Moored Bahia Quintero
Wind light, variable
Weather: Mostly overcast,
mild
I finished painting the bit of deck and cockpit that I had started on our
arrival in Quintero, which concludes a lap around the deck and means it is time
to start again - coach house, foredeck, side decks, cockpit, then aft deck with
soime varnishing in between just for some variety. Of course the maintenance of
any boat never stops, and especially an old steel boat, but Sylph isn’t looking
too bad and with luck this next lap around the upper deck will be less work than
last time.
“Squawk, Meowargh!”
Old Bob Cat just missed his footing trying to get out into the cockpit,
excuse me, got to go and give him a bit of a leg up.
Poor old fellow.
The paint pots are now stowed, I have been ashore to the Port Captain for my
zarpe to Concon, ten miles south of here. A permit to travel 10 miles is a bit
rich but when in Rome … The military in Chile keep things under pretty tight
control it seems. This afternoon I was talking to a member of the yacht club
here, who is a pilot, he travels overseas a lot and sails in many places. He
said here the Armada won’t let him out the harbour when the wind is over 20
knots, too windy, where in New Zealand for instance it is considered a nice
sailing breeze. And today they wouldn’t let him out because the swell was too
high. I guess this is the heritage of a country post military dictatorship. We
agreed it would probably take a couple of generations before the military would
hand over to civilians many of its current functions such as port control
There certainly has been a bit of swell today, nothing to stop a boat from
going to sea but it has had Sylph rolling slightly and this afternoon it upset
my dinghy. Normally I have secured the dinghy to a ladder alongside a stone wall
but the swell was heaving against it with a bit of force so instead I tied the
dinghy up to a pontoon where the club keeps its launch. When I returned this
evening I was very concerned to see one of the yard hands pulling my dinghy into
the launch. It seems it got caught under the bridge that connects the pontoon to
shore and filled with water. Fortunately no damage was done, good sturdy
extruded plastic, nor was anything lost - in particularly I worry about losing
the oars, as they would be difficult to replace around here.
We will leave in the morning and with a bit of luck will get into the marina
tomorrow afternoon. That will give us a couple of days to settle in and
hopefully find someone to keep an eye on Bab the Cat while I am away. And then
Sunday I will fly to Buenos Aires to collect the long awaited new headsail.
All is well.
Bob Cat:
Most undignified, I guess I have to accept that I am no kitten anymore, and
the skipper trimming my claws has not improved my agility at all, that much
harder to hang on to anything. Still it has been a nice day, I have spent nearly
all of it out on the sun deck, very nice it has been too. But no tuna today. Oh
well, evening draws on, there is a gentle breeze out on the patio, I might just
…. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
