15:00 8/1/08

Shortly after the midday entry the wind dropped to 5 knots so we hoisted the iron mainsail.

Paulo has sent some info on Florianopolis:

“Florianopolis (translation City of Flower - Flor) is the capital of the
state of Santa Catarina. It is a big island with lots of beachs, many of
them considered excellent for surfing. As in Rio you have the barbacue
restaurants (churrascarias) in Florianopolis you have the Shrimp places,
where you pay a fixed price and is served all these dishes. This city was
founded by the Azoreans, and they still have this different accent.
It is not as beautiful as Angra. (Ihla Grande)”

The last bit makes me feel a little better about not stopping.
 

16:00

Sailing again. Wind ESE force 4.  This wind direction is not supposed to be on the menu.

We pass Porto Alegre which is 50 miles inland as the crow flies but more like 140 miles up through a lake to get there. I wonder how many visitors they get by sea.

I sent an e-mail to the Yacht Club in Punta del Este asking if they would have a berth for us for a few days from Thursday. 

This is the reply I got, in it’s entirity: “Ok what you need”

I’ll take that as a yes.

3:30 AM 9/1/08

I arose for my watch to discover the computer had been down for several hours, i.e. the dongle for the navigation program and the wireless USB device etc. weren’t working. A USB hub appeared be functioning but when I took it out of the system and reorganised all the USB connections, and restarted the computer several times I gradually got everything back, all except a GPRS Modem which we never use anyway.  I hope it was just the Hub and not something more sinister on the computer mother board.  Sorry, I know that’s too technical for some of you, and you know who you are.

Wind has gone back to NE and we’re poled out again and back on course.  We’re passing Rio Grande which is the entrance to the body of water containing Porto Alegre many miles to the North.

Nik cooked the Wahoo for last night’s dinner and while there was no curry or chile there certainly was a Brazilian level of salt.  North Brazil that is.  We’re Wahooed out for the time being.

12 Noon

Beautiful cloudless skies. Wind carries on NNE Force 5.   Still Poled out and maintaining 7 plus knots.  24 Hour Run 174 miles, 3 ½ hours under engine.  189 miles to go so we’ll definitely be in Punta del Este tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.  I read in a recent yachting magazine about the invention of a new marine clock whose major feature apart from time, is it shows in large letters the day of the week. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to remember the day of the week after a few days at sea.