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LOG ENTRY DATE: August 7, 2003 Nothing would give me more pleasure than to write in this log about leaving Sines, Portugal, and being bound for points south and east (Click HERE and HERE for Sines pics) But, alas, that is not to be until—hopefully —tomorrow. That's when, according to the local UPS folks, our propulsion will be delivered, and the Great Transmission Caper will have come to an end. Getting to this point, however, has been something of a challenge. My first step, after deciding that I did not want to be known along the Portuguese coast as an instrument of death and destruction, was to see if I could actually get the transmission out of the boat, so that it might be repaired. It's in a tight spot, and I wasn't even sure I could move the shaft aft enough to give it clearance to come off the engine's drive shaft. Fortunately, though, I was able to get it off, with a some ancillary dismembering of the exhaust system. The folks at the Sines Marina—who are extremely helpful—actually scared up a mechanic who came by and said (or at least I think he said) that it was no problem to fix. So, I handed it off to him, extracting (or at least I think I extracted) a promise to call me the next day with an update, before proceeding. Instead, the next day, I got a message from the marina guys that he had ordered a couple of parts, that he would install them the following day, and have it back to me then. Sigh. Whatever, right, as long as it works? When the mechanic arrived, he came accompanied by three marina people. That was absurd, I thought, especially as they simply hung around for an hour while we re-installed the transmission. But, it turned out that they were there to help cast off the boat so we could test the transmission. Good thing, too, for in my naive assumption that the transmission would work, I backed out of the slip at standard speed, only to find that the forward gear—whose reluctance to work properly was the original problem—still didn't work! Oops! I almost had the opportunity to smash my Monitor self steering rig flat for a second time in as many days! Fortunately, Tom was able to fend us off from another boat's stern (at the reasonable cost of only one leg), thus avoiding another repair session, and denying me another notch in my gun for taking out yet another boat. The marina guys got me safely back to my slip. Well, golly, the mechanics sure were surprised—the thing worked OK when they turned it by hand in the shop! Off came the transmission again, and back it went to their shop. This time, the following day, I actually did get a call from them saying that now they really knew what the problem was, and my alternatives were a.) have them repair it (again) for 900 euros, or have them order me a new one for 2000 euros. Since neither sounded particularly appetizing, I put Alex Agnew (my boat partner) and Katie to work researching a new or rebuilt one in the States. Sure enough, after dealing with a number of places—including a slick salesman who called himself Dr. Diesel, and who refused to give us his real name— we found one at Mack Boring, who has reliably provided parts to me in the past. Saved almost $1000US in the process The last, and most major obstacle, has been Portugese customs. Imagine all the hassles a customs agency can give you, and you'll have a pretty good picture of what I went through to get my package. UPS delivered—as promised—the transmission to Portugal within 2 days. Getting it around Portugal, however, was hobbled by demands for a Portugese tax number (which I would not have as a US citizen) in order to pay duty, then demands for notarized copies of my passport faxed and mailed to UPS to prove my citizenship. Bottom line, though, is that it would never have been accomplished without the help of the Sines Marina manager, who called UPS and translated—accurately—their needs from Portugese to English. The other heroes were the two guys who run a small internet cafe here, who provided copies and translated letters for me. In the meantime, we've at least been distracted somewhat by life in the marina and the city. Ran into an English couple a few boats over, who proved to be a direct threat to the health of our livers. First night on their boat we terminated 4 bottles of cheap Portugese wine, one bottle of good French wine. Few nights later, same scene, except with some local port thrown in. Other nice people around, too, fortunately, though most come and go over the course of one to two days—Sines is merely a stopping-point on the coast for those who are migrating south (to the Algarve) or north (back to England, Holland, Germany, France, etc.). Miscellaneous nights we find oursevles in the company of Ricardo, who owns the Buccaneer Bar in the old section of town. The bar has seating for about 20, and takes up maybe 150 square feet. We've made good friends with Ricardo, who has named a drink—rum, pineapple juice, a little water and some lime—after Chase. He's a fine example of the universally good nature of the Portugese people, so killing time with him has been very pleasant.... he even gave us a personalized, framed picture of the bar (please excuse the poor quality scan that Peter sent!) bearing the words: "With friendship to Thomas and Peter, Ricardo, the Buccaneer Bar"! |
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