Headsail Commissioned and Other Progress

Mast Step Cords

New Headsail

Wide UV Bands

Private Security in San Fernando

Pato had the mainsail repaired and ready when I returned to MdP.  He dropped it off on Thursday and told me that he would come by the boat at about 11 AM today.  This morning he came as promised and the first thing that we did was to put up the new  headsail. 

I must say that I am very pleased with the sail that North Sail produced for Pachuca.  Its size (135%, 514 sq ft) and weight (9.55 oz) are as I expected, and  Pachuca's Fremantle Sailing Club number 330 was stitched on both sides of the sail as I had requested.  I was happy to note the generously wide bands of UV protection along the luff and foot of the sail.  This will eliminate the problem with the older sail where there would be a white spiral of exposed sail unless I rolled it up very tightly.  I was presented with a 1 year warranty which can be honored at 100 NS sites in 29 countries.

Pato then helped me mount the repaired mainsail on the boom and I hope to hoist it tomorrow, weather permitting.  After the pleasure of seeing the sail up again I am very much looking forward to zipping it up in the sail cover that Pato repaired and enlarged. 

I've also made progress on the mounting of new deck fittings for the staysail blocks.  I used the same plans that had been used for the staysail fitting to have Tallero Naval make two more, but without the U-fitting on the lower plate.  After some investigation yesterday I have decided to place the fittings not on the edge of the cabin as I had expected, but on the side deck.  To that end I have dropped the ceiling panels around the chain plates and will do the work as soon as we get some sunny dry weather.  This will result in the sheet blocks only 8 inches inboard of the blocks at the end of the jib tracks that I've been using, but that will put the blocks in the zone of 28-32 inches from the center line of the boat, as Dan of Port Townsend Rigging had suggested to me several years ago.  This will allow the sail to be flown closer to the wind and eliminate the need of running the sheets between two shrouds as I've had to do until now.

With the sails in order and the new deck fittings in place the only major tasks before departing for Brazil will be fueling and provisioning the boat.  Today Pato told me that he would be away sailing from the 8th to the 19th of June, and I told him that I would stay until his return.  So I'll be looking to sailing out of Mar del Plata during the first weather window after 22 June.

One of the enclosed photos shows the network of cords running between the mast steps and shrouds that will act as a barrier to prevent halyards from wrapping around the steps.

Another shows one of the many small booths, usually manned,  dotted around the residential streets of San Fernando.  Brenda and I figured that this represented private security funded by the residents and today Pato confirmed this.  A group of neighbors will get together and fund a security guard to watch their houses, presumably 24 hours per day.