Wednesday 11th November (Lini’s Journal)

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Sat 14 Nov 2009 11:11


�� It wasn�t such an early start today! Numerous people caught me Typhooing on the pontoon but my head seemed to be somewhere else this morning and it didn�t really bother me. We now have neighbours immediately to starboard, �Ocean Lady� arrived last night. I chatted to Brian a young lad with one heck of a good life with jobs diving, dinghy and surf instructing, volunteer RNLI and doing yacht deliveries. A hard job but someone has to do it! The lads are all very experienced sailors and apparently also all good cooks as well. We look forward to great aromas wafting from their galley.

�� Our morning passed with even more jobs from lists until the arrival of Jerry the Rigger. This lovely guy has a brilliant reputation and can be seen dangling from umpteen yachts around the marina checking rigging and giving tuition in detailed daily rig checks to be performed by every crew member. It�s wonderful peace of mind to know all is well with the rig and we must both venture up the mast over the next few days so procedures are in place if needed. Next on our technical support visits was Jim to check over the water maker and a clean bill of health was issued here too. My attempts to catch up with the blog and Skype family didn�t go so well but hopefully the connection to the local club will improve another day.

�� Just before 6pm we cycled over to the Club Varadero Theatre for the first of our seminars for double handed crews. There were around twenty couples there and we picked up a few ideas to help with the crossing. Highlighting the dangers ahead was not good for my confidence though. Si had bought us tickets for the dinner afterwards and we chatted over arrival drinks with Olga and her husband from Slovenia who sat next to us at the weekend seminar back in March. John and Joice also sat with us for dinner together with two Portuguese guys and Sallyanne who runs the provisioning lectures. Unable to hear the conversation at Si�s end of the table I chatted to the Portuguese guys and Sallyanne most of the night where she revealed plans for a virtual aerobics class to be held in the first week at sea. Photos and blogs will be posted the other side of all the boats game for a bit of fun. And so, another lovely evening passed.