En route to Fernando de Noronha
Wednesday, 03.19.2008

At 1300 today, the Schooner Maggie B cast off from the fuel dock in Salvador. We are headed first to Fernando de Noronha, which is 664 NM and then on to Antigua, which is 2295. Finally, we have a decent breeze and should be sailing. We really haven’t had a good, long sail since before Buenos Aires.

When we start out on long legs I usually read a poem or quote to set our minds to the task ahead. Today I read “The Sea Gypsy” by Richard Hovey:

I am fevered with the sunset,
I am fretful with the bay,
For the wonder-thirst is on me
And my soul is in Cathay.

There’s a schooner in the offing
With her topsails shot with fire
And my heart has gone aboard her
For the Islands of Desire’

I must forth again to-morrow!
With the sunset I must be
Hull down on the trail of rapture
In the wonder of the sea.

Right now the Maggie B and her systems are in great shape. The long-standing problem with the genset appears to have been a fuel clog in the switch panel, which Marcello’s boys found. The autopilot is now working and its problem seems to have been the electric motor in the hydraulic steering pump, which just needed to be disassembled and cleaned. The Yanmar main engine was not charging after our trip to Itaparica, and that turned out to be a blown 200 amp fuse, which apparently blew because the electric capstan was somewhat abused when we pulled the anchor up after it was well set in deep mud.

The amazing story here is not how tricky we were in fixing all these problems, it is how much great support we were able to get. Marcello at Centro Nautico is a wizard who also has lots of practical experience and can sniff out solutions like a police dog going after doughnuts. More amazing, though, is how well we were able to tap into expertise around the planet. Only a phone call away was the technical support at the alternator regulator company, the hydraulic steering manufacturer, Furuno USA, and, always, John Steele at Covey Island. I am not a plumbing/hydraulic/electrical/diesel whiz. I am a patient plodder who keeps all the technical manuals handy and doesn’t hesitate to call for advice. It is often very cool to work with a skilled diagnostician who is sitting at their desk 10,000 miles away.

One lovely thing happened last night in the Centro Nautico. Just opposite us was a newly arrived French boat with a husband and wife and three girls on board. The girls were about 11, 9 and 4. Polite and nautical. I lent them our copy of the Maggie B book to have read to them at bedtime. It was a great success and I was very flattered that this morning the two older girls brought back the Maggie B book and then lent me THEIR favorite two books for me to read. It was charming. I told them that if they worked hard and learned all the nautical skills, they could come and crew on the Maggie B when they got big.

We are full of water, food and diesel. We have a fair wind, a strong, fast boat and good experienced crew. We will be in Antigua on April 12th for Antigua Classic registration, and we’ll do our best to have fun getting there.

All is well.

Location: 12° 53S, 38° 41W
Sunday, 03.16.08

The Maggie B is anchored in the well-protected bay at Ilha de Itaparica, at 12° 53S, 38° 41W. Thomas and I took Maggie B here yesterday from Salvador via a lap part way around the beautiful Baia de Todos Santos. Hannah and Curtis have gone inland to hike in the Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantia.

On our way to Ilha de Itaparica, we motored past the Ilha dos Frades, named for two monks who were killed and cannibalized by local indians. The island brought to mind the terrible joke when two cannibals are talking after a feast. Both have bad indigestion. One asks the other, the cook, how the missionaries were prepared. “Boiled,” he replies. “You idiot!” the other says, “They were fryers [friars]!” OK, not too great a joke, but we’ve been at sea for almost two years.

One marvelous thing about Salvador and Itaparica is that there are lots of traveling boats. Walking down the pier at Centro Nautico do Bahia is like a maritime United Nations: lots of French, Dutch, German, Argentinean, Belgian, Swiss(!). Even an American. Most days there is at least one boat with the yellow “Q” (request clearance from abroad) flag flying. And the boats are very salty and sea-tested. Here in Itaparica, we are anchored with Segue of Felixstowe, Speedwell of Hong Kong, Nanoq of Sweden, Helisara of Douglas, and a very hot trimaran called Menisco Roto whose stern is too small to list a home port.

A “traveling boat” stands out in any harbor. It isn’t, necessarily, beat up or loaded with gear. But it somehow has the air of being burnished by sun, salt, wind and long passages. Often there are a few dings. Solar panels and wind generators are generally present. Self-steering gear on smaller boats. Jerry cans of extra diesel or water lashed on deck are a pretty good clue. But the essence is more subtle: gear is stowed just right - handy but secure. It is perhaps like the vision of a mounted cavalryman of the 19th Century - lots of gear and buttons and some flash, but you know that everything would still be exactly in place and ready-to-hand after a 20 mile gallop.

Trying to be ready for things that hopefully will never happen, we regularly renew our emergency water, which is stored next to our life raft and “go bag.” Today the water was filled in the famous Fonte da Bica, a mineral water fountain first tapped in 1842. It supposed has all sorts of medicinal and restorative powers. Just what you would want in a life boat!

The weather seems to be changing. For the last week it has been clear, very humid and hot. Today there have been huge thunderstorms marching through every few hours, with some serious wind and rain in Biblical proportions. I hope that it will bring in a nice SW’erly to blow us up the coast!

All is well.