Log 27. December 2008 Linguistic Lugini at Kokobongos


Well after my adventure at the hospital, I was told in no uncertain terms, by she who must be obeyed, no work for a few days and limited hours after that. Any hope of joining the other boats for their departure date had flown the coop so I just settled back, had three days off and then went back to work on the original schedule of a few hours each morning. We discovered that the plywood bulkhead in the starboard lazerette that held a pulley for the wheel steering had separated from the fibreglass tabbing on the starboard side. This would have to be fixed before we started any of the other work which was cosmetic for the most part. By the second week we had started grinding, first with the bulkheads, and then working our way around the hull. We discovered another issue with one of the rear backstays which presented itself as a dark spot when ground down. I took a drill and drilled a small hole and wasn’t too surprised when water came dribbling out. As far as I am concerned it was surprising we hadn’t noticed it before. Being an older classic design, we sit low to the water with little freeboard and when sailing we heel with the decks awash most of the time. The backstay chain plates on the deck have hard to get at water traps, where no amount of caulking seems to stop the water. The solution is to raise the fibreglass in a cap around the chain plate deck entry spot. The anti-slip on the deck is worn smooth and this is another project we are planning to include in this round along with the installation of some new ports but with the heat we decided maybe we were being overly optimistic. The central job was to grind down the hull areas where the shrouds came to the chain plates. The hull under five of the six plates had pulled in causing an unsightly deflection. This sight was accented by the dark blue colour we had previously painted the hull. We had rigged the boat including a new mast from Klackos in Oakville before leaving and for awhile we thought that this along with some mast pumping had caused the problem or at the least aggravated it. But over the years we have come to realize that wasn’t the case. It was more or less the result of age, kind of a shoulder stoop. Seacycle was built in 1972 and is approaching her 40th birthday. She has done two cruises of the Caribbean with two separate owners and owes nobody anything. During the last insurance inspection the surveyor had looked at it and said that it was a common problem amongst older boats and in our case was a settled condition presenting no danger. In the Trinidad yards there were several Alberg sister ships and upon close examination all had the same issue in varying degrees. One owner in denial got quite upset with us when we pointed it out. All the hulls were white and being lighter the problem wasn’t s as noticeable as our case where the problem was accented by the darker colour. We thought that this was a design problem but have come to realize it was a builder’s issue. The Alberg 37s were built in the Whitby Boatworks Yard in Canada. Another of the yard’s boats is the larger well known cruiser the Whitby 42. There were three Whitby 42s in the Trinidad yard and lo and behold all showing the same deflection. Somewhere the production team seems to have sacrificed design strength for manufacturing process. We had rectified this the previous season in Trinidad by lowering the inside knees to double or more in length. The one place in our boat with no deflection was the one chain plate attached to the hanging locker which ran right down deep into the bilge spreading the load. The grinding is the dirtiest job imaginable. No amount or manner of clothing can save you from the inevitable scratch and itch. Even after the heavy grinding was done there would be little respite as each layer of fibreglass still needs to have its rough edges finessed down to prepare it for the next layer. We got through the heavy stuff and starting with the fibre glassing, trying to accomplish as much as we could in the mornings since we still seemed to be getting late afternoon rain which is a no go when glassing or painting. Locals said this was unusual but at one point in mid December we couldn’t do any hull work for nine frustrating days because of rain, so everything slowed right down as we concentrated on other jobs and settled into life in Medregal. With Jean Marc throwing a good bash at both Xmas and New Year’s we thought we would just enjoy that and complete the work at a leisurely pace. Everything was closed down for three weeks and our next destination was Puerto La Cruz. There we were going to regalvanize our chain and hopefully reupholster the boat. It also was closed for three weeks so Medregal was as good as anywhere. The only complaint was the bugs which where merciless. We had no problem getting basic food supplies, and the trip to the local market in Carriaco was always an adventure, and a welcome respite from the yard. Twice a week we would go to Svens and Evas now called Kokobongos for pizza. Our dry spell of having no other English tongue speakers to converse with had ended with the arrival of Susie and Oscar on Nautilus so we just got laid back and decided when we are done we are done.
You really find out how chauvinistic the view of your tribe’s outlook on the planet is when you are isolated by language. Here we had a collection of French, Swedes, Austrians, Germans (never call an Austrian a German) and of course the Spanish. Everybody had a much better grasp of our language than we did of theirs, resulting in a lot of sign language on our part. This could lead to all kinds of miscommunications .Once thinking we had succeeded in breaking down another linguistic barrier, Gert a German buddy, showed up one morning with DVDs instead of the sanding disks I thought I had played charades for the evening before. Anyways to some of my friends the danger of letting me loose to represent the English language is unimaginable and abhorrent to some, since the consensus is that I have graduated from the Slip Mahoney School of linguistics having never found a word I couldn’t warp, a vowel inflection I couldn’t defect or a definition I couldn’t distort. Never mind the tendency to make the whole thing exponential as I will never use one word when ten will do. My friend Oscar has stated on occasion Mark only talks once a day but he starts at first light. I give you exhibit A to consider.
One evening we were all at pizza which usually turns into an evening at Margaritaville. One of our good neighbours is Pio a rather randy seventy something Swede. Pio has explained to us how his mojo got tweaked after the divorce of his long-term marriage and how the internet had revolutionized the workings of courtship with the softer sex, which now extend all over the planet. Presently single he was in a little bit of a funk since he was having trouble communicating his passion, since his email wasn’t working. He told us how once seeking adventure he had even travelled to Rwanda to rescue a damsel since it was ok for a Swede to get a visa for Rwanda but not for a Rwandan to get a visa for Sweden. Yes hardy Swedes indeed, love in a genocidal war zone, no simple Philippine mail-order for our Pio. The only complication was in watching the teamwork of the Seacycle crew Pio had developed a certain hankering for the captain’s mate. Didn’t hesitate to tell me so to my face. In sizing up his quarry he claimed she was perfect. Just young enough to be the right age for him, cheerful and hardworking, not like some of these other gold diggers. Well Deb was a little unsure of all this but I found it hilarious until he asked Deb if she had me insured, forcing me to go on red alert on any strolls after dark. Anyways back at the pizza the evenings topics would veer all over the philosophical map. Being the straw that likes to stir and looking for the evening’s entertainment I was always debating the doctrines of the sisterhood with the ladies or riling up Jean Marc and the French with questions of like why should Iran get the bomb. A virtual garden of chains, waiting to be yanked. Talking boat shop this particular evening Susie and I had engaged in one of our tet to tets with the issue revolving around pronunciation of the word Amel the name of an expensive French sailboat. I just said it the way I saw it AMEAL. Susie seeking to put me in my place said no it’s pronounced AMAL, it’s French. The fact that her sister had sailed on one for 15 years gave her argument certain gravity. Well just as the issue was dying, in walks one of our resident frenchies Thomas. Figuring to seize the day I put it to him. “Thomas how do you say this Ameal or Amal” After looking at us as we were all sitting there eating our pizza, he replied “But of course it is AMEAL no. “Giving Susie my best Na Na Na Na Na, she still wouldn’t lay down on the issue and kept challenging Thomas. Finally Thomas said “well some of you Americans have very strange accents so maybe that’s why”. Seemingly a dead issue everybody went back to contemplatively chewing their pizza. Finally a few seconds later somebody said something to break the silence, “in any case they are a very nice boat”. Thomas then had a very quizzical look on his face and said “oh you mean the boat, no of course it’s pronounced an Amal”.” I thought you were talking about the pizza and meant a meal”. Of course this brought eruptions of I told you so’s and vindication to poor Suzie who I am sure was suffering a crisis of confidence. While everybody was laughing that one up Pio sitting quietly in the corner was trying in vain to follow the conversation looked at us all and said “what you guys are having trouble with your EMAILs too,
To be continued....