January 1st 2017. All the very best to everyone.

Blog for Jan !st.

First of all, happy New year to all.  Its been a year of ups and downs, but arent they all,  so make the best of the opportunities that 2017 offer, grab them and enjoy yourself rather than letting your commitments and fears weigh you down.

This can be a great year, but its up to you to make it that way.  Good luck everyone.

We've had a little time to go sightseeing, here's Denny up on the lookout above the town, weathering the gale!  Its an interesting place, some great old buildings with ornate and highly decorative styling, houses that are quite tiny by our standards sitting on very small lots with no gardens, although I have to say we did find a few lovely exceptions to that, and a combination of wide streets and very narrow alleys. Its a picturesque place, I'm glad to have been here long enough to get to know it a bit.

Here in Punta Arenas we're steadily working our way through the tasks that need to be completed before the good ship Southern Cross heads on down the Straights.  We can see the end of those tasks, and they’re achieveble within the timeframe before the truck with its crane turns up on Tuesday to take her down and puts her in the creek alongside the replicas of the HMS Beagle, Magellans ship, the James Caird and the others there at the Nao Victoria museum on the edge of the water a few km from town.  It’s a very appropriate place from which to set sail, the sense of history there is wonderful.

Today the last of the woodwork will be glued and screwed onto the new mizzen mast, we had a small modification to do yesterday, the gaff jaws were a little tight so we eased the slightly obloid secion just above the boom collar and recoated it, today there will be a glue fillet applied to that collar and several small items fitted, tomorrow the varnish will be applied and ‘whew” its done.

Howard in our "workshop".  This is the shipping crate, 16 ft by 6 ft x 5 ft headroom, its a bit tight and working bent over all the time gets tedious but really its serving us well,  in this pic he's fitting the boom support collar to the new mizzen mast, we'd run out of the usual nitrile gloves and couldn't find replacements so those garden gloves are having to stand in. 

Stores sorting goes on, you have no idea how big the pile of stores and gear is, SCAMP has very capacious lockers, and it takes a lot to fill them to the brim.  When laid out on the spare room floor it’s a huge pile! Wow!

Part of the gear sort is selecting the clothing.  This is himself trying his brand new high tech drysuit, I'll get the brand and model when he wakes up, but can testify that it is without a doubt the best sailing drysuit that I've seen. It has two modes,  the top and head cover can be rolled down and stored within what looks like a red jacket but which is part of the "system" , with a draw cord sealing the suit at the waist, or rolled up and covering the whole body and head. 

One of the outstanding things about it is that it is easy to get into and out of, not like the usual drysuit!

Sunday today,  it’s a quiet day here apart  from the church bells, I suspect that there are more than a few hangovers and sleep ins after last nights celebrations, but they’re missing a lovely day.  10 am, the breeze is gentle ( yes that’s not always the case) and the sun is shining. We’re having another cup while awaiting our hosts arrival to unlock the area where the crate with tools and gear are stored, and are feeling very happy about our new years eve celebrations.

Our friend Mauricio, the proprietor of El Bodegon café and bar had invited us to a late night supper at his house, after working late and a false start  which lead us in precisely the wrong direction ( don’t press the wrong button on a borrowed GPS) we arrived in time to see the new year in, had a great meal, wonderful conversation, and when we got home, a good sleep.

Thanks Mauricio, Son Nico and Mama.  You made what could have been a night when we were lonely and wishing we were home, a night of companionship and celebration.