And we're away.

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sat 9 Jan 2010 01:14
Position: 5 miles southeast of Mar Del Plata
Course: South sou' west Speed 4.5 knots
Wind: North nor´ east, gentle breeze
Weather: Partly cloudy, mild

We are away at last. I emailed the money wire transfer form to pay for the new mainsail this morning, then enjoyed a good chin wag with some of my fellow cruisers comparing notes on our plans and experiences. Particularly valuable was Greg´s advice, having spent a winter in Patagonian waters single handing in a similar size boat with similar handling characteristics to Sylph. Then I had to clear out with the Prefectura (I think they´re the Navy and Coast Guard in one) and pay my bills at the yacht club. Once all that was done it was well into the afternoon and we didn´t actually cast off lines until a bit after 6 p.m. but this still gave us plenty of daylight to clear the harbour and we are now gently rolling running square wing on wing before a freshening breeze under a bright starry sky. In fact I just checked our speed and we are doing a comfortable 6.5 knots. A good start.

All is well.



Bob Cat:
OK so now let me tell you the things the skipper conveniently left out. The beast that lives under the floor boards couldn´t be provoked into life, apparently it needs a good electric shock to wake it up and the shock accumualor device seems to be dying. I appreciate a good sleep but it allseems quite rediculous to me. When the beast did wake up with its usual dull grumble the screw thing that it is supposed to turn beneath us down in the wet stuff (the less said about this the better) seems to have some things growing on it, none of them edible I should note - its all very technical and definitely not my field of expertise. So we didn´t go very fast until the skipper got the sails up, and we all know about the sails, as dodgy as - well no suitable adjective comes to mind. Then as if I don´t have enough to worry about the harbour entrance was awfully lumpy and I was sick. It´s a good thing I´m around to keep an eye on this guy. I shall now return to my area of expertise. I need a rest . . . Zzzzzz.