… a rainy morning, and as feared, almost no wind. The race committee decided to push the start out to 8 am rather than 6 am. Of course this was not mentioned the night before --- a few extra shut-eye hours would have been nice, thank you!
Still, we head out to the starting line and wait … and wait … and wait … and yes, continue to wait
Around 8 we take off to Pto Villamil in 6 knot wind :’-( … great wind for relaxing … but we do not want to be relaxing now … Should have started at 6 am when the wind was blowing at a howling 6.5 knots!
Into the regatta the wind continues to drop and causing us problems. We also make a tactical error. We dicide to raise the Asymetric in order to try and gain on speed. But the angle of the wind is not verry favorable and the fact that we need to head up wind in order to clear one of the leg's way-points means we are forcing the Tabasco to a stall. So, down comes the Asymetric and up comes the Genoa ... the other way around actually, and we head upwind hoping for more favorable winds ... Nada papi chulo ... no viento. #@$*! ... and we fall several places back on the standings of the general regatta. Means that on the last leg, Pto Villamil – Pto Baquerizo, we have to work hard to ensure a good finish – let’s hope for better winds! For now, we are drifting at a super-fast 4 knots towards Pto Villamil ….
Arriving into Pto Villamil … with no wind … makes a mess for all, including us. We placed by the end of the third stage 22nd in the general L
Here is the bright side … we get to spend the afternoon and all of tomorrow in Pto Villamil, a “last frontier town” in Galapagos that retains the “colonist” atmosphere. We also make contact with an old friend of Olaf and I from school, Matias Espinosa, who has become Galapagos’ Premier Tour Guide. Matias also helps us with getting our hotel reservation... Hotel El Volcano, a five star hotel for Pto Villamil standards. Don't get me wrong, this was a nice hotel. Clean, a working shower - not that we needed one :-). A comfortable bed.
Before heading into town we are again boat hopping and sharing drinks with our many friends on anchor. We board the Bravissimo, where we also meet with the team from the Tivoli. In what looks like an assembly line of Cubas Libres our hands are stocked and the glasses are raised to toast everyone's preformance at the regatta. Music also plays in the background while a few crew from other ships jump into the aquamarine waters of Pto Villamil.
During our transfer ride to the dock we are escorted by a few curious sea lions; tourists look at us as if they had never seen a group of 300 sailors disembark before … guess they have not! ... makes me wonder who has it better ... us in our yachts hopping from island to island under the power of wind or them hopping from island to island under the power of diesel with a whole bunch of people they met only two days ago at the "Tourists here" spot in the airport in Blatra and no Cubas Libres .... hands down we win ... that is why we do this!
We meet Matias at the hotel … incredible how after not seeing someone for over 25 years it takes but a second to recognize him. What a joy it is to see him. We also meet with Rafael Correa’s older sister Pierina Correa. Rafael Correa, of course, is Ecuador’s Constitutional President; Pierina is actively involved in the promotion of sports, crews for one of the boats, Fanny, and knows Matias from earlier activities while in Galapagos a few months back - Matias was Pierina's guide. -- oh, if I did not mention this before... only certified guieds can take people (i.e. tourists bot national and foreign) through the Galapagos since it is a National Park.
We all agree to meet for dinner before heading to the awards ceremony. Matias also offers to organize a tour of the area around Pto Villamil for us, particularly an area where a type of shark, the Tintorera, comes to rest. Afterwards, the plan is to go spot where we can snorkel and observe some of the underwater sea life.
Yes... regardless of what the weather looks like this is shaping up to be a great day tomorrow!
…No awards for us tonight … booh - hooh - hoo :'''-(
but good work for all those who did! I hang out with Matias a bit longer. We stroll down main street - looks like it at least. We head to a nice little pub called “Beto’s” for a few drinks. Beto's is at the watefron in the "outskirts" of town. I did hang out here three years ago as well ... great pub, great music, and not to rowdy.
We have an opportunity to catch up on 25 years in less then 60 minuts skipping a lot but highlighting the important ... health, family, "life after Colegio Aleman," and friends. It is an opportunity to let him know that our good friend Robi Baue, aslo from the colegio, is faced with skin melanoma, has had surgery to remove some malignant spots, and we all hope that hes follow-up treatement will be sucessful…
Matias decided to move to Pto Villamil with his wife and two young children to give them the opportunity to experience life in the Galapagos; In a few years they will likely move to Pto Ayora and then settle in Cuenca, one of the larger cities in Ecuador. Matias has also started working more and more in music that explains the importance of the Galapagos Islands, and Beto, Beto’s owner, puts his CD for background music. Vey nice music.
[I will try and upload some of his music to this blog once I have the opportunity to connect to a stronger signal]
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