Mainsail Down and Packed

Ernesto and Crew Headed for Buenos Aires

Mainsail

Two Holes Caused by Chafing

Stig the Happy Adventurer

It was another bright and sunny autumn day.  After a slow start with an hour of studying Spanish and another hour of having fun with the OpenCPN charting software I set off for my favorite little grocery store then over to the fishing boat harbor for fresh fish. 

Back at the boat I decided that my task of the day would be to bring down the mainsail.  It  had to come down eventually because I hope to hand it to Pato for a general examination and some minor repairs.  Besides, I figure that the rigger's job will be easier without the mainsail on the boom. 

The first task was to remove the battens, which took a bit of thinking about what the easiest and safest way would be to do it.  For each batten a retaining bolt at the luff end had to be removed then the velcroed flap at the leech end had to be teased out before the batten could be pulled out.  Had the wind been very light and from the bow I would have hoisted the main to the next batten, removed it, then hoisted to the next batten and repeated the process.  Instead I managed to remove the pin at the “gate”  on the mast below the slides then removed enough of the sail from the mast to free the next batten for removal.  Thus I worked my way through the 5 battens of the sail.  I stored the battens inside of the boom, taped together because inside the boom are already the battens of my spare mainsail which I forgot to remove before leaving Fremantle. 

The next task was to get the sail ashore so that I could fold it properly.  I roped it up into a big bundle, fetched a wheelbarrow from the club, and as luck would have it Ernesto and his crew showed up with exquisite timing and helped me get the sail off the boat and into the wheel barrow.        I spread the sail out on the grassy area, examined it, photographed it, and then measured it.  The sail has very close to a right angle at the tack.  The measurements I got were: luff 13.4 m, foot 3.9 m, leech (measured along the roach), 13.92 m.  The first reef is 1.82 m from the tack and the second reef is 3.72 m from the tack.  I have often complained that the second reef isn't deep enough, but looking at the sail it appeared that the second reef left less than half of the sail remaining.  (I'll have to work it out geometrically later.)

When I returned to the boat to get my camera I was able to see Ernesto and his crew off.  One of his crew had taken a liking to my boat.  Across the water from Ernesto's boat he asked me how many days I had been out at sea in my passage from La Paz, Mexico.  I replied 112 days and he bowed to me in mock adulation.  I thanked him.  They had asked me to join them for dinner the night before but I had declined because I was just finishing my own dinner besides,  it was 10.45 PM.  Today he asked me to join them in the sail to Buenos Aires.  It was only a courtesy, and I thanked him and told him that there was much work to be done on my boat.  He commented on my mast steps and surprised me by saying that he had never see mast steps before.  I looked around and no other boats in the marina had mast steps.  He asked if he could climb my mast and before I could say Yes the skipper Ernesto prudently reminded us all that they must get underway, so there was to climbing of the mast.

The mainsail appeared to be in better condition than I had expected.  The material is heavy, well stitched, and I could see the re-enforcing and re-stitching work that Carol Hosse's team at Port Townsend Sails had done on it.  There are two problem areas that I know of: (1) one of the upper slides broke free, (2) there are two chafe holes near the foot.  I will ask Pato to deal with this and look at the attachments of all of the slides on the sail.

While I was finishing up the sail work I caught sight of Stig at a table outside of the restaurant deeply engrossed in his computer.  He was working on his blog, an activity that I know well.  I asked him a couple of questions about his boat on behalf of my friend Victor in Western Australia then we had a good chat.  I got a photo of him for my blog and he reciprocated by taking a photo of me for his blog.  His departure is imminent, pending the weather forecast, so we shook hands and said our goodbyes.  Stig is such a happy and optimistic person.  I wish him the best, and I'm sure that he'll do well because he must have a wonderful karma account.

Deck Fitting in Place

Old U-Bolt Fitting Removed

Holes Filled With Epoxy

New Holes Drilled

New Piece Below Deck

New Piece Above Deck

Ernesto in His Boat

I went to sleep last night with two of the computers doing maintenance work.  

On the Windows 7 machine I did a complete backup of all of the system and user files to one of the two Seagate external drives.  The size of that backup was 104.5 megabytes. Leaving 777 megabytes still free on the 1 terabyte Seagate drive.  (Each of the Seagates holds “only” 1 TB, not 2 TB as I reported earlier.  One Seagate is labeled “Movies and Music” and the other is “Data”.)  After the backup I produced a “system repair” disc.  I had produced one shortly after purchasing the machine but it would do no harm to have a second one.

On the Windows XP Acer I did a badly needed disc defragmentation.  That took hours to complete but I woke up this morning to find that all had gone well.  This was the first defragmentation that I had ever done on any of my computers.  I used the Windows utility for that task as well as for the backup on the other machine.

Today was a stunningly clear, crisp, and sunny day, which was perfect for performing Stage II of the installation of the deck fitting for the inner forestay.  Stage I was yesterday afternoon when I removed the old U-bolt fitting, cleaned out the holes, and filled them with International 2-part general purpose epoxy filler from a can that I had brought with me from Australia.  The filler hardened nicely overnight and I resumed the work at noon today.

I was betting that the Bosch cordless drill would be able to do the job, even though 4 large holes were to be drilled.  I put the fitting into position, traced one of the holes with a pencil, drilled  a tiny pilot hole, then went below to make sure that there would be no complications.  I then drilled a lightly larger hole then used the 3/8” drill for the final hole.   I fitted the piece on with the bolt through the deck then traced out the diagonal hole and repeated the drilling sequence.  With the piece in place with two bolts I then marked out the remaining 2 holes and drilled them concurrently.  I had to swap batteries but the drill did the job well.  That drill has been one of the most useful tools on this boat.  The deck, by the way, is 15 mm thick in that section.

The next bet was that I could figure out a way to hold the wrench on the bolt head topside while I tightened the nut below deck.  Fortunately the electric windlass forward of the fitting and the bollard cleat aft of the fitting were close enough to stop the circular travel of the wrench.  I placed the hammer on top of the wrench to keep it from jumping out of the head of the bolt and it all worked flawlessly. 

I had a new cartridge of 3M 5200 but was able to find a half-filled smaller tube of the sealant from La Paz that is squeezed out like toothpaste.  I could feel that the sealant was still pliable in the tube but it was hard as a rock around the outlet, so I snipped off a back corner of the tube and squeezed out all of the sealant that I needed. 

Tightening was a slow and methodical process of setting the wrench on one of the bolts, going back below to tighten tighten its nut a bit more, then returning to the deck and moving the wrench to the next bolt to repeat the process.  I must have gone round and round about 10 times until all the bolts were firmly tight.  A lot of 5200 was squeezed out in the process but I cleaned it up using a paint scraper then a cloth saturated with paint thinner to clean around the fitting.  I then cleaned the tools and my hands. 

While I was working I met the owner of the boat next to me, Ernesto.  He speaks very good English and we had a very good conversation.  He has visited Australia 2 or 3 times, stayed at the hotel on Hamilton Island, and scuba dived the Barrier Reef.  He's sailing to Buenos Aires tomorrow, so I met him just in time.  I commented on how good his boat looks and he amazed me when he said that it had been built in 1985.  I told him that he has maintained it very well.   He told me that the beautiful black mast was new, and so was the rigging because last year he had lost his mast.  I asked him to tell me about it.  Last year they were making the relatively short sail from Buenos Aires to Punta del Este in Uruguay.  They had a very bad night of strong winds and high seas.  Their headsail tore so  they had to swap it out and they had other problems.  I think that it was daylight when they got hit by a very large wave, and they heard a bang.  They looked all around, saw no problem, so they kept sailing.  A second big wave hit them and their mast went over.  With it went the headsail and a brand new mainsail, which they could not free from the mast rail.  They cut away the rigging and made for Mar del Plata.  Fortunately, insurance paid for most of the damage and the boat looks great with its new mast and rigging.  That something like that can happen in the River Plate estuary helps explain the anxiety that I had in making my way upwind from east of the Malvinas with my crippled rig.

I told Ernesto that I was hoping to visit Angra south of Rio and his response was “Take me with you.”  He's been there several times and told me that it is a wonderful cruising ground – not a lot of wind but islands everywhere.  He told me about going up the mouth of one of the rivers and enjoying complete solitude.  I asked him about marinas and he named two, one up-market and one that would be more to my liking.  He told me that all of the marinas there would be a safe place to leave the boat while I am visiting the USA. 

It's all starting to fall into place for me, thanks to the information and assistance that I've been getting from the friendly and helpful Argentinians that I've met.  I hope to purchase a Brazilian cruising guide in Buenos Aires. 

While I was preparing this blog Pato showed up.  I was surprised to see him because he's been sick, which explained the headache and weakness that I've been experiencing for the last two days.  His voice was still a bit croaky but he was talking about sailing tomorrow.  We removed my spray dodger and sail cover, and it looks like he'll be able to repair them before he goes overseas on April 10. 

Pato told me that the rigging team is fairly booked up but that they may be able to do the job in late April.  In a week I'll try to get a more precise estimate from them so that I can plan the touring with Brenda because I must be present during the re-rigging.

As he was leaving I thanked him for coming to the boat.  I appreciated it because I knew that he wasn't well.

Computers Bloody Computers

Is it just me are computers a big part of modern sailing?  I've spent probably 30 hours doing maintenance work on my 3 laptops during the last 2 weeks.

The biggest pain was the Windows 7 machine which stopped connecting to the network via the local wireless router and I tried every suggestion that I could find in the internet on the subject with no success.

This morning a lady approached me asking me for the password of the wireless router.  I told her that the is no password, it is an open system.  She couldn't connect.  "Windows 7?" I asked.  Yes, it was Windows 7, so told her my story of the connectivity problems.  Nevertheless I went to her machine and fiddled around, doing nothing, really, then the connection map showed that she was connected.  She tried her browser and sure enough she was connected to the internet and I was an undeserving hero.  My Windows 7 was next to hers up and running so I looked at the map and I was connected too.  I tried the browse and bingo!

There is something dodgy either in either Windows 7 or the local router.  None of the few tools at my disposal resolve the problem - it just disappears by itself.  From now on if I can't connect to with the Windows 7 machine I'll just leave it alone and use the XP machine, since fiddling around with low level commands carries its own risks and doesn't work anyway.

I then shut down the XP machine and continued my internet work with the Windows 7 machine with no problem - till next time.

This morning I had made a special trip to the tourist bureau which advertised the hours of 9.30 AM to 1.30 PM.  I waited until 10 AM and left because nobody had showed up to open the place.  I then got on the internet and helped myself,  sorting out the bus schedules, surveying the hotels in Buenos Aires, and making a reservation for 5 days from 9 to 14 April.  (http://www.omnilineas.com/argentina/hotel/buenos-aires-waldorf/).

Computers Wonderful Computers!

.

Paid Up at Club Argentino

Beach and Tourist Area

Naval Base and Harbor

After the long computer session this morning I decided take advantage of the bright sunny weather to make the visit to the headquarters of Club Argentino and make a payment on my stay at their slip.  Thanks to Jorge I had a rough idea of where it was and when the man at the local office gave me the directions in Spanish I was able to understand him amazingly well.  By the time I set out after a quick light lunch the clouds had closed in again.  It was a walk of about 4 or 5 kilometers past the naval base to the beach area that Jorge had taken me on his motorcycle.

The club building is a solid one in the art deco style.  The front door was locked but two men asked me my business then one led me down the stairs to the office.  On the way I could see that it was an elegant and exclusive looking club.  Fortunately one of the young ladies in the office spoke very good English because the transaction was a little more complicated than I had expected, and my blog to which I put so much time and effort was a big help.  They needed to know the exact day of my arrival to MdP so I passed my boat card and pointed out the URL of my blog.  Soon she was scanning through the blog, with me giving directions from the counter, and found my date of arrival.  Then she needed to know the day when I had berthed the boat at their slip  so it was back to the blog. 

The result is as follows.  The current charge is $2.50 USD per meter of boat per day, resulting in $30 USD per day, so I paid for the last 9 days of March, the 30 days of April, and up to the 17th of May, which is when my current visa expires.  The total charge was 7,411.55 pesos which using an exchange rate of 4.37 came out to $1696 USD.  (That didn't include the charge for electricity for the days in April because that is paid by the whole month.)  That worked out to 131 pesos per day which from memory is 8 or 9 pesos a day cheaper than Club Nautico.

They had asked me how long I planned to stay and I told them that I wasn't sure.  The Prefectura had told me that I could extend my visa by 90 days on request and when that happened I would be back to see if I could extend my stay at the club.  They saw no problem with that, so I'm confident that I'll be secure here at Club Argentino until the middle of August.  Before then the major work on the boat would have hopefully been completed and I hope to move on to Brazil to escape the remaining part of winter and get a taste of sub tropical cruising around Angra Des Reis.

Included are two panoramic photos that I took on the way back to the boat.  One covers the beach area, the white Club Argentino building in the center, and the tourist district to the left.  Jorge took me up that road and it is a very nice section of town with splendid views of the coast.  To the right of the club building are the blue-roofed beach shelters.  (They look very English to me but don't compare to the Mexican palapas.)

The other photo is to the SE, showing the naval base.  There are two submarines on the far side of the base.  On the other side of the base is the small boat harbor where Pachuca is tied up.

Doings

We had 2 days of rainy weather, with the wind hitting 30 knots during the night.  I stayed in the boat during the worst day with the fan heater keeping the cabin warm.  Winter is coming to Mar Del Plata.

I spent much of those two days working with the computers.  I've transferred all of the three types of charting data from the Acer netbook to each of my two 2-TB Seagate external drives. This represented thousands of small files and hundreds of megabytes of data.  I've kept the charting data on board the Toshiba laptop at the navigation station, but I can reach the Seagate data from any of the three computers.  At the moment I have the old Toshiba next to me, updating the XP OS, which is taking a long time because the machine has not been on line for months.  I also updated its Firefox and am trying to download the OpenCPN software to it.  This might all sound trivial but it has taken hours of work, particularly in my unsuccessful attempt to get the wireless internet on the Toshiba Windows 7 machine to work again.  (The two XP machines work fine.)

Yesterday I turned my attention to a frozen up knob on the stove.  The big trap with this sort of work is the risk of doing more harm than good, e.g. breaking something.  But I managed to service it and the other 3 knobs successfully and it was very satisfying to be able to use the no. 3 burner again for the first time in months.

I discussed my travel to Buenos Aires with Jorge today, and he advised against taking the train because it is uncomfortable and prone to breakdowns.  Besides, the train would drop me off well away from the city center.  He advises taking a bus, which I will do.  I'll visit the Tourist Information office soon to learn about the bus schedules.  Jorge told me that there are no hotels near the international  airport, and I hope to get more information on this too.

The funds transfer to a USA bank of the 50% deposit for the new failed.  The bank informed me through its internal secure mail service that I supplied either incorrect or insufficient information, which was pretty vague so I have asked them for clarification.

I got a partial (does not include running backstays, new wire rails, or travel time) on the new rigging, which I will publish later.  The wire will be imported 316 S/S and the fittings will be Navtec.  I've been assured that it is all top quality material, and a visit to the Navtec site supported the claim.

Sail Work

I spent the afternoon working with the sails.  I wheeled the sail that Pato had repaired to the grassy area of the club and had a look at the repair work to assess the usefulness of the sail.  The repair was as good.  I could see where there had been a lot of re-stitching and new material was sewn along much of the leech.  The UV cover at the leech was re-enforced at the joins and I saw two spot patches to repair damage probably from the crosstree.

Repaired Headsail

Flaked and Ready for Folding for Bag

Good as the repair effort was the fact is that much of the sail material has seen better days and I was well advised to have a new headsail made.  It is difficult to say how strong the sail is - it may be good for only a few weeks or may be capable of taking me back all of the way to Australia.  I won't know the answer to that question unless I am forced to put it up as the backup sail.

Never again will I order a laminated sail.  This one may have been superstrong initially (and I admit that I pushed it hard), but it didn't age well and when it was damaged it was a big pain to manage and try to repair because the material is stiff. 

Yesterday the depth sounder reported 2.0 meters of water, and Pachuca requires 2.4 meters.  The boat continued to sway gently left and right with no discernible lean.  I plan to compare the depth sounder reading with a good old fashioned lead line. 



 

Pleasant Day

1. Entire Area, Ilha Grande in Center

2. Closeup of Ilha Grande

3. Grande Laje

4. Raia De Riberia

5. Western Side

Practicing at the School of Rowing

Panoramic Photo of Small Boat Side of Harbor

This is Saturday and the rain held off so it turned out to be a mild  and sunny day with Club Nautico abuzz with the weekend activities.  While I was at the club checking my email Jorge showed up and said that he could  not play tennis this morning because there was a tournament on, and asked how I was doing.

I told him that I had been having trouble finding a place where I could fax 3 pages to Australia and soon I was on the back of his motorcycle and we visited two places that could send faxes, but not to Australia.  The 3rd place could but that facility was closed.   Now that I know where to go I'll visit on Monday.

We had a cup of coffee on the boat and I showed Jorge the new deck fitting and asked him if he could lend me an electric drill.  He didn't have one but he had a friend, Raul, who could lend me one.  Jorge then began describing the terrific cruising grounds of Brazil and soon we were looking at the charts on my laptop.  The area that we looked at is centered around Ilha Grande, just 60 miles this side of Rio de Janero.  In that area roughly of size 60 x 30 miles are over 2300 islands.  I was amazed at what I saw: plenty of sheltered water with good depth and anchorages everywhere.  Jorge said that the islands are beautiful.  At latitude 23S the climate is great and there are plenty of fish.  This was all new to me it looks like too good an area not to be well known in cruising circles.

I'm including screen photos of charts of the area, known as Angra Dos Reis.  Photo 1 covers the entire area and has Ilha Grande, which is centered at roughly 23S08, 44W14 in the middle.  Photo 2 is a closeup of Ilha Grande, and I'm hoping that it will possible to see the numerous anchor symbols indicating good anchoring spots.  Photo 3 is a closeup of  Grande Laje, at the NE corner of the area.  In Photo 1 it looks like a shallow area because it is in blue with no data, but this closeup shows that it would be a very interesting and very sheltered section to visit.  Photo 4 is a closeup of Baia Da Riberia, to the NW of Ilha Grande.  Photo 5 is a closeup of the coastline to the west of Ilha Grande.  If I heard right, there are 2 marinas in the area.  Remember that you can enlarge the photos as follows: 1. Left click on a photo, 2. Select the photo that you want to see, 3. Right click and select "View Image". 

On the way to see Raul we ran into another friend  of Jorge who said that I could simply borrow a  drill from the club, which I will do when I am ready to make the installation.  I remembered the name Raul and we had met before.  In fact, he had made a quick visit to Pachuca while I was still at the outer slip.  He pulled out his cruising guide and soon he was showing me the various nooks and crannies in the area.  He mentioned that the problem with Argentina is that it has hardly any islands, whereas Brazil has plenty.  Raul has an amazingly roomy 34 ft boat.  It is a “Victory” built in Argentina in 1977.  Raul told me that they are well known in Australia and New Zealand.

We ran into Pato and his family a couple of times.  Pato had received my message about asking the riggers to change my railing wires when they visited.  Pato asked if the ones I've got had a problem and I replied that they look alright but I'd like to change them to make sure that one does not give way and I wind up overboard. 

I did a walkabout and took some photos around the club. 

The panoramic shot you can see where Pachuca was originally berthed in the background at the right side of the photo where several masts can be seen.  That spot of yellow half way up the long barrier is the foot bridge that swings open to allow passage to and from the marina area to the left, where Pachuca now resides.  I took the photo from Club Nautico.  Club Argentino is next door, opposite the marina.  (There are 2 other clubs further down.)

Club Nautico started off as a rowing club.  I've included a couple of photos of the training pool at the school of rowing.

I also saw John this morning.  He's paid his fine and received his exit permit.  They will set off at 10 PM tonight.  I gave him a bottle of wine to enjoy with Jonathan on the sail, which will be to Buenos Aires.

Life in New Home

Life in the inner harbor has been much more tranquil than when we were berthed outside.  The walk to the amenities is much shorter and easier, and no longer do I have to deal with the open or closed status of the foot bridge.  Club Argentino is much quieter than Club Nautico, and the shower and toilet facilities are much smaller had have a more private feel.

I've kept my instruments going to watch the depth of the water and at low tide and yesterday it bottomed out at 2.4 meters with the occasional display of 2.3 meters.  I figure that the boat was riding within inches of the bottom and the keel will sooner or later make contact.  But I've been told that the bottom is sand and there will be no damage.  There is no swell in the inner harbor, which is a big help.

Brenda wrote that even though I had updated my boat position at the Pangolin site (http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=VNW5980) it still showed me as being in the wrong position at the north end of the harbor at the naval base.  I did some investigating and learned that the Pangolin site will report positions to the nearest minute.  So even though I reported my latitude as 38 degrees 02.45 minutes, Pangolin reports it as 38 degress 02 minutes.  Longitude is similarly reported.  This means that the reported position can be up to a half mile from the true position, which does not matter when one is out at sea, but can yield strange results when zoomed in on a tiny area such as this harbor.

Stig's Boat

Large Modern Boat

After we tied up at the slip I noticed that the new boat that I had photographed that morning was tied nearby.  That night I was looking at the boat and wondering the nationality of the flag and the owner, Stig, came by and we had a good conversation.  The flag is Norwegian and Stig is a remarkable person.

He built the boat himself over a period of 4 years.  The boat is a gaff rigged ketch with a long bowsprit and is based on the Hans Christian design.  He rented the mold and laid the glass hull himself and did everything else himself except the rigging and some of the electrics.  He even did the stainless steel welding himself.  He told me that he was a mechanic by trade and had most of the necessary skills.

On the passage south from Brazil he battled headwinds for 4 days and two of his stays failed even though the rigging was only a year old.  His cockpit GPS also failed which was caused by the failure of a solder joint.  I mention this because he told me that those were the only two things that he had not done himself, and from now on he will do everything himself.  He re-rigged in Brazil and it took him 4 weeks to get the stays.

He is on his way to Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel with plans to do the inland passage up the Chilean archipelago to Puerto Montt.  I expressed amazement that he was planning to do it alone in such a big boat, given the extraordinarily challenging anchoring that will be required.  He has no HF radio, so he cannot get weather reports, nor radar, and no refrigerator. 

His rough plans to work his way across the Pacific to Australia, then up to Japan then head for Alaska across the North Pacific.  He'll then cross the Panama Canal and head for Greenland.   He likes cold weather.  He mentioned running dog sleds and sleeping in snow caves in Norway.

Yesterday I loaned him my copy of Ocean Passages and its useful charts and I hope to see more of him before he moves on in a week.  He told me that he can't speak Spanish or Portuguese and is very happy to be able to speak with someone in English.

I've also included a photo of one of the larger boats in this tiny harbor.

Last night I visited John and Jonathan for dinner aboard their boat.  John produced a superb roast dinner of lamb and potatoes and I took a bottle of Argentinian cabernet sauvignon that was so smooth that I've decided to give up on the cheap cardboard wines.  After all, it isn't like good wines here are expensive.  I paid 24 pesos for that bottle, which is equivalent to about $5.00.  Jose is hoping that a bank transfer comes through so that he can take over 22,000 pesos in cash though the streets of the city to the Prefectura to pay his Malvinas fine, which must be paid in cash (?).  If that works out he'll sail for Buenos Aires this weekend.

Boat in Inner Harbor

Pato showed up at about 2 PM and we had a very productive afternoon.  He had already taken the measurements that he required from the spare headsail that he had dropped the day before, so we worked on obtaining the measurements that the riggers in Buenos Aires required.  Pato will pass on my request that the 8 mm wire of the cap shrouds and inner forestay be replaced with 10 mm wire.  This is subject to the riggers being able to make the required changes to accommodate the bigger rigging pins and bigger slots at the ends of the crosstrees without too many dramas.

I complained that the running backstays always became loose after I brought them on hard and Pato looked at it and said that it was ordinary polyester rope (That figures.  Thanks, previous owners.)  I asked that they be replaced with spectra or some other low-stretch material.  I then pointed out the topping lift which was looking rough when I purchased the boat and worries me now that it will fail while I am out at sea.  I have asked that it be replaced.  Pato told me that the rope will be pricey because these people use the best that is available.  I approved because "the best" is the kind of thing I want to hear.

We discussed the repair of the cockpit spray dodger.  Pato will make some inquiries.  If he can source the window material here in Mar Del Plata he can do the repair in a day.  Otherwise he'll have to either send the dodger to BA or bring in some of the material.  I told him that I didn't mind doing without the spray dodger even if it was raining but I would like to have it in place, repaired or not, when Brenda arrives.

We then had a quick look at the sail cover.  I showed him how I could pull the zipper off with the slightest of effort and he said that the stitching had failed due to UV but the zipper looked OK.  I expected a declaration that a new sail cover would have to be made but Pato told me that the zipper could be repaired and the girth of the sail cover could be expanded.  Regarding the lazy jacks, he said that the cord was readily available here at MdP which means that I'll be putting up my own lazy jacks.  Pato will return and we will remove the tarps covering the mainsail and we will decide on how much more girth is required for the sail cover.  I told him that one thing that I like about Argentina is that they repair things rather than automatically replace them.

I was to go up the mast past the radar and drop the top end of the damaged inner forestay so that we could measure the diameter of the pin for the riggers.  But Pato mentioned what a good day it would be to move the boat.  He must have been reading my thoughts because it was a splendid sunny day and I had been regretting that I was not able to move the boat this day, worried that the weather would close in on Friday.  Pato asked me if I would prefer to move the boat now or go up the mast, a no brainer for me.  I suggested that we get the club to send out a launch to remove my lines from the posts because otherwise I'd have to launch the Zodiac, get off the boat, then somehow we'd have to ship the Zodiac while the breeze would be pushing us to the side.  Pato got on the VHF radio and asked for the launch then he spoke with Club Argentino to get the OK for our entry.  Soon the launch came, the ropes were freed, and I asked the man to pull me out of the slip.  I threw him a rope and he pulled me back to the middle of the water not far from the foot bridge, which was being opened. 

Pachuca's new home

Notice the calm water

My slip was not to be around the end of the jetty and inside of it because Luis had advised Pato that there was a bit of a sand bar at the end of the jetty and I would probably have trouble getting past it.  Instead, it was a more or less straight shot: through the bridge, down the fairway past the Club Nautico half of the inner harbor, then to port and nose in to one of the available slips along the jetty.  I managed to nudge the post between two potential free slips (I blame the prop walk on reverse.) but Pato kept his cool and pulled the boat into the slip with my assistance with the engine.  Soon we were tied up and had a pleasant conversation about our private lives.  I mentioned payment to Pato for his sail repair work and he told me that it would be 1600 pesos.  I had that amount of cash on board so I paid Pato on the spot. 

 After Pato left I connected and tied down the electrics then had a look at our new home.  It was a different world.  Instead of the rough and tumble of the outer harbor we were in the calm waters of a true marina.  There is no side jetty, but movement on and off of the boat over the bow is will much, much easier than before because the floating jetty is significantly higher off the water than before.  I would bring the bow closer to the jetty, put the plastic fold out step on the jetty, and Brenda will be able to bound on and off the boat like a gazelle.

I have just updated my position with "Yotreps". 

So it was a very productive day.  Pato has all of the sail measurements that he needs as well as the information that the riggers require.  I've just noticed that I an email from his colleague regarding payment of my 50% deposit on the new sail, which I will attend to tomorrow.  Once Pato provides me with the final price of the sail I will make the deposit and work on the sail will proceed at North Sails in Buenos Aires. 

Tomorrow I'll make some adjustments to the mooring lines, wash the boat down, and visit Luis to deal with the paperwork and payment for our new home.  Then I'll be able to turn my attention to the new deck fitting for the inner forestay (YES!)

Jorge the waiter has been watching too many American movies and has taken liberties trying out his English on me.  He greeted me with "Hallo Mutherfooker" the other day.  I applauded his great imitation then responded with "Hola, Pendejo." (Hello, Jerk.)  He laughed.  Just now he threw the same invective at me and I escalated my response to "Hola, Hijo de Puta" (Hello, Son of a Prostitute).  I regret to admit that I leaned low such low life Spanish phrases in my early childhood.  If he persists I'll work to improve his aresenal and pronounciation of English language insults (my contribution to Argentinian culture).

New Deck Fitting

Mickey Mouse and Mighty Mouse

Minnie Mouse

New Arrival

Dive Class at the Jetty

This morning I picked up the deck fitting for the inner forestay that Tallero Naval had manufactured to my specifications, and I must say that I am extremely pleased with the result.  While I was waiting for the man who would present me with the account I placed the pieces against the 1:1 plane and side views of the drawings to which they had worked.  Even though I had waved my hand over the drawing and said “mas o meno” (more or less) to give the shop room to move in the manufacture, the pieces fitted exactly over the plans: the thicknesses were exact, the hole diameters and locations were exact, and he edges were chamfered (beveled) as specified.

The young man attending to me spoke pretty good English.  He presented me with the account of 700.  “US dollars?” I asked.  He laughed and said “No, pesos.”  That made the charge equivalent to $140 Aussie dollars.  I can easily pay more than that for polished s/s steel fittings at  boat shop.  My nose had been correct: No sharks in that place, just good honest work.

The photo shows the new fittings on the deck behind the Mickey Mouse 9 mm U-bolt arrangement that will be replaced.  The front piece will replace the U-bolt.   Besides the increased strength there is the improvement of  now having two attachment points, the fore one for the headstay and the aft one for the sail, whereas before I had to make both attachments to the one U-bolt.  The second piece at the rear will be inverted and fitted below the deck.  To the “U” attachment will be fitted the wire and turnbuckle designed to hold the deck down when thee is an upward pull  from the stay.  The second photo shows the lower “Minnie Mouse” fitting at present.

I cannot for the life of me understand why the manufacturer of the boat mounted such a weak fitting when me made just about everything on this boat so strong.   And I wonder how the previous owners of this boat fared with it.  I figure that they either did not use the staysail much or were happy to stoically keep replacing the U-bolts.

I look forward with great pleasure to mounting the new fittings, as soon as I've prepared with four suitable bolts and appropriate sealant (which I think that I have in stock).  I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to borrow an electric drill from perhaps the marina.  Otherwise I'll purchase a new drill in the knowledge that I'll be able to use it in Australia.

P.S.  I pawed through my supply of nuts and bolts and found four suitable sets complete with washers and Nyloc nuts.  The bolts are 9mm in diameter, the same as the present U-bolt fitting.  However, there will be 4 bolts and more important, the load on the bolts will be a straight pull rather than the destructive side-to-side flexing on the U-bolt fitting. If anything, the bolts are too long, but that is good because I am not sure of the thickness of  the deck at that location.  The bolts will come through far enough forward in the forecastle to prevent splitting my scalp open by one of them.  Later I can either swap out the bolts or more likely trim them off with a Dremmel tool.  Also, I located two unopened tubes of Sikaflex 291 sealant and one unopened tube of 3M 5200 sealant (white).  The Sikaflex is pretty old but the 3M 5200 is fairly new.  So it looks like I'm good to go with the fitting.

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.

Paid for Electronic Repairs

Yesterday morning I visited Electronica Naval S.A. to pay Carlos for the repair of the autopilot and radar units.

I was charged for 12 hours of labor which was very reasonable  considering that the autopilot display and computer as well as the radome and C120 were all taken to their premises where boards were cleaned up and repaired.   After that there was the re-installation of the equipment which in the case of the radar proved to be very difficult, with two men spending 3 hours on board locating the cable break and repairing the two broken wires on site. 

So the charge in USD was $480 for labor and $245 for parts.  Mercifully, as a transient boat I was exempt from the 21% tax.  That translated to 3262.50 Argentine pesos.  Fortunately I had over 2500 pesos on hand from the period when I had hoarded pesos in case my new Visa card did not arrive.  I walked over to the bank and withdrew my daily limit of 1000 pesos then returned and settled the account.

I've already expressed my admiration for the company and its ethos.  I can't think of anywhere else where I could have had the units repaired and up running again in one week, and at that price.

After returning to the boat I climbed up to the radar unit and saw that it was the section of cable where it exited the mast that had been repaired.  Even though I spent a lot of money having the mast taken off so that a conduit could be installed for the radar cable, it looks like the hole through the mast remained as an Achilles Heel. 

The radome was initially sited higher up the mast so that the cable would have exited from the mast and gone up the the radome.  However, the rigger insisted that the radar should be further down the mast to avoid the worst of any pumping action of the mast.  I wasn't too happy about the last minute change (and I had to sacrifice the baby stay) and was concerned about having to stretch the cable to reach the new position.   Sure enough, the cable failed before I got to Hawaii and it was replaced under warranty, but I still have a cable that goes up inside of the mast then does a U-turn and heads down to the radome.  I have never seen that heavy mast pumping.  The upper mounting holes are still in place and if I ever drop the mast again (to, say, paint it) I'll see about raising the radome to its original position and reinstating the baby stay because all of the required fittings are still in place.

On the way back to the boat I visited Moscuzza to see if Alejandro had the quotation for the galvanized rigging.  It would have been just past noon but the place was shut.  Maybe they have split business hours.  Maybe they don't open on Mondays.   The proposal has become  moot because I hope to have the boat re-rigged in all stainless steel with the help Pato Salas, so I may let this one slide and quietly die.  It would serve them right for dragging their feet for what must be 4 weeks now.

AIS is Working, and Learning the System

Radar Image with Overlays

Chart with Radar Overlay at Left, Data Screen at Right

Data Page with Depth Graphs

There is no doubt about it: there is nothing like a good night's sleep for solving problems. 

I was at the companionway having a coffee and toast still wondering why the C120  was not reporting AIS targets when I saw the dredging ship on the move only a few hundred meters from the boat.   Surely it would have its AIS on.  Down below the C120 reported nothing.  That settled it.  For two days I had been holding back on the unlikely possibility that no boat in the harbor had its AIS on, but that ship on the move blew away that possibility. 

I went over the problem in my head.  The Comar CSB200 AIS is a stand alone 3rd party product with its own dedicated VHF and GPS antennas.  It had not ceased functioning during the radar and autopilot problems.  The only commonality with the Radar problem was the cable from the Comar plugged into the C120's NMEA input plug.  I had check the connection and it was firm, and it was highly unlikely that the repair effort had damaged the interface. 

Then the flicker of a memory came up: La Paz about 2 years ago, when I recovered from the one and only software crash of the C120 by resetting it to factory settings.  I remembered that there had also been a problem with the AIS.

I hit the “menu” button on the C120, selected “System Setup” then selected “System Integration” as a likely solution.  That brought a menu that included “NMEA Port Setting” (Getting warm now!).  It was set to “NMEA 4800”, no doubt the default for a Raymarine AIS.  I selected “AIS 38400” and returned to the normal display to find my self in a nest of 29 AIS targets within a radius of 1.5 miles.  Soon the AIS alarm sounded because the dredger was moving within my safety zone. That would have to be something to remember: if the CS120 goes into a workshop it will likely return with factory defaults.

The night before I had spent a very productive 2 hours getting to know the radar unit better.  I learned  how to set the VRM (Variable Range Marker) and EBL (Electronic Bearing Line) to get a more precise range and bearing of a target (which can also be done with the cursor).  I learned how to define a safety zone either as a circle around the boat or just a sector, then how to select a target (it takes 3 successful sweeps to lock in on it) and have it tracked.  Thereafter a vector is displayed showing the likely direction of the target and I can set up an AIS type dangerous target alarm if it is going to come too close.  I tried overlaying the AIS targets on the radar display and that worked fine.  The photograph of the radar screen shows the purple VRM circle and EBL line that cross at the the target at the bottom right of the screen.  The lines may be difficult to see but the data at the bottom tells the story: the target is 0.9 nm away bearing 136 degrees to starboard.  It is the grain silo.  In that radar shot you can also see the harbor breakwater at the top right and the entrance to the harbor at the end of it.

Then I fiddled around with creating and editing C120  page sets, pages, and application windows within pages.  I created a data screen, sliced it up into appropriate rectangles, then populated the rectangles with the data that suited my needs.  For the first time I could see vital depth information concurrently with the other data on position, course, heading, speed, wind, etc. I was surprised to see that along with the depth number it was possible to display graphs of the recent history of depths, with points of data every second, 10 seconds, 1 minute, and 5 minutes.  The 1 second graph is for close in work and covers a span of perhaps 5 minutes.  The 5 minute graph covers hours, long enough for me to see the diurnal pattern of the tide.  The photograph of the data window shows the 4 depth graphs that will be of great help to me in the future.  There is another photo where I have split the C120 screen with the chart display (overlaid with radar and AIS data) on the left and the data on the right. 

I finished off by turning on the “timed transmit” feature (for my first time ever), and setting the radar to do 10 sweeps every 3 minutes (options are 10, 20, or 30 scans every 3, 5, 10, or 15 minutes).  That worked fine and I expect to use this feature in the future.  I'll overlay it with the chart display so that every few minutes I can see what is out there. 

I also reviewed the settings for gain, sea clutter, rain or snow clutter, interference from other radars, etc.

I'm regret to admit that it has taken me over 3 years to sit down and really get to know both the C120 display and the radar unit.  Now finally I can exploit all of their features.

Radar Up and Running

Soldering the Radar Cabling

I am writing this blog entry off line on the laptop computer at Pachuca's navigation station while I watch the radar image on the C120 display as the scanner goes round and round.  I am to test the unit all night and then visit Electronica Naval tomorrow to settle accounts if all has gone well.  But getting the radar to work was not easy and I got to see first hand the company's “can do” philosophy in practice. 

The technicians were supposed to arrive sometime in the morning so I occupied my time by putting in an hour into another Spanish lesson then dragging out a large bag out of the forecastle full of damp and musty clothes from the passage to La Paz.  The bag itself had that damp and clammy feel characteristic of salt in the fabric so I emptied it and washed in and rinsed it well in the jetty.  I then packed most of the clothes into the duffel bag for a trip to the laundry.  [Lesson learned: the clothes packed in plastic bags fared well whereas the clothes in an ordinary bag got damp and musty.]  I washed two red shirts, three wool beanies, and a couple of other items by hand and hung them up to dry.  By then it was noon so I decided to walk up to Edison St to drop the clothes off at the laundry and check in with Electronica Naval on the way back.  At Electronica I was told to expect somebody between 2PM and 6PM so I headed back to the boat. 

On the way back I visited Club Argentino about accommodation for the boat over winter.  The office of Club Argentino is in another part of town so I've had to deal with Luis who speaks no English.  I've been able to understand what he says but have not had enough mastery of the Spanish language to ask questions.  He told me that the administration was firm in their position that I would not be given a slip beyond the 90 days in this country that I have been granted by the Aduana.  He knew that I could extend my stay for another 90 days and visit Uruguay and return to start the visa cycle again, but he was adamant.   What I wasn't able to ask him was whether if I got a 90 day extension the club would allow me to stay longer.  This was important because my 90 day visa expires on 17 May, and it just isn't worth moving the boat to their club for that short a time. 

On the way back to the boat I dropped into Martha's office here at Club Nautico and explained the situation.  She immediately offered to telephone Luis and act as interpreter.  I was delighted, of course.  The outcome was that the club would very likely allow me to stay longer once I have received the extension of my visa from the Aduana.  On that basis I plan to move the boat to Club Argentino in the inner boat harbor on 24 March, the end of my rent at this slip.  Brenda will arrive on 10 April but we must plan our touring around the necessity of my being in Mar Del Plata on, say, 10 May to give me time to deal with the Aduana.  I was told that the 90 day extension is a formality but technically I must be prepared to leave the country at the expiry of my visa. 

Part of the reward of traveling is the experience of how other societies do things.  Everywhere else I've visited, commercial entities such as hotels and marinas have not been concerned with my legal status in the country.  That's between me and the government.  Here things appear to be different.  For some reason Club Argentino has bought into the question of my legal status in the country.

At about 2.30 PM two young men arrived at the boat.  One of them had been the one who removed the radome from the mast.  Arnold had made a great suggestion that the cable entry to the radome be sealed with silicone sealant so I produced a tube of it with a rag and asked him to use it.  He didn't understand me correctly and his initial response was No, but when I explained with various gestures that it was for the cable entry he agreed.  They mounted the radome, connected the C120 display, and the radar did not work.  After some effort the technician discovered that a section of the cable inside of the mast had been compromised: the outer sheath had been cut with  an inch or so of wires exposed, and two of the wires had been cut.  I let them know that the cable was in its own conduit inside of the mast that had been specially put in at great expense to me.  Afterwards we agreed that the breach must have occurred where the cable exited the conduit at the top.  My conclusion was that a new cable would have to be swapped in.  They thought different.  He wanted  to solder the two wires, 30 ft up the mast, in a 13.5 knot wind according to my instrument.  He asked if I could provide a 220V lead to reach up to the radar so that he could use his soldering gun.  To his surprise I said Yes and pointed to the cables that I had joined to supply power to the boat.  I pulled the plug out and he seemed doubtful.  He asked if it was 220V and I said Yes, it was Argentino power.  That guy then went up the mast pulling up the power cable behind him and managed to solder the wires.  I was amazed.  A test was done and the radar worked.  He sealed up the radome and gooped the cable entry with silicone sealant.

But then the radar failed the next test.  This caused 20 minutes of doubt and turmoil (in my head anyhow), but the young man seemed sure of his work up top and focused on the connection into the C120.  And so it was.  Not only has the plug to be rammed home, a collar must be turned to screw the cable in tight.  (I could have told them that because I had removed the cables.)  Once the connection was in tight (“apretado”) the radar began to work OK.

I told him that I had expected a cable swap but he told me that it would take too long to bring in a new cable. I contrast this to Hawaii, where the cable was swapped out under warranty with no question whatsoever about repairing the existing cable, which had no visible evidence of damage.  After what I've learned about what can be done here in out-of-the-way Mar Del Plata, I'm beginning to suspect that the modern “swap” culture may have  less to do with economics and more to do with laziness, lack of training and skill, and the knowledge that they can stick it to the client.

I then visited the steering station and showed them that the autopilot seemed to be working OK.  That reminded him and before I knew it he produced his own tube of silicone sealant and sealed the back edge of the display as well as the cable entry.  (Thanks, Arnold.)

They left at 6 PM asking me to test the radar to my satisfaction then visit their offices the next day.

Then I hurried on foot to the laundry about 1 mile away which had asked me to get my clothes at 6 PM “mas o menos”.  I knew that I'd be late but her “more or less” clause gave me confidence that the laundry would still be open at 6.30 PM, and so it was.  On the way back I knew that the foot bridge would be open to boats and closed to pedestrians so I humped the laundry on my back around the harbor and to the boat.  [Curious hours of the footbridge.  The bridge is unattended, open to boats and closed to pedestrians, 6AM-8AM and 6PM-8PM every day except Mondays, when it opens to pedestrians at 10AM instead of 8AM.  These hours are not posted at the bridge, so I have Alberto to thank for asking.  Alberto, by the way, sailed out yesterday for La Paloma in Uruguay.  He expects to be back in about 20 days.  I gave him a bottle of  good red wine  as a farewell gift.] 

By the way, we got power back on the jetty on the evening after my report to Martha.  The next day I made a point of reporting the happy outcome and thanking her for her help.  She told me that a breaker had tripped out.  I know the location of the box containing the breakers so next time I'll help myself.

I ran the radar all night with no problems.  In the morning I powered the C120 off for a few minutes then brought it up again and the radar started up with no problems.  However, I am not able to see any AIS targets which is surprising because I would expect a few ships in the area to be transmitting AIS data.  The transponder is working OK and if there is a problem the only cause that I can think of would be the connection of the NMEA cable at the back of the C120.  [I checked the NMEA cable connection and it was good.]  I'll mention this to Carlos.  I'll also try to get information from Carlos on the possible cause of the radar cable break and how robust the patch is. 

Only time will tell how durable the repairs to the autopilot and radar will be.  Carlos's people have put in an amazing effort and I have nothing but praise for them, but as with any such repairs it will take time and a some stress testing under heavy sailing conditions to completely restore my confidence.

Lighting Work

I spent most of the day waiting for the radar guys who never arrived.  It didn't bother me because I was pretty busy doing something useful with my time.  Shortly after arriving in  Argentina the double-tube neon light over the galley had quit working.  Fortunately I had the solution on hand.

New Cabin LED Light

In La Paz I had purchased and installed a great LED light in the head.  I showed it to Ib who was so impressed with it that he went and bought one for his boat.  I was so impressed by Ib being so impressed that I decided to purchase a second one with switch as a spare in case I lost one of the three neon lights in the cabin area.  That day came and I decided to move the neon in the main cabin to the galley and mount the new LED light to illuminate the main cabin area.  I took my time and everything worked out OK.  The main cabin light now has an industrial look about it, but it is one great light that illuminates the cabin as never before and uses only milliamps of power.  At this point in my cruising life I am more interested in functionality and practicality than appearances.

At 3.30 PM I concluded that the radar guys were not going to show up so I went to the club and had a shower and shave then set off to visit the electronics firm, Electronica Naval S.A. On the way I set up my laptop in the restaurant to check my email in case Carlos had sent me a message about the radar, and Pato showed up with his baby daughter in a stroller.

We had a good conversation.  He's done good work with the sail repair, though there are limits to what he can do without rebuilding the entire sail.  He has repaired the damaged area of the sail and strengthened its surrounds but he says that the problem could reoccur in other parts of the sail.  I'll consider the sail to be a good backup.

Pato gave me the good news that the rigger can come to Pachuca from BA as long as I pay the transportation time, which I readily agreed to do.  It will be a lot cheaper in time and money to pay riggers to come to the boat from BA than for me to take the boat to BA.  Pato will visit the boat on Sunday afternoon to take photographs of the rigging and discuss the new headsail that he will be making.  While he's on the boat I'll show him the spray dodger and the remains of the sail cover and lazy jacks.

Radome at convenient height above crosstrees

Radome lowered on a line

I then walked over to the electronics shop and Carlos happened to be at the window, seemed happy to see me, and asked me into his office where we had a very good conversation.

He explained that his men had not been able to visit Pachuca because they had had to deal with a problem on a fishing boat.  I dismissed this as not important to me, given that fishing boats is their bread and butter and I've got plenty of time.

We are not completely out of the woods with the radar.  Yes, they repaired the logic that converts the analogue signals to digital and transmits them down the cable, but they can't be sure that the cable hasn't been damaged also.  Tomorrow his men will put up the radar and if it works, great, and if it doesn't work they will have to look at the cable.

I asked him about the autopilot and he showed me a photograph of the board of the controller/display at the binnacle which showed large gray spots of salt water invasion all over the place.  Looking at that photo I would have judged the board a write-off,  He said that the board is multi-layered with components communicating between the layers.  They managed to diagnose the problem areas, replace components, and re-establish some pathways with fresh wiring.

I told Carlos that I was very impressed at the level to which his people work.  I told him that it was the best electronics workshop that I had seen yet.  He explained that they consider Argentina to be at the end of the supply chain and they have to rely on their own resources. Fishing boats come in with a problems which must be fixed during the 48 hours that they are in port and his people have learned to do whatever it takes with whatever they have at hand to get equipment up and running quickly.  The workshop is modern and they do keep a lot of spares.  Carlos said that the company was founded in the mid 60's and he represents the second generation.

I popped my head out of the cabin late in the morning and found that a new boat had tied up to my starboard.  It was flying no flags, but looked like a battle-hardened cruiser rather than a local boat.  Later I ran into John, skipper of the French boat, who told me that he recognized the boat, which he had seen in Puerto Williams in the Beagle Channel.  I asked what nationality and he replied "French".  I smiled approvingly.  I'm sure that I'll hear a lot of French chatter during the next few days as they two crews swap yarns.

These boats that have done the Horn and Beagle Channel so far all seem to be mostly of modest size (30-35 ft) and equipment.  They make Pachuca look more luxurious than she is.  It's all understandable.  The young guns with few resources want the adventure, and few cashed up old farts with the better boats are willing and able.

By the way, it took me a while to figure out  how to enlarge the photos with the new system.  Left click on the photo that you want to see, then right click and select "view image".  You will now be able to inlarge the photo.