EXCERPTS FROM AN EMAIL TO FELLOW VOYAGERS.
Quito, Ecuador, 21 August 06

Dear ....:

Sounds like you have had a good summertime break up in the northern climes. It appears you have been reading my blogs. I have not actually done much writing recently: laptop acting up; competiton with Kathy who is proofreading online a lot (and keeping us afloat financially). Being in Ecuador and being so actively involved with the places and people we are meeting would also require a new book every week!

Moreover, I was also asked to submit some articles to a small progressive newspaper in Canada. Researching and writing them has also eaten up time. (Once the article is approved for publication, I shall post it on the blog as well: it's about the large exodus of Ecuadorians from the country and now headed for the USA, Canada, and the European Union. Other articles will be on Free Trade for the Americas and 'trade liberalisation' and the relative efficiencies of small farms versus mega farms. They are all related topics.)

We have just finished renewing our tourist visas for another 90 days, a totally painless and costless activity at the Ecuadorian Migracion office here in Quito. Now we have nearly two weeks before we head to Machala in the south for another workshop. We had originally thought of sailing there aboard Vilisar (who BTW looks great with her new bottom red/brown bottom paint, raised waterline and freshly-white topsides). But the repairs are still outstanding and she is not at all ready for putting to sea. We will head back down to Bahia tomorrow on the afternoon bus and get the repairs started.

This time I do not feel intimidated by the repairs. The tidal grid was stressful more in advance than in reality: even though it did look a bit dodgy for a few minutes, I do not think she was ever really in danger except to her pride and paintwork. A spreader cracked when the mast leaned against the fence. It was a yellow-cedar spreader made on a float in the pouring rain at Meyers Chuck, Alaska, in 2002. Jerry, a shipwright from Alaska, here aboard S/V Moonsong, thinks yellow cedar ain't great for spreaders. I have to take the metal plates off each side of the mast at spreader level anyway. The plates hold the base of the spreaders and there are two tangs on each side for the lower shrouds. One of those tangs ripped off on the way to Bahia from the Galapagos so I was intending to replace them anyway. I guess the constant going to windward took its toll finally. There is apparently a first-class stainless fabricator locally that everyone swears by. There is also a carpentry shop right across from Puerto Amistad. I shall get spreaders made of lorel (spelling?), the same lightweight, knot and split-free tropical wood that I had the 8-foot dinghy oars made of. The oars cost $12 each (unpainted) so I do not expect the spreaders to cost much. When I have all the shrouds and stays loosened I shall also slush them properly (done last time in British Columbia by tying up to a fixed government dock in Comox while the tide was out and painting them using a roller attached to a boat poll). I shall also at the first opportunity replace the bare galvanised forestays with stainless; I cannot keep them rustfree no matter how much I keep at it with linseed oil or paint and I am heartily tired of having rust-stained headsails. The other big job will be to replace the tab from the Cap Horn windvane steering that somehow came loose whilst at sea and, much worse, chafed all unnoticed through the retaining bungee. This happened at roughly the same time as Vilisar was sailing along with the starboard aft lower shroud lying on the deck in the dark and the bobstay dangling free from the tip of the bowsprit. Vilisar was so nicely balanced that she continued to sail beautifully to windward for at least several hours after the shroud was down and who knows how long after the bobstay and windvane tab were 'hors de combat'. Good girl! I shall have the stainless guy and the carpenter make up a new tab - very likely a lot cheaper and more convenent than paying $200 for a new tab to be sent through customs from Montreal. The combination of Kathy bringing in a bit of extra money each month, the low cost of having quite reasonably good work done even in a little town like Bahia and more self-confidence about the jobs (after all, after five years, some of these jobs are now repeats) is a great boon. I may also have someone younger and more agile than I am to help me with the rigging work.

You asked about bottom paint. I bought four-litre cans of Hempel self-polishing paint for US$55 a can. A gallon of thinner cost about $13. I added some biocide stuff as well. Vilisar is about 35 feet at the waterline including out-hung rudder: try as they might, the painters were unable to get more than just under three gallons onto her in the time alloted.

Manta is good for paints: there is a big paint store quite near the waterfront and devoted mainly to marine users. There a big fishing fleet there as well. The harbour is a jam-up of fishing boats, some huge longliners but most largish coastal boats. Huge wooden boats are being built in traditional fashion right on the beach there. Amazing to see! For topside paint I used local-brand outdoor glossy enamel. The paint store had Hempel white topside paint for $30 a (Latin American) gallon but the paintstore guy thought the local 'Condor' brand paint was just as good at $10 a gallon. It looks good at least. I stick to pure white and touch up between paint jobs. No colour matching needed.

Teardrop zincs and 1.25-inch shaft zincs are defintely not available here. Bring what you need with you from the States, Canada or possibly Mexico (though we found the prices in La Paz and San Carlos over the top). Fortunately my Canadian friend brought a handful of shaft zincs with him to La Paz last year. Even more amazing, the zincs I put on last year are still in good nick! The shaft zinc is perfect, one teardrop zinc is partially devoured and the other (the one on the iron keel) is perfect. Just goes to show that you should stay out of marinas: when we were moored in Shoreline Marina in Long Beach, CA, I was changing all three zincs at least quarterly. A really hot place! Of course, the Rio Chone estuary where we are anchored is brackish thanks to the strong flow of fresh water coming down from the Andes. That inhibits electrolysis and, with currents of up to 5 knots, the self-polishing paint ought to come into its own.

Certainly the old bottom paint, though getting thin, looked pretty good when we hauled Vilisar out two weeks ago. I shall tell Puerto Amistad not to bother cleaning her for a few months to see how things work out. I hate to see the new sloughing paint get scraped off unnecessarily. The really big problem in the anchorage is the gunge on your anchor chain. After two months there, we could hardly get the chain over the bow rollers for the accummulation of barnacles, clams, weed etc. Incredible. It would be an argument for using a mooring buoy ($150 monthly including dinghy dock fees, showers; anchored boats pay $1.50 daily for dinghy docking, showers). (BTW, several of the boaters have been taking their anchor chains over to Manta to have them regalvanised. They are all quite content with the work and the price was very low: I think about half of the $0.85 per foot that I paid in Vernon, CA two years ago but don't quote me on that).

Must go now. This turned out to be quite long. Hope it helps if you decide to sail to Bahia. Ecuador is great and the facilities at Puerto Amistad are cheap and safe, the weather temperate and untheatening, the country fascinating. What else can you ask for?