L'Eau Commotion Westabout

6:00pm Good Friday, 30th March 2018 ( UTC-3 ) Everything that I consider essential to get me back to Southport with a modicum of safety has been ordered and on its way. For electrical power a Watt & Sea Hydrogenerator should arrive shortly. I decided that solar panels were too prone to be wiped out by waves to replace them and just don't have the clear deck space to fit them flat. Again I am not installing a wind generator for the same reason as the blades are susceptible to breakage and occasionally when the wind increases rapidly sometimes the auto braking is slow to stop the very high rotational speed which is rather scary if you have to be working underneath them. I have a small 20 watt solar panel on top of the little dodger over the companionway hatch which keeps the main engine starting battery always nicely topped up and thus can use the engine driven alternator for backup power; in addition I have a stowed 80 watt solar panel I can rig in calm conditions. I intend to install an Echomax active radar enhancer which lights up and sends back a powerful pulse whenever painted by a ships radar. The Raymarine tiller pilot is back in action. It was a dual failure with a corroded wire to the clutch mechanism combined with corrosion in the electronic backbone cable. I will be able to take the mast out here at the FIC Jetty to check the rigging and replace the faulty parts, install a Tricolour masthead light and by replacing the Raymarine wind cable I hope to have the windspeed and direction instrument back in operation. The replacement element for the Katadyn e40 desalinator is also on its way, but of course I still have the manual model 35. Andrez Short, a Kelper with a vast amount of sailing experience out of the Falklands to the North Atlantic as far North as Norway has been wonderful in assisting to get the equipment here as well as fixing the staysail furling mechanism which should be a real boon in heavy weather. Bob McLeod checked out the VHF which seems to be good as I will have a spare to my favourite brand acquired from Andrez, an Icom VHF. I spent an afternoon and then a full day in the museum. The exhibits and accompanying explanations are truly of world class and are housed in buildings dating back to the time of the establishment of the colony in Stanley in the 1840's. The Conflict, the invasion by Argentina in 1982, features strongly in the narrative and brought about huge changes in the lifestyles of the population. This contrast was the more interesting as Barbara and I spent six months here in 1976 after limping in in our little yacht. It is great to yarn with Andrez about times long gone. He is a direct descendant of one of the military pensioners who volunteered to come out here in 1848 and is in the process of refurbishing one of the original cottages, which he owns, built at the same time and just few houses away from that occupied by the first Short. Back in 1976, The Colony, or in PC Speak, Overseas Territory, seemed to be struggling with quite a few failed schemes which tried to diversify the economy away from its almost complete dependence on one product - wool. The economy is now booming with the addition of a large and well managed squid and finfish industry and the likelihood of production starting up of proven oil reserves in the near future. These things were talked about 40 years ago but the threat of Argentine reprisals but a lid on any exploration.