19/12/07

 

The Yankee, Mainsail and Spinnaker have all gone to the sail maker. We had to wait for the wind to drop in order to drop the sails.  The furling repair is turning out to be a bit of a nightmare.  One of the retaining clips which join two sections of extrusion together failed, presumably due to metal fatigue.  So we are going to change all five clips.  To do this we had to remove the forestay and the furler which is now lying on the dock, all 25 meters of it.  You then have to disassemble the entire base unit in order to slide off the extrusions which you need to do in order to replace the clips.  The book tells you to actually cut the forestay wire in order to remove the end fitting but in doing this we would effectively shorten the wire by almost 10 centimetres and we don’t have that much adjustment on the rigging screw.  So we have elicited the help of a local rigger who may have the correct tools to see if we can remove the end fitting without cutting the 16mm wire.   If we do wind up cutting it, the only option open to us is to have them fabricate in stainless steel a longer section of base assembly in order to make up the lost length. They say they can do it but it will take a few days and be very expensive.

 

 

 

The local rigger turned out to be a wily older Italian Brazilian full of tricks and guile and with his help we managed to dissemble the bloody thing without damaging or cutting the wire.  So now it’s down to me to bring the new retaining clips back from London. The furling gear is now completely apart and stowed on the boat. Maybe we can start to have a look at Rio.

 

Thursday 20/12/07 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEN!!!!!

 

Another rainy day in Rio.  The sails have come back and the repairs look excellent and done at a reasonable price.  The alternator issue turns out to be a dodgy batch of fan belts, not the bracket as recently thought.  The fuel tank pump problem (which I may never have mentioned) turns out to be a dodgy earth connection in the day tank sender which when wiggled seems to cure itself. How Steve figured that out is a mystery.

 

Nik has never had sushi and last night in the Lonely Panet Guide I found a restaurant in Ipanema called  “Nik Sushi” so we had to go.  Nik and Steve had the all you can eat for  £11.00 version and I opted for something a bit more modest.   As we waddled home the heavens opened and we regretted not shutting all the hatches and portholes.

 

Friday 21/12/07

 

Big run around this grey morning.  When we checked in, the Yacht Club Faxed our documents to 4 different authorities and I thought it was all very easy.  I then realized I was about to fly out of the country with no stamp in my passport so I thought I’d better double check.  The guy in the Marina office not the one who checked us in said I had to go personally to all four departments with all the passports and ships papers etc. At 9AM,  I jumped in a cab to go to the first one, something to do with health.  The address was Pier 18 but it wasn’t there, they sent us to pier 24 and it wasn’t there.  I get the cab driver to ring the health office and they say (I think) to go to the Federal police.

All this takes over an hour, as the Rio traffic is seriously awful.  At the Federal Police office in a large marine passenger terminal I get our passports stamped and some sort of entry document for the boat.  I now notice the piece of paper with the instructions and addresses etc was printed in 1997.  I ask the immigration guy if I have to go anywhere else and first he says no, then asks someone else who says I have to go to the Port Captain.  After another 25-minute cab ride I arrive at 11:45 only to be told they are only open from 8-11AM.  Well I tried, and how important can it be I wonder if they are only open 3-hrs/day 5days/per week. 

 

While I’m out running about Steve and Nik  bend the mainsail back on.  I’m off to the airport shortly and I this diary will shut down until after the New Year.  

A very Happy Holiday to any of you who might actually be reading this