty and plumb the bottom at various slips by hand.  I told him that I would return when I was more sure of the day, which I hoped would be Friday, and I hope that Jorge will be with me so that we can see exactly where to take the boat.

I then decided to walk over to Moscuzza and see if I could get the quotation for those stays.  Alejandro was in and he seemed surprise that I had not received the quotation by email.  He printed it out I had a quick glance at the number, and told him that I would return the next day.  I don't like to make hasty decisions about money.  I then walked on the the fish shops and picked up some Salmon steaks and a large fillet of salmon.

Back at the boat I had a look at the quotation and saw a “Total” figure of 9,381.02.  That appeared to be over 9,000 pesos but it couldn't be right because it was ten times higher than what I had expected.  On the way out again to see about progress on the stainless steel fitting for the inner forestay I asked Martha to look at the quotation.  Yes, I had read it correctly and Moscuzza wanted roughly $2,000 USD for three pieces of relatively short galvanized rigging: two lower shrouds and the inner forestay.  The easy thing for me to do is to not go back, but I want to tell Alejandro personally that thanks a lot, but his company is charging way much too much money. 

I then walked on to Tallero Naval and fell into another business hours trap.  This time the business was open but the office was closed until 2 PM.  I turned around and walked the roughly 2 miles back to the boat.  Being a stranger in a strange land requires a lot of patience.

I returned to Tallero Naval at 2.30 PM and was told that I could pick up the fitting at either 6 PM tonight or at 9 AM in the morning.  It told him that I would be there at 9 AM.  On the way back I withdrew my daily limit of 1000 pesos from the ATM.  I'll be able to withdraw another 1000 pesos tomorrow which may be enough to cover the cost.  I doubt that they take Visa cards.

I then dropped into the restaurant for this internet session and there was Pato and his wife and young child.  We had a productive discussion.  I was amazed at the detailed information that we must provide to the riggers, so I expect to do some mast climbing while Pato is below at the other end of the tape.  I like that: I seem to be dealing with real professionals who know how to come in fully prepared.

Pato will visit the boat tomorrow when we expect calm winds.  I have agreed to drop the headsail as soon as the wind is calm enough because he needs to take all sorts of measurements on that sail in preparation the on he is going to make for me.  ... I'm not sure why he can't take measurements from the sail on his premises that he has repaired, but he has his reasons.

I then told him about my plan to move the boat to Club Argentino.  He thinks that it is a very good move.  He suggested that I go around the end of the jetty around the large boat with the red awning and take an inside slip, safe from the boats moving in and out of the harbor.  It was good advice.  It was a good thing that I had walked the jetty because I knew exactly what he was talking about.  He also suggested that I go in at high tide to make sure that I get around the end of the jetty with no problem.  He doesn't think that depth will be a problem in the proposed slip.  In any event, the bottom is sand and there would be no damage to the boat (though there would surely be annoyance as we bounced on the bottom then tilted over) if we touched bottom.  Pato agreed to go with me to see Luis at Club Argentino after we have  taken our measurements on Pachuca to get more information on the slip options. 

I decided to send an email message to Alejandro at Moscuzza explaining my rejection of their quotation.  This is not a cop out: I express myself better with the written word, especially in Spanish when I have the assistance of the Google translator.