Katherine Ann Westabout

Some years back when a guest at a nice little yacht club at Buenos Aires on the River Plate I was advised by a wise old sage " The majority of the winds on the River Plate are headwinds". Now at the time I thought he was saying this with tongue in cheek but now I'm not so sure. Here I am well off the mouth of the River Plate estuary and his words ring true. No matter which way I turn ( actually I only have two choices, left or right ) there she is is bang on the nose. And to add to this the strength got up over 20 knots! After a month of balmy breezes this called for drastic action so rummaged round in the sail locker and came up with a nice new RED storm sail and hanked it on. Needless to say in this wind strength it just sat there for show and did no useful work. I did convince myself that this was a necessary part of good housekeeping and put it back where it belonged, but really it did go to show me up as a fair weather sailor. And to prove the point in doing this I d onned my full set of heavy weather gear and once back inside brewed up a hot cocoa. This with the temperature plummeting to 24C! Shakes his head. I'm sort of a bit off the coast seeking an elusive South going current but realise this rumour goes hand in hand with the other forecasts hereabouts of an El Dorado and a River Of Silver. So here I am scampering back to hug the shore of the Silver Coast and hopefully dodge the little lows that seem to be spinning off at the drop of a hat and get some nice light following winds which I have proven to be able to handle very well thank you very much. Also with the temperature and me going South did a stocktake of hot water bottles and methylated spirits ( can't say meths anymore as Customs would be right on my case ) and both are adequate. The temperature Down There is 4C at the moment. I know I will be able to handle it. That doesn't mean to say I will be able to enjoy it.