Colonia, Uruguay - Back in time

Yesterday Rich and I decided to continue to play turistas and take a ferry ride to Colonia, Uruguay. The Buquebus terminal is next door to the Yacht Club Argentina at Puerto Madero, a short walk away. I went on the web the day before and purchased tickets via www.buquebus.com. You can choose your language on the website. Even with having e-tickets in hand, and arriving 2 hours early it was a lot of standing in line, one to check in, two for immigration and three to board the ferry. The ferry was late leaving since so many people were doing one, two and three. There are two choices of ferries, the fast one which takes 1 hour and the slow one which takes almost 3 hours. We opted for the slow and cheap. It was okay but due to the heat and lines, it was a long day.

The old section of Colonia reflects its Portuguese and Spanish pass of the 18th century.  Parts of the original wall build around the city is still standing with the gate and drawbridge. There are many examples of the original Portuguese homes. We walked down the tree lined main street.

 Colonia is not completely stuck in the past. Current events are evident even with this advertisement in the window of the restaurant where we had lunch.

Tango and bus tours

We had a great dinner before the show at Almacen in San Telmo

The tango dancers moved swiftly and gracefully across the stage

The open air and hot seat bus tour

In Argentina, it is not a White House but a Pink House

Caminito the birthplace of the tango

The cemetery in Recoleta. Eva Peron was here but not now

Jesse & Rae visit

Jesse and Rae flew in from Los Angeles arriving on Wednesday. We took a walk here in Puerto Madero plus a long walk into downtown including a stop at the Galleria Pacifico with the bright red Christmas tree.

Windarra at Buenos Aires

Windarra is berthed at the Yacht Club Argentino, Puerto Madero. You can see some of the buildings of downtown in the background. Puerto Madero once was the principle docking and cargo area for Buenos Aires. Unfortunately it soon became too small and other areas were developed. Since then Puerto Madero is now an upscale neighborhood with condominiums, sidewalk cafes and upscale restaurants. It is still a mixture of old and new where building of glass stand near the old cranes used to move the cargo. The main yacht club building was commissioned in 1913 and designed by the French architect, Eduardo Le Monnier. It features a tall tower or lighthouse topped with a sphere of iron and glass. You can see it on the right side of the photo below.

The last few days we have been cleaning and rearranging stuff inside to prepare for Jesse and Rae's arrival. They are coming down for a visit and to spend Christmas with us. We are sorry that Sarah will not be here too but hope to have her visit while we are in Brazil.

We hope all of our friends and family will have a wonderful holiday season.

Cheers,
Elaine and Rich

Arrive Buenos Aires

34 35.737 S, 058 21.650 W

If you read last night's blog entry, you would know we were complaining about the wind and sea conditions. Well, they continued for most of today. We had hoped that a river would be relatively smooth and slow flowing. Not the case here. It is shallow but still worked itself into uncomfortable conditions.

The river is a wide, flat expanse of brown water. We had to go a long way before we saw the buildings of downtown Buenos Aires. The channel where large ships may pass is relatively narrow, and it is not separated into two lanes and there is no separation zone. A few times, we went outside the channel to avoid getting close to some of the large cargo ships. We saw the ferry to Montevideo, zipping by at 50 knots!

Now we are docked at the Yacht Club Argentino at Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires. It is a relatively new section of town but the yacht club is old and established. Mario, the lancha driver, helped us get settled.

Doug and Nancy, this is the yacht club we saw from the deck of your cabin on the cruise ship, when we visited you here in Buenos Aires two years ago in March.

We walked to the Prefectura office to check in and what did we pass, a Starbucks! Now we can have good coffee for breakfast, plus some pain au chocolate! The Prefectura officers seemed a little confused by our paperwork. They did not have us fill out the forms in quadruplicate like we did in Ushuaia and Mar del Plata. They just took the form we got when we check out of Mar del Plata, signed it and made us a copy. Okay.

Tomorrow we will do some cleaning and scouting around the area.

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Day 2, Roll, Roll, Roll in the Hay

35 39.977 S, 056 29.570 W

For the last several hours we have been sailing on a port tack on a beam or broad reach, with 1-2 meter seas on the beam. While it is great to be making between 5-8 knots speed over the ground, the occasional roll from 30 degrees to starboard and then back to zero and 30 degrees on port, is getting a little old. Add a splash of salt water on the port side, just for fun!

Most of the things below are secured but there have been a few missiles flying around, like some pillows and crackers and a loaf of bread.

Are we having fun yet?

Soon we will be entering the channel to take us into Buenos Aires, up the Rio Plata. We have about 120 miles to go.

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Day 1, Leaving Mar del Plata

37 33.063 S, 57 00.271 W

This morning while the winds were light we lowered the staysail and put tape on the sail where it was starting to part. It was one of the many items we found during the last passage. Rich bought new belts for the alternator and installed them, we had the main sail repaired and have ordered a new one which we will pick up in Brazil. Rich also has the heater working but it has been so warm that we are only running it to heat water for washing.

We walked to the Prefectura and did our paperwork to leave and head to Buenos Aires. Even though we signed a paper saying we would not stop at the Falklands, we had to sign another. Who would stop at the Falklands on the way to Buenos Aires? Whatever?

Paperwork in hand we left the yacht club taking advantage of the high tide and tied to a buoy for lunch and to wait for the winds to switch from northeast to south. It did not take long and by 1:00 pm we were on our way. We tried to sail for a while but the winds were around 4 knots, so we fired up the iron spinnaker and we are motoring along up the coast. The total passage should be about 280 nautical miles to Buenos Aires.

Cheers,
Elaine and Rich

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Main sail repair

Oscar and company are taking our main sail off to be repaired. It has many, many miles on it.

Photos from passage to Mar del Plata

Ushuaia to Mar del Plata recap

Yacht Club Argentino

This morning we got the lancha into the YCA. They were very helpful and had the paperwork for the Prefactura plus carbon paper. We filled out the 4 necessary copies, got a map and headed out. Two local sailors were also going to the same place so we walked with them and got some of the local scoop. Today and tomorrow are holidays so many things are closed except for places catering to tourists so we will have to put off laundry until Wednesday. After checking in, Rich and I treated ourselves to coffee and wifi and waited until lunch time to try one of the local restaurants. It was a slow walk back after so much food at one time.

The tide has risen sufficiently to allow us to enter the yacht club and tie up to the dock and plug it.

I have to say that it was nice last night to sleep in our bed, enjoy calm waters and not have to worry about watches.

So, the nitty gritty of the trip:

10 days, 9 1/2 hours from dock to buoy.
1315 nautical miles
Averaging 126.5 nautical miles a day, maximum for one day was 172nm, minimum was 92nm.
Winds - max 45 knots,
min 0 knots - note least winds were in the Beagle Channel.
Seas - max 3 meter, short period with 3-5 feet of wind waves on top
min flat - also in the Beagle channel
Sailing - we sailed 8 of the 10 plus days. We tacked twice, spent most of the time either on a broad reach or into the wind on port tack.

Damage report
Main sail split from leech almost to luff below the top batten. Some of the leech line tore below and above the split
Lazy jack line for main sail on starboard side chaffed and need to repair. May need new line.
Staysail has a tear near the luff and should be sewn or patched.
We are looking to have sails repaired in Buenos Aires and we will be able to go to get there without the main sail, just maybe not as fast.
One of the alternator belts broke and the remaining is stretched and not tight enough. The two spares on board are not tight enough either so need to buy more belts, install and adjust. Universal spare that we had in storage deteriorated and had to be tossed.
Watermaker was working fine then stopped producing water. Suspect water temperature was too cold. Need to verify operation
Toilet switch for aft head is not working properly. Sensor indicates holding tank is full but output is not to holding tank. Cover of switch has torn, needs replacement.
Water in exhaust system of Webasto heater. Suspect one of the many waves we took on the stern caused it even though there is a loop to prevent this. Need to suck out the water and clean system to get heater back operational.

Tomorrow we will continue cleaning and putting the boat back in shape. Oh, and also getting our internet fixes.

One other change. During the trip we were wearing long underwear, fleece and foul weather gear. Now we are in shorts and t-shirts. Glad to be farther north!

We would also like to thank everyone for their words of encouragement!

Sent from SV Windarra iPad

Day 11 - Arrive Mar del Plata

38 02.599 S, 057 32.208 W

At 9:24 pm, local time we tied up to the YCA buoy with the help from the Prefectura and a fellow from the yacht club. We are glad to be here, tied up and looking forward to sleeping in our bed and not the cockpit.

We are tired so I will end this. More in the days to come.

Cheers,
Elaine and Rich

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Day 10 - What is that ripping noise?

40 31.930 S, 057 08.758 W

We have been having strong winds, 20-35 knots and 3 meter seas.

Last night after dark, I heard this ripping sound and then the flapping of sails. We turned on the deck lights at there was no moon and it was dark as Hades. I looked up at the main sail and it had ripped across below the first batten.

With harness and tether and boat hook I went to the mast, while Rich manned the helm and tried to turn us into the wind so we could take down the sail. The 3 meter swells did not help nor the blast of cold water that hit my face. we finally managed to pull the sail down enough so I could lash the free parts to the mast and put tension on the halyard to keep it from slapping the mast. All the while Rich and I are trying to communicate what next.

Since then we have been motoring. As the seas and winds are mostly from behind we are making good progress, including 172 nautical miles in 24 hours.

Today Rich braved the rolly deck and moved fuel from the jerry jugs to the aft tank.

We have less than 160 miles to go and hope to arrive at Mar del Plata either on Sunday or Monday.

Wish us luck.....

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Day 9 back on the rhumb line

43 25.970 S, 56 45.108 W, Hdg 354 T, SOG 6.0 Winds 13-18 SW

Last night and early this morning we continued northeasterly then the winds started to clock around to the west and then southwest. Now we are on the rhumb line to Mar del Plata, with about 335 nautical miles to go in a straight shot. Not sure how long our weather window will last as it is supposed to build and swing around to the north and we do not want to be caught in an easterly as they may close the port.

So we are motorsailing to maintain speed, especially when the winds were very light, read 3-7 knots.

The lazy jack lines on the starboard side of the boom broke but we did a temporary repair. The leech line of the staysail needs repair also.

Looking forward to Mar del Plata and ice cream!

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Day 8 - Are we there yet?

45 11.787 S, 056 50.218 W

Today was a bit of a disappointment. After having several days of good progress, today fell short. We crept along at 2-3 knots in sloppy seas, closer to Mar del Plata but not alot. We are now closer in longitude but still have about 430 nautical miles to go northward.

The gribs look promising for tomorrow and the day after.

Soon......

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Day 7 Putting in some Easting

46 02.371 S, 059 09.186 W

Most of our passage so far has been on the continental shelf. Today the winds suggested we head east, which is good since Mar del Plata is at longitude 57 W. As we crossed off the shelf and into deeper water we suddenly had all sorts of AIS targets. At least 4 Chinese fishing ships, each over 270 feet long and running just off the shelf in a line. Most of the targets were fishing but there was one tanker and a cargo ship as well. Most we did not have to worry about which is always good, and no surprises.

Rich added more fuel to the aft tank. We are have been running the engine only to charge the batteries. As the alternator is not running full, since only one belt, it takes a little longer. And we are not running the heater since it appears we took a wave from the stern and have water in the exhaust. It never ends

But, we are making progress and look forward to arriving soon.

Soon...

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Day 6 - crossed the 48th parallel

47 19.311 S, 061 14.127 W

I spoke (wrote) too soon last night when I said that the winds and seas had lessened. Last night the winds got up to 50 knots and we were screaming along with speed over the ground as much as 11 knots! FLYING

This morning it was in the 20-30 range and over the course of the day it has dropped down to 10-20. the seas are about 1.5 meter swells and have come around from SW to more westerly. We are taking advantage and heading NE.

The water temperature is only up to 8 degrees C. We are hoping it starts to warm up soon.

Cheers,
Elaine and Rich

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