I have turned out to be very bad at blogging, and Maite has done a yeomen's job of keeping people appraised of our progress on Facebook. Will try to do better, internet permitting. We have had a great adventure since our last blog in January, and I will have to break it up as there is just too much to share.
Buenos Aires
Maite and I had a delightful experience in Buenos Aires. Knowing only the bare essentials about sailing and moving on to such a complex vessel to learn systems that are not fully operational can be a real headache. At times it was. It was always good for us to remember that Copernicus was right, the Universe does not revolve around us or our boat. Having kids taught us that for sure. I am not in control...most times. With that in mind we found great people working in often times trying conditions, doing most everything in their power to help us. Memo, Santi, Sancho, bent over backwards to help us fix what was broken, complete what was not finished and make our time in this very complicated city fun. They took us into their homes and we were honored and thankful that they were so gracious. Memo, Carolina thank you for your hospitality. Santi your patience and diligence are heroic. I don't know how you keep it all together. But thanks. Sancho...you're the man!
During our stay there (which was about 4 weeks), we attended the start of the Buenos Aires to Rio Sailboat Race with Memo (who has won the race four times), his wife Carolina, and their friends; took a short plane flight to Iguazu Falls for a long weekend and hiked both the Argentine and Brazilian sides; took a bicycle tour through Buenos Aires; attended several Asados; enjoyed hosting Rob, Jeff and Ted Clements on our boat and generally worked to provision, fix and prepare Calypso for the trip north.
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| Jeff Woodman, Ted Clements, Rob Poirier, Ed Pratt |
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| Ted Clements and Jeff Woodman aboard Calypso |
For those that come after us I would offer up a few suggestions that helped us. Remember you are in Argentina. Things do not work the same as they do in North America. If you accept that and move forward, trying to adapt to the culture, you will have a smoother commissioning. The pace is Argentine, not U.S./Canadian so go with the flow. If you want to go warp speed, buy a Sea Ray in Ft. Lauderdale. The country is very beautiful from the wine country to the rain forests to the glaciers to Tango and the people themselves. Explore and enjoy...the boat is only a part of the experience. Try not to take yourself too seriously and plan to take twice the amount of time you think you'll need, cause it will take at least that long. Try not to have any deadlines at all if you can help it. If you start getting frustrated, call another owner or go on a road trip. There is always something else to do.
When we arrived we had a fundamental misunderstanding that the boat is basically finished when it hits the water. Nope. The "boat" was done, but systems were just getting put online. KVH, SSB, Rogue, Pactor Modem, Internet router, water maker, dive compressor, et al all were yet to be tested or did not work fully. Enjoy the process if you can. If everything worked perfectly right out of the box, it would eventually malfunction and you would not know how to fix it and would have much less assistance when the time came. We were able to learn as we went which was really what we needed.
We have learned that having broken stuff that needs to be fixed is a part of the sailing lifestyle. If you have questions about your boat after you leave, email Memo, Santi, Jeff, Ted and all the owners who have come before. They are a wealth of information and are ready to help. Join the owner's forum. Mark Silverstein and Eric Maynard are able to enroll new owners. Enjoy the ride. We even had the pleasure of hosting Rob, Jeff, Memo, Santi and Ted Clements on one of our first sails. I'll say it again in a sail boat as I guess it is in life, it is about the ride, not the destination. Enjoy the process. Maite and I are both gradually learning to slow down in retirement and hopefully take our own advice.
Iguazu Falls was awesome. I would recommend it absolutely. The sheer number of falls was incredible. The trees were full of monkeys and the flora in the midst of the jungle was incredible. We stayed on the
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| Yes that is a 8' Croc! Right below the "No Swimming" sign which was in Spanish. Pays to learn Spanish! |
Argentine side outside of the park (not at the Sheraton) at the Loi Suites Hotel, cut right out of the rain forest. After a one hour flight from Buenos Aires to Iguazu, the taxi driver met us at the airport, took us to our hotel, picked us up the next morning and dropped us off at the Argentine side, picked us up the next day, cleared Brazilian customs for us and took us to the Brazilian side the second day. On our departure the pilot of our 737 dipped a wing and did a tight circle around the falls from about 1000 feet up to a round of applause from the passengers. Now you wouldn't get that in the U.S.! Don't miss it!
Our boat splashed on January 9. We arrived on February 9 and left for the north on March 12. We left at 5am and watched the sun come up as we passed by a sleeping Buenos Aires. Memo was gracious enough to help us sail as far as Angra after rebuilding our water maker in Montevideo Uruguay. We learned a great deal from Memo, and it was an interesting contrast to have Memo and then Martin as our captains. We had only three on our watch rotation, two hours on and 4 hours off. I think four on the rotation would have made things a bit easier. From Angra we carried on with a good friend and excellent captain Mr. Martin Tate.
Martin lives in Southport, North Carolina with his black lab Claire and has sailed Antares for years. He has helped Laurie Bowers, Craig Acott, Mark Silverstein, us and will help Ian and Phillipa Ball, Mark Alberson and others up the coast of South America, so he not only knows the boat, he knows the anchorages, marinas and seas new owners will be crossing. Amazingly it seemed like they all knew him as well. Customs officials from Angra to Tortola, ladies in the grocery stores, folks in the chandleries most all seemed to know him and give him a big hug when we walked in. If they didn't know him when we came in he was still getting that hug by the time we left. He is a proper English gentleman (now American) with a very dry sense of humor. Martin has a PhD in civil engineering and ran a construction business in Algeria for 23 years before leaving and coming to the U.S.. He has sailed about everything on the water at one time or another. We have sailed with him from Wilmington to Exuma with Laurie and Craig, from Angra to Tortola and then again from Tortola to Stuart Florida. He is a very entertaining fellow and I became quite fond of him. I recommend him highly.
More to come in our next installment. Thank you for your patience.
Cheers!
