Valdivia Again
Spindrift
David Hersey
Tue 20 May 2008 13:41
Demetri and I arrived in Valdivia Friday afternoon the 16th to a cold and stormy welcome.
The repair of the repair is complete and this time we have reason to believe it’s been done correctly. Mind you that’s what we thought last time. Apart from a last minute provisioning run we are ready to go, only the port is closed and they won’t allow us to leave in the current weather conditions which I suppose is not an altogether bad thing. Winter has come to Valdivia more than a month early and it rains continuously day and night.
When I arrived I found a lovely thank you note from young Niko. He is making certain he won’t be forgotten as there is also a 5(yes 5) litre bottle of Chilean Red with an instruction to keep it near the life raft. Actually I don’t know what to do with it and every time I bump into it I think of Niko so it’s having the desired effect.
The hot water heater element failed and we have used the spare. The grey water discharge pump failed again. It has a plastic gear which always strips. With the help of the yard here we have cobbled together a head from a toilet discharge pump with bronze gears and we will replace it with a new toilet pump from England. The new pump is of course nearly twice as expensive as the ordinary one.
Sunday we went for as drive and I enclose a few snaps which give an indication of the delightful weather conditions.
It looks like we’ll leave on Thursday, some 8 weeks later than planned thanks to the incredible bungling in the manufacture and repair of this expensive yacht.
