I
can not tell you how much work needed to be done on Mina2 after our
Falkland cruise once we got to Ushuaia. I had three days
before I was to leave the boat to fly to Buenos
Aires for Christmas with the family for eight days, and I
wanted to leave the boat as ready as possible to step back on board on 28
December, re-victual and head off for our ultimate adventure across
Drake Passage to Antarctica. She
needed 750
litres of fuel to be sourced in 200 litre drums and then hand-pumped
into the tank and into 23 jerry cans, which then had to be distributed about the
boat and lashed down. Brazilian gas bottles had to be refilled – which turned
out to be a problem. In fact almost all of the numerous tasks turned out to be a
problem of greater or lesser magnitude, and without the help and support of
Saint “Mrs Fixit” Roxanna, I really don’t know what I would have done.
The
final unexpected problem was to discover that you can’t just leave your boat in
Ushuaia and go to Buenos Aires for
eight days. Oh, no. To do that would be to abandon your boat without the
authority of the Argentine Customs (even though you're not actually leaving the
country); an infraction punishable with a completely arbitrary fine of up to the
value of the boat itself. So I had to go to a Notary Public to get a Power of
Attorney sworn (Roxanna was not only arranging all of this, but had also agreed
to be the appointee) and a covering letter prepared to the Customs to justify my
extraordinary decision to abandon my boat after three months at sea to spend
eight days with my family over Christmas. The following day Roxanna and I
returned to the Customs office with a bundle of papers for them to check, double
check, turn the right side up, check again, photocopy and stamp in
quintuplicate. Meanwhile I left a bundle of dirty thermal underwear and sheets
at the laundry to be collected on my return, then rushed back to Mina2 to pack,
decommission her and take her off to her mooring (she can’t stay on the jetty in
my absence). By the time I left the
boat and headed for the airport I was completely and utterly knackered and
looking forward to my eight days of R&R.
I
arrived in Buenos Aires on Tuesday evening into the bosom of my family – well,
so far, the comforting bosom of the Absentee Downstairs Skipper - and have been luxuriating in the warmth
of Buenos Aires (35
C vs Ushuaia’s typical 10 C) and as there isn’t anything I can
do to fret over the boat from here, all I can do is relax which is a
self-indulgent novelty.
In
days of yore, the Captain of a vessel was designated “Master Under God”,
emphasising his total authority over and responsibility for his ship, its cargo
and its crew, and so it remains today. There is no place for democratic
decisions on a well run boat. The boat can have only one skipper and his
authority is absolute. His instructions are like the Eleventh Commandment. He is
infallible. He is like “The Pope on a Boat”. And so it is with Mina2. The
slightest hesitation in obeying a crisply delivered instruction is dealt with
severely. Even a quizzically raised eyebrow has been known to result in ten
lashes with the cat o’nine tails. (I appointed Able Seadog Snoopy to be in
charge of the cat – possibly a bad decision as he was once humiliated when he
had to chase it three times round the deck before wrestling it to the ground and
bringing it before the Skipper, to be flailed against the back of some miscreant
crew member.)
But
absolute power can be a heady drug. One can begin to think that one is, indeed,
infallible. And that, I have learnt, is a mistake. Since my return to
Buenos Aires, the DS has been kind
enough to remind me of all my little fallibilities. Indeed it would appear that
barely a moment passes without my being guilty of some error of judgement. How
fortunate I am to have her wise counsel. I will return to Mina2 a humbled and
wiser Skipper ready for the privations and demands of the great challenge ahead.
As I
am unlikely to sober up sufficiently to type a blog until I return to Mina2
after Christmas, may I take this opportunity of thanking all three members of
the Mina2 Blog Fan Club for your indulgence over the last few months, and to
wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
Out.
CapTim.