Getting ready

Windarra is getting back to sailing shape again.

On October 30, we took the boat over to the Opequimar boatyard, near Marina Vallarta, to have the bottom painted. The last time we were in this boatyard was in March, 2002, just before we left for crossing the South Pacific. Going to a boatyard is always a little dubious. There is the planned work, in this case having the bottom painted and the zincs replaced and a survey. Sometimes there is unplanned work, like having to have the end of the shaft cut off so that the propellor fits properly. This time we were very lucky and there was no unplanned work. We were in and out of the boatyard, on time and on budget. David and Rigos and their crew did a great job painting the bottom.

While the boat was in the yard we opted to stay at the Comfort Inn nearby. We could have stayed on the boat but the hotel had air conditioning!!!! It was luxurious.

We returned to Paradise Village and put the boat back together. The head sails are on, the boom brake installed, the preventer and downhaul lines run. Rich got the watermaker installed, the solar panels put back on, checked the outboard motor and the hydraulics. Today we went to Walmart to do some provisioning. We still manage to have time each day to go to the pool and cool off before showers and dinner back on the boat.

Tomorrow we plan to check out with the part captain and then head south to Tenacatita. With any luck we will miss the returns from the election. Sarah sent us our ballots and we were able to fill them out and send them back via UPS. We went to the local Mailbox, Etc and the proprietor gave us a ride to the main UPS facility so we could get out ballots out. We are very lucky for the kindness of strangers.

Tomorrow is Jesse's birthday. He will be 27. He said he doesn't mind missing an overnight passage. I guess he had enough going across the South Pacific.

Hope all is well with you.

Adios
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