" A LADY TRIP " Sailing around the World, ( presently in Equador )

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 19 Feb 2010 00:12
WEDNESDAY 17th February 2010
 
06.30hrs  Quito
Chilly Morning at 9000feet, No wonder Irish Boxers cant do well in these conditions, Air too thin and bloody chilly at that.
We are still shocked at the Newspaper Headlines, Ireland making headlines again for all the wrong reasons
It occupied our whole breckfast , which was excellent as expected.
 
08.00hrs " Eddison" our taxi guy collected us and drove us to the Airport, just 25mins away from the Hotel.
 
09.40hrs We departed Quito and flew to " Guayaqual "  ( pronunced Y a Kill ) and got a taxi back to " Porto Lucia Y.C. " in Libertad, Salinas.
On arrival we found the other two just loading the supplies on board,
We have at this stage sustained a fair amount of damage to the transome, from bashing against the Marina in the constant surges, at
times they tend to get much more agressive and makes getting on board difficult and hazzardous.
 
13.45hrs The Skipper went to the Marina office and cleared the paperwork in advance of leaving tomorrow, plus booking a slot at the fuel berth
for diesel at 10.30 am on out way to the starting line.
Fat's went for his mid afternoon siesta zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz
meanwhile Kevin had the wig permed, he looked 10 years younger when finished ,
Amazing what a bazzer and a sun tan can do for a fella,
 
18.30hrs We went to the Yacht Club for the skippers briefing, this took a long time as many participants were unhappy with "Equador" as a destination,
and apart from some very poor tours, the place was difficult to berth, many experiencing damage like ourselves, and the servicing of the boats was less
than satisfactory. " Mooncatcher" had his engine serviced and when he tried to leave the marina, the bleedin engine failed to start,
imagine paying for that shite.  The oil permenantly on the surface was smelly and destroyed many a shore line including two of ours.
 
The highlight for us ( Aileen and Stephen ) was the trip to " Quito"
Apart from that , We would not be recomending Equador as a sailing destination..
Dave O 'Rielly's american friend was right, Apart altogether from the above problems, He said we would have adverse currents against us most of the way
down here and we did, this together with head winds and constant threats of snagging on fishing lines made this stopover one to
remember for all the wrong reasons.
 
20.00hrs The three muskateers ( Skipper, Fats and Kevin ) buzzed off to a nearby hotel for dinner, Aileen needed a break from the men, so she remained
on board and did whatever women usually do on a boat  ?
We met mostly the German crews also having dinner at the hotel, It was very slow , but good and very economical.
Later we had a nightcap and puff on the deck of " A  LADY " before going to the scratcher for zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
 
Signed :-    Stephen Hyde,   ( Skipper )