Buenos Aires....
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I can see through the porthole is very brown water and a rope flying: the boys on deck are hoisting a spinnaker. The sky is cloudy and a fine rain is falling. The water, seen now from the deck, is very muddy, getting less salty. By the time we reach the buoy channel that controls the traffic to Buenos Aires, I have the impression that the water is closer to the rail: we are definitely in fresh water now. ....
In the early afternoon the wind has died and all sails come down, motoring all the way to destination.....
Buenos Aires, city of the tango, welcomes us with music. Next to the marina where we are to be moored sits next to a large disco-restaurant complex, where a live band plays on that late spring Sunday afternoon. As we go through the open bridge, a large crowd gathers in both sides of the river to see our arrival, some shout “welcome”, some shout “beautiful” and the band at El Divino (no relation to Ibiza’s namesake) plays for and empty terrace.....
Anne Marie, Serge, Coralie and myself play the full tourist game and we let us be taken by a taxi driver to a tango show, where we eat badly and drink moderately some very decent local red wine. The show is quite good, and according to many locals, the only way those days to watch tangos. If we are to believe what people say, the “porteños” are not interested on it any more. Only a few traditionalists keep it going, singers and dancers, composers and bandoneón players who survive by doing those shows for visitors. The “Viejo Almacén” is a very old venue that keeps going thanks to one of those old tango stars from times past. The owner, towards the end of the act, performs a few dances with his not so young partner, and he is actually very good. The musicians are very good and the young bandoneón player is a real treat. They even launch into a new tango, rich in modern sonorities, on the Astor Piazzola style; maybe it was a Piazzola piece, they did not say. ....
After the show, another tourist hunter takes us to a café where, besides watching and listening, we try a few steps under the bored and unconcerned direction of the dancing pros. Anne Marie and Coralie dare trying the leg twist that we saw the pros doing during the show; luckily neither they nor their partner gets hurt. The ancient musicians at the “La Comparsita” play very old, but I realise that in neither place, “La comparsita” or “A media luz”, two of the most internationally known tangos, besides “Buenos Aires querido”, have been played, and so I tell jokingly the manager as we leave. He shrugs and wishes good night. “Tourists!” he seems to be thinking. As almost every night, I look at the southern skies, but Buenos Aires is definitely not a good place to try to see stars.....
The boss is gone south for three days and will be meeting us at Puerto Madryn, in the Valdés peninsula, north of the Patagonia. We leave Buenos Aires Wednesday 16th at 23h00. Overcast and cloudy.....
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December 17th ....
Rough seas and heavy winds right on the nose all night has made a very unhealthy crew this morning. Serge calls it “équipage de choc”, the hit crew, nine seasick people out of thirteen. Some of us will get better and survive (I cheat and take some seasickness tablets before breakfast and during lunch), some we will not see for the whole day, and some will go through their watches sitting on the rail with their heads well downwind pointing down. The sails stay all folded and the speed we are averaging is about 5 knots. Great!....
Lunch, some Argentinean frozen pasties and rice, is surprisingly eaten, but I suspect that very few of the crew actually keep it in. Dinner gathers a few more people than lunch around the table; Felix, with the flu, comes back after half an hour for more: he did not keep his first dinner, he will try again.....
The water is becoming greener, “same as Tani”, jokes Serge as he sees him on deck trying to get some fresh air, which we have plenty of this afternoon. ....
The day goes on and we are all very happy it is coming to an end: the weather forecast says that the low pressure system we are on should be going away from us, and it does. During the night the wind drops and the rough seas become an easy swell from port, but not before we change course. And, where is She?....
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December 18th....
“Beautiful sunrise” is Romy’s entry in the log this morning. The stay sail is up and we are south of Mar del Plata by 11 a.m. After lunch, mizzen, spinnaker and two gollys go up, engine gets shut and , … we are sailing! So far, it lasts until I go to bed. No luck either tonight. At a speed of 8 or nine knots we expect to reach Puerto Madryn sometime Sunday morning, where the owner and his guests are waiting for us. ....
The southern ocean has a more normal colour here, the standard green blue that one is used to see. The temperature is cooling down, but it is normal, we are approaching latitude 40º. This is when things become interesting: we are approaching the Valdes wildlife reserve, where the southern white whales, sea lions, elephant seals and northernmost Magellan penguins, also called imperial penguins, live and move freely around. Penguins hatch their eggs in December, as the whales finish their mating and leave the area until next year.....
Watch leaders are feeling poetic today. Chris’s log entry at 20h30 is “nice sunset”. It seems that the shepherd’s pie he has eaten for dinner has settled down nicely and given everyone else as well a better mood. Maybe the better weather has got something to do with it?....
I am still trying to see the Southern Cross. Commenting on that at dinner, Serge tells me that these days and at this latitude, it can be seen early in the night, so I decide to stay up a little later. While in the shower, Serge calls me but I am all wet, and it’s too damn cold to go out on deck only dressed with a shower towel. Later on, as I write this log, I go up on deck to have a look at the sky, but the bright star is hiding from me behind a cloud, and an electric storm lightens up the horizon. Three weeks here and I have not managed to see the Southern Star. Maybe I should try to stay awake all night one of those days? The night is clear and bright, in spite of the cloud that sits in front of the elusive star, and it is very cold. I am not dressed for being on deck, so I go below to find my bunk.....
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December 19th....
Thank you Serge! The engine was only fired up again at 7 a.m., just when my alarm clock was supposed to wake me up.....
Most of the crew has been up many hours last night; the wind kept shifting and sails were being changed many times, until the wind died. They are all tired this morning, and I am the only one that has slept all night without trouble. Sometimes being the cook has some advantage: no watches, no sail changes in the middle of the night. ....
This morning, the swell is still coming from the north, behind us, but the wind has shifted to the south-east, blowing around 25 knots, so, we are surfing the waves with the wind in the nose. As the day goes by, the swell turns in the same direction as the wind and it gets choppy, pitching again; and again the fore deck is very wet and the crew hatch locked and covered again. Not much fresh air in the galley! I can see some of the crew that woke up looking healthy this morning, slowly turning to green again. Lunch consists of ginger soup and rice for the seasick people and an easy pissaladière for the remaining healthy crew.....
After lunch wind and sea have finally agreed to blow and push on the same course; pity that we are in a hurry to arrive to Puerto Madryn, we could otherwise alter course a few degrees and have a wonderful sail. The sky is bright blue, the sea looks beautiful, a few birds fly by and I am looking for whales, but there are none to be seen. The light plays tricks in the waves, and sometimes I think there may be something in the distance, but there she does not blow, it is only a wave crest breaking into the sunlight. The temperature is only cool under the bright sun, but our engineer Romy, sick with flu, is dressed for the South Pole, fearing a blizzard!....
The wind shifts again in our favour after dinner. By 11 p.m. all sails are up, and we are silently sailing on a port tack into the night. Another silent sleep session, what a luxury!....
The sky is overcast tonight and the Southern Cross is still hiding from me.....
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TBC
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