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.