Welcome to Lieve’s Blog!

This is the blog of Lieve Berghmans, crew member aboard the Maggie B. Lieve joined the crew in Salvador, Brazil and will crew on the journey to Cape Town, South Africa.

Welcome to Bart’s Blog!

This is the blog of Bart Gabriel, crew member on the Maggie B, traveling from Salvador Brazil to Cape Town South Africa.

Sailing Links

Articles

• Read pdf of Annie’s Hill’s story in the December 2007 Yachting World about Schooner Maggie B.
• More good reading: Sail Magazine

Sites

• Nautical architect who designed Maggie B: Nigel Irens
• Shipyard where Maggie B was built: Covey Island Boatworks
• Sails: North Sails
• Boat photographer in Aruba: Tim Wright
• Good reading: Boat International Magazines
• Our weather info resource: Landfall Navigation
• Our wireless network provider: Global Marine Networks
• Where we stayed in Bahia: Centro Nautico da Bahia
• Where we hope to stay in Cape Town: Royal Cape Yacht Club, South Africa
• A bit about schooners: Schooner Man

Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Monday, 07.31.2006

Route: Salvador, Brazil to Cape Town, SA
Depart: approx. 1200utc, Tue, Aug 1, 2006

Prepared: 1100utc Mon, July 31, 2006

Summary: high pressure timing could work well for your trip

• This morning, cold front can be seen on satellite near Caravelas (about 1730S on the Brazilian coast)
• South of the front are S winds of 15-25kts to just N of Cabo Frio (E of Rio de Janeiro)
• Cabo Frio and S to 40S, winds turn out of the SW at 20-40kts, bringing the cold and blustery air N
• The low pressure (944 MB) associated with this cold front is now located near 60S/20W.

• it is expected to slowly slide off to the E and SE this week
• allowing the cold high pressure sitting over N Argentina to ease off the coast and be centered over Buenos Aires by 12utc on the 1st

The NE extent of this high will stretch to near 25N/25W on the 1st as it fills in behind the cold front that is pulling off to the E

• Leaving SE-SSE winds, along the N side of the high, for your departure and first couple of days of travel S along the coast

Weaker, smaller lows will spiral clockwise around the main low into next week:

• The first of these lows is expected to intensify near 48S/32W by 00utc on the 3rd
• Looks like this low will be strong enough to bring the high pressure toward the NE and off the coastline behind the low’s cold front

By 12utc on the 6th, the high is expected to be near 30S/35W with N winds building along your route.

See routing below

Long range fcst shows 1027MB high centered near 28S/18W with a low near 40S/40W and a stronger low near 52S/3E around 00utc on the 16th:

• with you in between the high and the eastern low in some sort of W-WNW wind
• allowing you some leeway to head further N, closer to the center of the high, if winds and seas become too difficult

Routing

Recommend a course S along the Brazilian coast to about 20S:

• with the center of the high centered near 28-30S, expect you’ll have to continue S to 28-30S to get into the more favorable N-NW winds on the back side of the high next week
• then head on a mainly E course around the 6th , staying W of the center of the high, as it also slides to the E
• should eventually be able to remain in favorable winds in the W, SW and S side of the high

Have kept your routing around 200 nm/day.

Wind Forecast

Wind directions are TRUE, wind speeds in KTS, and time is UTC

Mon, July 31 - offshore Salvador

18: 130-150/8-15

Weather: Partly cloudy

Seas 3-6ft

Tue, Aug 1

00: 120-140/6-14

06: 130-150/ 8-15

12: 140-160/10-17

Approx. departure

18: 130-150/12-20

Weather: Variably to partly cloudy, chance isolated showers/squalls. Possible gusts to 30kts. Seas building to 5-8ft , light S-SE swell.

Wed, Aug 2

00: 120-150/8-14

06: 130-150/12-20

12: 130-160/14-22

nr Belmonte (16S/38 40W)

18: 120-140/15-23

Weather: Variably to partly cloudy, chance isolated showers/squalls. Possible gusts to 30kts. Seas 5-8ft, light S swell.

Thu, Aug 3

00: 110-130/10-18

12: 100-120/12-20

nr 19 10S/39 30W

Weather:Variably cloudy with increased chc showers/squalls. Possible gusts to 30kts. Seas slowly building to 7-10ft during the day, mainly in increased S swell.

Fri, Aug 4

00: 130-160/13-22

12: 160-180/15-23

nr 22 30S/39 30W

18: 130-150/10-18

Weather:Variably cloudy with scattered showers/squalls. Possible gusts to 35kts Seas 7-10ft, S swell.

Sat, Aug 5

00: 110-130/12-20

12: 090-110/10-18

nr 22 30S/39 30W

Weather: Variably to partly cloudy, isolated showers/squalls. Possible gusts to 30kts. Seas 7-10ft, S swell

Sun, Aug 6

0: 030-060/12-18

12: 360-020/15-23

nr 29S/39 30W

Weather: Variably cloudy, increased chc showers/squalls. Possible gusts to 35kts. Seas 7-10ft, S swell.

Mon, Aug 7

00: 340-360/8-14

12: 330-350/10-18

nr 29S/35 20W

Weather: Variably cloudy with isolated showers/squalls. Possible gusts to 25-30kts. Seas 7-10ft, S swell.

Saying Goodbye to Brazil | Sunday, 07.30.2006

Now in full prep mode.

Everybody had prepared for a big complicated trip and checked and double checked their packing and supplies. A big crossing is just like that — but more complicated.

In talking about the Iraq war, Don Rumsfeld said something about the “Known knowns, the known unknowns, and the unknown unknowns.” We are just there. We know to check all the rig for wear and loose pieces, we know to change the oil and filters, we know to prep the emergency bilge pump, we know to practice rigging the storm sails, we know to load food for 30 days plus everybody’s “comfort’ food (chocolate!), we know to watch the scary lows rolling off the Pampas into the Southern Ocean, we know to calibrate backup GPS’s (12 foot difference!), but how do you prepare for the surprises? Sharpen your knives, get extra sleep and listen to lots of advice.

One fun sign that we should start saying goodbye to Brazil (we arrived in Natal almost five weeks ago!), and think about Africa was meeting a neat couple, Allan and Anya, who had come in from South Africa on their boat. They traded us a South African courtesy flag for a case of beer. Now we are ready!

We are going to have an very interesting series of challenges to pick the right course.

Anyone who wants to follow our passage can get the same weather we are looking at by going to www.globalmarinenet.net and getting a GRIB viewer and then following their instructions to download a GRIB file of our position. SSAtlantic gives the whole South Atlantic or you can focus in on the weather around a specific position. It gives present weather as well as forecasts. I will also post the information that we get from Commanders Weather as to strategic and tactical weather advice. The challenge is that there is a perfect spot with great winds to move us marvelously to Cape Town, but too far south and you get hammered and too far north there is no wind. East to say, but the systems are moving shockingly fast, so you have to position yourself waaaay before the systems arrive. We go 150 to 200 miles a day. The systems move at least twice as fast.

Experienced Sailors, All

The moon is getting fuller every night which should make night watches much nicer. We have a very strong crew, all four of us are experienced Blue Water Sailors, all Shellbacks. With four, we can each do only three hour watches during the night. Positive luxury, though I expect that there will be some nights when we all will be up. Looking at the Pilot Charts (downloadable from th Internet from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency; Pilot Chart of the South Atlantic Ocean; August), we will be running along the line that is the northern limit in August (record from 1772!) of Glacier Ice, plus the line that has a historic record of having waves over 12 feet 30 percent of the time. The Maggie B can do 10.5 knots at hull speed. We’ll see what she can do surfing!

From Salvador, All is well.

To learn Portuguese takes two translations…

Few people realize how difficult it is to learn Portuguese. Few understand that it takes TWO translations, first from Portuguese to English, and then to the real meaning.

Thus:

• Portuguese=English=Meaning
• Agora=today=tomorrow
• Amanha=tomorrow=next week
• nao problema=no problem=it is complicated
• Esta sabado=this saturday=next wednesday

But it is mostly fun along the way.

Location: 12° 53.5 S, 37° 41.1 W
Wednesday 12:00, 07.26.2006

We finally have Reepicheep back from its Brazilian makeover. She looks good and has only lost a little of her panache and gold paint, but her broken frames are now sistered and her hull looks less like a beater.

We are off this afternoon to head to the island of Itaparica.

We should be anchored tonight at 12° 53.3 S, 038° 41.1 W. Itaparica is the weekend escape for many Salvadorians. It is one of the 56 islands in the 1000 sq.km bay, and was the headquarters of the Dutch in 1711 and then was the base for Bahian independance in 1823. For us it is a break from the bright lights of Salvador and the Pelo (the old town with all the restaurants, bars, music, and dancing in the street).

Itaparica also has the Font da Bica, a famous mineral water fountain, founded in 1842. We hope to fill our tanks there for the crossing. We will rendezvous with Bart and Livet and their boat, Plume d’Ange, and further our plans and timing for Cape Town.

Read another new entry in Still Learning…

All is well.

Music heard on board lately

We have a great sound system on, which includes a Sony CD/Tuner/XM Radio system with Bose speakers.

The XM Satellite Radio system worked great… up North. Not now.

CDs are great, and having friends send some is marvelous, but much of what we listen to is off my iPod which has days of music from our CDs and others.

We often have music at sea around noontime/lunch time, but other times, if we are going 24/7 it is inappropriate to put sounds on high when it might be someone else’s treasured nap time. In port certainly we have lots of music, especially at sunset.

Right now, some of our favorite music includes:

Yo Yo Ma €” Appalacian Journey

Pink Martini €” Hang on Little Tomato and Sympatique

Paul Simon €” Concert in the Park

Jimmie Buffett €” everything

kd lang €” Hymns of the 49th Parallel

The Neill Sisters €” everything

Nora Jones €” everything

Music from Garden State (the movie)

Late night watches have passed quickly when we’ve listened to NPR’s Driveway Moments CD which is the compilation of the best NPR audio stories, which range from 15-25 minutes. Marvelous for the Midnight to 4AM watch!

New crew, new J-Prop, and a new destination | Sunday, 07.23.2006

A lot going on with the Maggie B

The Schooner Maggie B hasn’t moved much in the last two weeks, but lots has been going on. Certainly lots of exploring all the parts of Salvador. We have been hauled out and back in again, and have a new J-Prop to replace the one that went to swim with the fishes somewhere between Barbados and Natal.

We’ve cleaned off all marine growth so we are again in a “go fast” mode.

Work on the boat has included plugging the usual minor leaks, checking and replacing some rigging pieces (see photos of feeble Lewmar block and the new Antal in the previous post), finally getting fresh secondary fuel filters for both the engine and the generator, off loading our failed cloths washer (we are trying to find a traditional wash board), getting more minutes for the Iridium Sat phone, etc., etc. Brazil is marvelous, but everything takes more time and inevitably has complications.

One big step now is getting Reepicheep fixed up. Reep is our tender and was marvelously made by two apprentices at the Rockland, Maine ApprenticeShop (www.atlanticchallenge.com) from a Mystic Seaport “Moosabec Reach Wherry” design of the Whitehall class. She has been admired from Nova Scotia to Brazil. The varnish needed redoing and the hull paint has had a few too many insults. I also mixed up the jib lead one night when Reep was on deck, and the jib sheet seriously wore into the hull in two places. So she is out for a Salvador makeover, and was due back yesterday so that we could go exploring the huge Baie de Todos Santos. But now it is “maybe tomorrow.” Sigh.

But the exciting news is that we are now crewed up for the trip to South Africa with excellent hands!

A week ago, when we were in the Bahia Marina waiting to be hauled, we saw a nice little sloop arrive with a obviously fatigued crew of two. She was the Plume d’Ange, a Belgium boat, just in from the Azores with a couple, Bart and Livet, sailing her. We got talking and have stayed connected as we both moved over to the Centro Nautico. Bart and Livet are in their late 20’s and are both maritime professionals, now off on a sailing holiday/leave. She runs the huge dredges that replaced the beach at Acapulco after the hurricane, or the levees in New Orleans. He is the mechanic for the supertugs that can hold a drilling station on position in a hurricane within a few centimeters.

They became interested and then excited about the Maggie B and the trip to Cape Town. After a few dinners together on the Maggie B and the Plume d’Ange, we four felt that we had confidence in each other’s plans, priorities and skills. The Plume d’Ange is going to stay in Salvador in a safe yacht club up the coast, get hauled and get new antifouling, and their genoa, which blew out on the way down, will be all remade by a local sail loft.

The route to South Africa from Salvador is an interesting one.

Hopefully not too interesting. If you go straight, the SE’erly trades are in your face the whole way, so the trick is to head south to pick up Westerlies. But not too far south, because this is winter here and the Roaring Forties is not just an expression. Also, as we go south, we will need to stay clear of the area around the Montevideo and Buenos Aries due to the winds they call the Pamperos, which has wrecked many a ship.

The logical route, south but not too much so, should take us past the island of Tristan da Cunha, where we should be able to resupply….potatoes. So, from Salvador, we will head south to SSE, depending on the winds, until we reach the westerlies, which should be about 25 or 30 degrees south. It is about 2000 miles to Tristan de Cunha on a heading of about 160 degrees, and then 1500 miles from T da C to Cape Town on a heading of 105 degrees.

In the Southern Ocean gales move around the world unrestricted. Prudent sailors “ride” the pressure gradients. If the glass is falling, go north, if it is rising, ease south. Lows, of course, rotate in the opposite direction from up north, but that is probably the only sure truth of the weather.

All is well.

Farewell!

After reaching Salvadore, I am leaving the Maggie B. I hope to someday return to crew again.

Goodbye Friends!

Replacing the Lewmar blocks with Antals | 07.18.06

We are still learning.

One thing that we just learned is that if you send to Brazil something important via FedEx or DHL, customs essentially charges 100% import tax. Yes, 100%. Officially it is ONLY 70%, but there are extra handling fees, etc. If, however, you use a Freight Forwarder, and add the Magic Words “Temporary Importation, Boat in Transit,” the taxes are…..zero. Why not refuse the FedEx and send it back and have it immediately resent? Because Brazil customs declares that once it is here, they will collect from someone, and in any case, they have already collected from FedEx as soon as it was sent to Brazil.

Live and learn.

We have so far had two Lewmar blocks fail on us when under rather normal loads. The web site will soon have photos of the failures. I believe that any engineer or innocent bystander would look at them and say that the Lewmar are very poorly designed. I am concerned that I still have dozens up in my rigging. I am currently replacing the Lewmars with Antals, which appear to be much sturdier. Perhaps other people have had bad experiences with Antals, but I hope that the photos will help any sailor at least consider how to look at a block and consider possible weak points.

Hauled out at Bahia Marina | Sunday 07.18.2006

Well, the Schooner Maggie B moved today, but not too far. We were finally hauled out at Bahia Marina to clean the hull and fit a new propeller. The Reepicheep has also gone off to get fixed up and cleaned up a bit.

The travel lift that took us out is rated to 40 tons. The Maggie B is 35 tons before water, tuna fish cans, diesel, foul weather gear, etc. etc. The hoist did fine, though the tires looked rather like those of a gypsy truck whose owner had just scored a huge pile of scrap lead.

We are still learning.

One thing that we just learned is that if you send to Brazil something important via FedEx or DHL, customs essentially charges 100% import tax. Yes, 100%. Officially it is ONLY 70%, but there are extra handling fees, etc. If, however, you use a Freight Forwarder, and add the Magic Words “Temporary Importation, Boat in Transit,” the taxes are…..zero. Why not refuse the FedEx and send it back and have it immediately resent? Because Brazil customs declares that once it is here, they will collect from someone, and in any case, they have already collected from FedEx as soon as it was sent to Brazil.

Live and learn.

We have so far had two Lewmar blocks fail on us when under rather normal loads. I believe that any engineer or innocent bystander would look at them and say that the Lewmar are very poorly designed. I am concerned that I still have dozens up in my rigging. I am currently replacing the Lewmars with Antals (see the photo above), which appear to be much sturdier. Perhaps other people have had bad experiences with Antals, but I hope that the photos will help any sailor at least consider how to look at a block and consider possible weak points.

Tonight we are on dry land, up in the yard.

We are VERY well protected. In the Bahia Marina area (which includes four restaurants and a number of shops) there are at least eight security guards. But in the particular area of the yard, between 10 PM and 6 AM there are huge Rotweillers that prowl the grounds. I already feel as if we are in a safe anchorage, patrolled by a huge shark, which will keep the pirates away, but will also eat me if I go for a swim.

We are still enjoying and learning about Salvador.

It is still fascinating and complex. We are also waiting for crew to answer and commit for the next leg. Max and I know that we can handle the boat just us two, and do a good job (together with Jorge, the autopilot), but it will be so much more fun, easy, interesting and safe with two more. Once we relaunch (manana), we will shift to another marina nearby (Centro Nautico da Bahia - see the photo to the left) that is a bit more sailor oriented and closer to the fun Old Town, and then we may go exploring around the Bay and down the coast.

All is well.

Location: 12° 42.0 S, 37° 59.4 W
Friday 12:00, 07.07.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on July 7th was 12° 42.0S 37° 59.4W. We are about five miles off the coast and 37 miles from turning the corner into Baia de Todos os Santos (All Saints Bay). We should be tucked into the Bahia Marina by about sundown.

Today has been a perfect sail.

We are doing 7-8 knots with one reef in the main and the fore, on a broad reach with only moderate swell and waves. We were head to head with a fast moving empty coastal tanker at dawn, but since then haven’t seen a single boat, large or small. The sun is out and the temperature is perfect for just a t-shirt and shorts.

We have been reading up on Salvador and are quite excited to arrive. The Bahia Marina seems to be a safe base for us to do the boat work while being close to things. The town sounds interestingly historic but somewhat wild. The Lonely Planet Guide clearly likes the city, but is fully of cautions (”don’t go to this or that area, take a taxi, don’t fight back when you are pickpocketed, don’t carry a bag, etc., etc.).

Max showed his dingy-sailing background and put together a bunch of “tweakers” to improve the trim of the sails and he got at least another half a knot out of her. I didn’t do my homework well enough on what was where when I went on for the Midnight to 0300 watch. When the usual rain squall came through about 0100 with 25-30 knots of wind, I got rather tangled in various ropes and we went for a bit of a sleigh ride before all was settled. Dinner ashore tonight!

All is well.

Salvador Bahia Brazil | 07.07.2006

The Schooner Maggie B docked safely at Bahia Marina, Salvador Brazil at approximately 1900 on July 7th. The GPS location is 12° 58.7464S, 38° 31.1903W.

All is well.

Rainy Day Lunch — 07.06.2006

Lunch today in the rain was €œcomfort food€ nice little steak filets well marinated and then done in garlic and butter, with baked potatoes and fresh (frozen) peas.

Location: 10° 46.0 S, 36° 20.0 W
Thursday 12:00, 07.06.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on July 6 was 10° 46.0S 36° 20.0 W. Yesterday was lovely, today we are thinking about England. Like poor visibility, continual rain and less wind than we would want. We are also battling up to two knots of foul current, which makes everything even drearier. We are moving in closer to the coast to try to get out of the current, but this area has a lot of offshore oil and gas exploration and we don’t want to get “up close and personal” with a rig. “Isabel” is the name of the next platform, though, which sounds nice.

We have 188 NM to go to Salvador, and are about 20 miles off the coast, just passing the Rio Sao Francisco, and coming up on Aracaju. Rio Sao Francisco was the site of the last great battle for Brazil between the Dutch and the Portuguese. The Dutch controlled much of Northeast Brazil in the 17th century. Maybe that is why they dance funny in Natal? Aracaju should be familiar even to NordAmericanos from the song of the same name by Bebel Gilberto.

Sigh, another system has given up the ghost.

We had a nice, compact, inexpensive Italian clothes washer/drier in the fo’cas’le. It seemed like a great idea and we had used it successfully several times. Never again. It was obviously made for a nice apartment near the Spanish Steps, not in the bow of a Blue Water cruising boat, diving into waves. It got a full douche of saltwater through its exit pipe, which it really didn’t like. But, basically, it beat itself to death inside, as the drum banged into everything, breaking piles and controls. It will become part of Salvador’s dump treasures, and probably will not be replaced.

Rainy Day Lunch

Lunch today in the rain was “comfort food” nice little steak filets well marinated and then done in garlic and butter, with baked potatoes and fresh (frozen) peas.

We must get our REM sleep

We have been doing solo watches two hours long and four off, but are going to try three and six, to try to ensure that we all get REM sleep, so that nobody is cranky.

All is well.

Wahoo for every meal — 07.05.2006

We are using the last of our lovely Wahoo in a fish stew with fresh potatoes and tomatoes.

Chef Max — delicious AND durable!

Max has made a culinary success out of Wahoo Fish Cakes, adding egg and corn meal to make a delicious and durable meal. Delicious in that they get eaten up promptly, either at the time of making or as a marvelous midnight snack. Durable in that if we had an emergency leak, they could be stuffed in and would hold for a week or so.

Location: 9° 16.5 S, 35° 11 W
Wednesday 12:00, 07.05.2006

Finally!

We are booming along with 12 -15 knots of wind on our beam, with the G2 Gennaker (AKA “The Bird”) flying, doing 8 knots! This after thousands of miles close hauled. We are all a bit stunned.
The noon position on July 5 was 09° 16.5S, 35° 11W. The wind is 100 degrees at 12-15 and our course along the coast to Salvador is about 220 — perfect!

We are about 10 miles off the coast, 45 miles from Maceio and 300 from Salvador. Towns going by last night included Dos Milagres, Ponta do Patacho, Ipojuca, Ponta des Pedras Pretas. The last seems to translate “The Bridge at Black Rock” — great name for a Western!

Yesterday was ship cleaning and today things look nice. Today we may even do a laundry wash, as we are good on water and power.

What we are reading:

Frank is just finishing “My Name is Red” by the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. Max is reading the Operating manual for our ZF marine Drive.

Wahoo!

We are using the last of our lovely Wahoo in a fish stew with fresh potatoes and tomatoes. Max has made a culinary success out of Wahoo Fish Cakes, adding egg and corn meal to make a delicious and durable meal… Delicious in that they get eaten up promptly, either at the time of making or as a marvelous midnight snack. Durable in that if we had an emergency leak, they could be stuffed in and would hold for a week or so.

More! Soon!!

All is well.

Location: 7° 48.8 S, 34° 43.7 W
Tuesday 12:00, 07.04.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on the Glorious Fourth was 07° 48.8 S, 034° 43.7 W. We are about five miles off the coast of Brazil, just fixing to slide by Recife, which is about 15 miles ahead.

Recife looks a little like Chicago from the water — rows of different high rises. The difference is that south of Chicago is the end of the lake and Gary, Indiana — South of Recife is the Great Southern Ocean, as well as the rest of Brazil and Argentina.

We have wind at 170 degrees at 10-12 knots and 1/2 knot foul current. We are paralleling the coast and making about five knots. Since Natal, we have been going through the water fine, though slower than when we had our slippery J-Prop, but the combination of being close hauled, tacking out regularly, a foul current, and fair residual seas has made our VMG (Velocity Made Good — how fast you are really getting to where you want to go) a pathetic three knots.

Salvador is under 400 miles away, but we are going to have to speed things up a bit if we are going to have some time to have some fun before Bori’s plane back to Hungary. But we have almost turned the corner, etc, etc.

Another Lewmar block broke this morning.

I’m getting concerned about whether we have the right size or whether they are manufactured adequately. This one just gave up in 20 knots of wind. Some parts of the Lewmar engineering seem pathetic.

I hope that this hasn’t been too much of a list of things that have gone wrong. I want to take a moment to mention some of our stars. The Furuno radar/GPS/plotter system has been great. Jorge, our Furuno Autopilot, has learned how to steer by relative wind and is a star. The icebox system, a pair of Sea Frosts has been flawless. The Spectra Watermaker works tirelessly. The Force 10 stove has always been there for us and made endless tasty meals. The Iridium Sat Phone with UUPlus has made staying in contact with the rest of the world effortless. Once we discovered that our “leak” problem was water coming back IN the bilge pump outlets, the hull has been perfectly dry. And on and on. Just wanted to mention the good stuff.

All is well.

Take a tour aboard the Maggie B

Here’s a short slideshow tour of the Maggie B’s accommodations. Or, view the photos, with descriptions, here:

Welcome aboard!

Location: 6° 35.0 S, 34° 42.7 W
Monday 12:00, 07.03.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on July 3rd was 06° 35S, 34° 42.7W. We are beating our way, closehauled along the coast of Brazil, headed south to Salvador, with stops along the way. At noon, our course was 228 degrees at 6 knots. Recife is 90 miles away and Salvador is 435. The wind is 170 at 15-20.

We left Natal at 1500 on July 2nd. We had finally gotten our spare propeller fitted and attached. The key for the prop and the two bolts holding it on were hand machined, and looked like fresh gold when they arrived with the skilled diver who helped us. Our delight at getting the prop on was totally dashed by the diver telling us that it didn’t fit the opening, which had been made for the vanished feathering J-Prop. Max, in a tour-de-force, realized that our jack shaft (an extra piece of shaft between the engine and the shaft to the prop) could be extended by the few inches we needed. He took it off and carried it to nearby primitive local machine shops, where he was able to get it adjusted so that all fits and works now.

Our departure was delayed by the two hours it took to get on 180 gallons of water at the Yacht Club. Hopefully the water is good — it came on slow enough.

Last Friday, we took the day off from Boat Work to take a tour of the area north of Natal by dune buggy with driver. Great fun was had by all and pictures will follow as soon as we get connected.
Crew for Salvador is Frank Blair, Bori Kiss, and Max Hofman. We find it good to be back at sea after Natal, though the first night was a bit of a thrash to get back in the routine. Many, many boats along the coast and out to 100 miles, where we are more comfortable than inshore. “Meeting situations” with very large container ships, while surrounded by local fishing boats, can get a bit too exciting.

We are thinking about stopping at what is described as a lovely island and beach about 20 KM south of Recife — Ilha de Tatuoca (08deg22S/034deg58W), but all depends on weather and progress towards Salvador. Maceio sounds interesting. The bay around Salvador sounds like it will be great fun to explore.

Address in Salvador will be
Schooner Maggie B
c/o Bahia Marina, Avenida do Contorno N. 1010
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Telephone 71 322 7244.

All is well.