Alongside Piriapolis
Wind: Southwest F4 - moderate breeze
Weather: Overcast, mild

Last night dinner with my new friends was very informative as well as being very enjoyable, it was aboard SY Fernande owned by Pascal Grinberg, a 15 year veteran of the extreme south. Regrettably I was suffering from single-hander’s disease, after only 15 days of solitude and first night in I talked my head off. My hosts were very kind and tolerant. Nonetheless in between gasps for breath I learned quite a lot from Pascal. I shall be absorbing his comments for the next several days and bearing them in mind as I continue my research and planning for the coming months.

I visited Juan’s and Sarah’s boat today, a wonderful aluminium boat also set up extremely well for high latitude sailing. It is very interesting looking at the various boats down this way. I have a lot to learn. Juan and Sarah will be crewing for Pascal this Austral summer, their destination Antarctica. They will be leaving on the 15^th. It is reassuring to know that Sylph, BC and I won’t be too far behind such an experienced sailor.

I pulled the damaged jib out of the bag this afternoon and spread it out on a nearby lawn for a closer inspection, how depressing. After such short service I am not quite but very close to writing it off. I am preparing a letter to the company that provided me with the sail, I will wait and see what response I get from them before I allow my anger further _expression_.

I reconnoitered Piriapolis today, in particular the hardware stores. There is quite a number of them so I have a feel for what work I can accomplish while I am here. Trying to resolve my computer issues, this Toshiba now seems to be behaving itself but as mentioned is a power hungry beast. I explored the option of an external keyboard for the new net book but the keyboards available here are missing a vital function key. At least I have pretty much confirmed it is a hardware problem. While my problems are frustrating the friendly helpfulness of the people here cannot but leave one with a positive feeling at the end of the day.

As I walked up the dock this morning I noticed a very strong fishy smell, looking around I soon discovered the source, a very large lion seal has taken up residence on the end of one of the piers. When I returned later in the day it was still there and providing a great deal of delight to the local children. Happy laughing children can cure anyone’s blues, even mine.

All is well.

Bob Cat:

Quiet day. Lion seals smell like something I’d be tempted to eat, alas the scale is all wrong. What to do? I know . . . . Zzzzzz.