We’re back in Brindisi with a minor list of problems/issues that need to be looked at. The yard has been efficient and has technicians lined up to look at the items we raised. A lot of it is minor and rectified in moments - even the water maker problem is, as I suspected, very simple to identify if. as always, a little more difficult to fix.
All this, of course, takes time - time where we and True Colors have relatively little to do. We visit two of our special places, Lecce and Bari, by train and visit some of our favorite haunts.
Closing in on lunch in Lecce
And in Bari we finally find a good lunchtime restaurant that locals seem to frequent and enjoy.
Also I thought I’d try to catch up on some things that Lori thought I could add to the blog.
Firstly, the VHF radio. This is one of those things that isn’t a vital piece of equipment until you need it in an emergency when its “vital-ness” goes off the scale in an instant. Mostly, it’s just used for calling ahead to marinas to say that we’re arriving or for bored people on watch on ships at 3:00am to make weird noises that they think are funny and insist on sharing with anyone else who happens to be foolish enough to be on Channel 16. Also, apparently, if a noise is funny once, it’e so much more funny the seventh or eighth time that you make it. And we wonder why ships crash into one another?
But this time on the way over from Lastovo to Vieste, we encounter Rhapsody of the Sea - a large cruise ship, Remember also that we are not large, and further recall that the Adriatic is in all respects a very large patch of ocean. We get hailed by Rhapsody of the Sea.
“True Colors - Captain what is your intention?” At this point one’s mind reels with options from “Entirely, honorable, sir. I simply wish to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.” to “We intend to ram you, take you all prisoner and hold you for ransom. Break out the Jolly Rodger lads, be afraid, very afraid!”
The professional answer is a little more dull “We intend to pass behind you and you can maintain course.”
But this is not sufficient, apparently. “Captain, your current course is going across our bow.” Again the answer “We are 50 ft long and can turn on a dime and will do so when we think it is necessary” is neither appropriate nor professional.
“Understood. We will alter course to starboard and parallel your course.” No subsequent communication followed but we are now Facebook friends.
Next, the joys of language translation. In Manfredonia our port of entry to Italy, Lori is as always focused intensely on getting the AC cable connected. This is a little tense because many marinas permit only one electric connection where we need two to support normal usage and AC. I am in the marina office working with less important matters like immigration and customs when; the marinero arrives and says “Your house wife needs an adaptor for the shore electrical connection.” Replies like “That is not my house wife, that is (obviously) my boat wife - my house wife is at home.” are not likely to raise much of a laugh or help resolve the issue.
Finally, name on characteristic that Lori and Melania Trump share. I know, I know, the list is long but in this case it is "a network of aestheticians across the world". In Brindisi, near where we have our boat, there is an aesthetician that Lori visited last year. She decides to go back. While she is explaining to the receptionist in broken Italian what she wants, there is a yell from the back, "Lori, Lori". It is the owner who remembers Lori from last year.
Back to that mixing elbow problem …. All you non-sailors are saying “Finally a problem we can understand and appreciate. If you can’t have your gin and tonics, your martinis, and, heaven forbid, your margaritas on board, then you DO have a problem! By the way, whose elbow has the problem?”
Sadly, while this would indeed be a calamity, this is not what befell us. The mixer elbow in the engine mixes exhaust gases with sea water before passing it outside the boat. We had a small hole in ours. Not good, but definitely could/would get worse. So we have to fix it.
Which would you rather pay $400 for?
A: A martini
Or
B: A mixing elbow
The correct answer, of course, is “C: None of the above.” But this was apparently not an option.
One thing I've noticed about boats, not having grown up with them, is that they really need some kind of exploded diagram like IKEA furniture that says you should have twenty of these, seven of these etc. And that if you put it all back together and have something left over, then you have a problem. The terminology too is obscure and confusing. Whoever heard of "boom vangs", "Cunninghams", "Stern glands" (stop sniggering in the back) and "Joker valves"? But this is al part of the wonderful lore of the sea.
The part was, thankfully, with us in two days, installed in 30 minutes and we could finally start our sail to Sicily. But first, in what is becoming a tradition (well we've done it twice), a "bon voyage" lunch at Dante's Bistro. What we thought would be a pork steak turned out to be slightly different and larger.
Delicius but enormous