Sailing the Karina C

Anita has found a friend
This is a few days after the boatyard. We still feel positively about the boatyard. That being said, friends have said that a female spending more than 24 hours in the place is grounds for divorce.
I wanted to divorce myself as we entered the 3rd day at the boatyard. Fortunately, that proved to be the conclusion of the trial. After getting the boat back in the water, the welding job on the exhaust riser lasted 5 minutes. After that, it started a gentle shower of seawater all over the top of our precious engine. We stopped the engine and lashed the dinghy to the side and managed to get Karina to the fuel float and later to our slip. The next day, the mechanic came and took away the riser for more welding. He returned the next day and returned the (now pressure tested) riser to Karina. She runs and seems to be watertight. After complaining to Heinz, he offered to weld a decent repair if I winkle the thing off and take it home. I will definitely take him up on the offer as a seawater shower is the last thing I would want for the engine when I am 1000 miles from shore.
Bartholomew (the engine) got a good freshwater rinse and then a spray with corrosion block after the seawater shower. He seems none the worse for the episode. Thanks to Heinz for the advice about how to deal with the situation.
We took a brief hiatus from repairs and just chilled for the weekend. Today we recommenced our efforts to get Karina ready for the return trip. Anita washed the decks and brightwork. Tomorrow Anita will TSP the brightwork and I will touch up the white parts of the boat. The next day we will put a coat of cetol on the brightwork. The next day a second coat. Then, we take out the port windows and start the final job: resealing the windows. That puts us in a position to leave town next week. However the "Admirable" has decided we will stay in port for a week or two more before we head North. I am OK with this as right now I am so fed up with projects I am ready to go straight home. I know (from the brief break we enjoyed) our attitude will improve as we get into a more relaxed frame of mind without any big jobs on our doorstep.
Our dear friends Cathy and Reno have returned to La Paz. Sadly, it is medical problems that keep them close. I will look forward to any time we can spend with them. They will head N probably at the same time as us (mid-late February).
Captain Bligh (see our last posting) has recognized the fact that he was out of control and seems contrite and subdued when hanging out at the morning coffee break at Club Cruzeros. That is good enough for me as I will never set foot on his boat again.
That being said, we made it to second place in our division on the race. I have no idea of who will crew for him next time. I am sure it will soon get around how he behaves and he will find himself a crew of one (which he says he prefers). It is a lot of boat for one person to handle. We'll see how he does. I say nothing unless I get direct questions from folks. Gossip is deadly around here. I don't want to get into that kind of war.