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!