Myth of Sisyphus

We all know the Greek myth of poor Sisyphus, whom the gods condemned to a task of unending labour – roll a boulder up a hill each day only to have it roll down each time he reached the top. I am in no way inferring that is what life on Turtlebones has been like in the past week….

We are making progress on a number of fronts, but it does seem that each task we take on surprises us with an unexpected twist or turn. None of these are show stoppers, just a form of Greek tragedy.

Wind Instruments

Yesterday we finally got around to the trip up the mast. Needless to say this was the day after another boater in the marina regaled us with stories of someone being hauled up the mast using an electric winch who was shredded in the shrouds. (For those non-nautical people, the winch revolves to pull in lines which often run through pulleys and shrouds are the steel lines that run from various points on a mast to the deck to hold the mast upright). We had to hook up the anemometer at the very top of the mast (cups that twirl to measure wind speed) and repair one Windex (points the direction of the wind relative to the boat direction) and remount a second one.

So on goes the winch, Sharon is on lookout to ensure I will not be shredded in the shrouds, and up I go. The windspeed instrument gets connected relatively easily, but the plastic mounting brackets for the Windex have disintegrated and I need a socket wrench to remove them. Down I come and prepare for round two. Up I go. The bolts attaching the two Windexs are seized solid (WD40 not withstanding), but I manage to get the bracket attaching everything to the mast removed. Today we discover there are no replacement Windexs in any marine store in Puerta Vallarta before 2 weeks.

So the good news is the electronic wind instruments are good, the old school visual ones we will do without.

Generator

Jose-Luis came but today and assured us the generator is still on track to arrive on Friday or Saturday and he and his team will work anytime on the weekend or Monday (a national holiday in Mexico – Benito Juárez’s Birthday) to get it installed

Iridium Go! Exec

So you may recall that one of the toys in my carryon was the upgraded satellite communication equipment that would allow us 40x the speed on downloading weather files and possibly improved email and other capabilities.

I will not bother you with the entire story, but in simple terms we have determined the product was released a month ago and Bill is the guinea pig, and I am the little hamster running in the wheel and getting no where.

We did get the subscription going on Friday after a series of emails, chats and phone calls. Needless to say the help desk is in New Zealand. Since then we have been learning more about networks than either Bill or I want to know. Turtlebones as a more complex network than many office buildings house a few hundred employees – a Seatalk (ng) network which is for electronics and a NMEA 2000 for everything else – lights, pumps, water maker and more, bridged together (we think). Needless to say the satellite communications piece needed to be linked to the instruments but through the NMEA 2000. We got one piece working but discovered it is “so new” that the email app from Iridium no longer works and the new one “is coming soon”. Of course there are alternatives that “cost more $”, but have not gotten them to work and awaiting calls.

Provisions

We had a great time in La Cruz looking at boats (a marina), crafts and visiting the fish market.

Done Flying

I am a little more proficient – no crashes recently and I managed to take a reasonable video of Turtlebones and fly through the cockpit. I need to now figure how and where to upload it and link it to this blog!

I could go on but it is hard to expect any sympathy for our hardships. Bill’s boat rocks and has 2 or 3 levels of redundancy in most areas. With the generator and a few more things we are in great shape. As in all of these things, equipment is important but people are paramount and Bill is exceptional. (sucking up to the Captain).

There are many boats now gathering for the trip across to the Marquesas. There is the nicest family from Malaysia on this boat (above) with a daughter about 1.5 yrs old and son maybe 4. They are leaving a week tomorrow (Tuesday 21st) for the Marquesas. I watched the little girl climbing back aboard and her legs barely reached from the dock to the boat. Another time the little boy was doing something for his dad and shimming up the mast. The crew rocks here as well!

I will have no issues on Bill & Sharon’s cruise boat with the gourmet cooking, and unlike Sisyphus, I have every confidence we will get the important boulders up the hill in the next week!