In the Air on Altair

      A lot of my day was spent up here doing projects on the mast.  I worked on the spreader protectors, halyard savers, radar bracket, spinnaker halyard block, and did a good deal of wiping dirt from the mast and rigging.  I also took the running back-stays down off the mast, they were re-made, and I put them back up. 
      The crew was also involved in moving hundreds of pounds of food and beverage provisions onto the yacht.  I wish now that i had taken a photo of the mountains of bags and boxes as they were laid on the dock but these moments rarely occur to me as photo worthy.  Clint got out his drone and flew around the top of the mast filming while i was up there.  He also made an a video of the harbor and waterfront from the air, flying the drone as high as 135 meters and farther than 500 meters away. 
      A diver from the island dive shop here was underneath Altair for over 4 hours today cleaning the bottom of the boat.  His air bubbles could be heard blurb-blurbing in various parts of the vessel; it kind of reminded me of either hearing a whale or other marine mammal through the hull (and i hope this reference is prophetic).

I am writing from the famous "Sailors Bay" bar on the waterfront.  I just stepped out onto the sidewalk with my Jameson Irish Whiskey to watch an unexpected fireworks display.  I am not sure if it was a Saturday night celebration, a holiday, or a show for the ARC rally. 

Last night was the ARC sponsored party at "Tao".  I really like that word but it doesn't make sense to call a club "Tao", especially one that plays such bad techno.  The party was an excellent chance to mingle and meet other sailors in the regatta.  Even though ARC boats are docked relatively close together most everybody is occupied and focused on there own vessel preparations during the day.  Time for dock walking and chit chatting has been about 0 on Altair and I imagine this is similar on most boats.  I met some interesting people at the party.  Here is a selection of those sailors; "Steve" is a farrier and horseback backcountry hunting guide from central Alberta, Canada.  Before ARC he has seen saltwater 5xs in his life.  "Malika" is liked well by everybody at the party and likely all over the globe.  She was a medical student in Boston, MA from Denmark and sails regularly.  "Rebecca" is the skipper of her boat and gives her crewmate "Alfonzo" the ultimatum you; "get laid or you get drunk tonight; choose one" and then she proceeds to provide support to a blacked-out Alfonzo without the slightest complaint.  "Chad" from Australia tells me with conviction that my chances (or the chances of any male not speaking Spanish) of even speaking with a woman in the club near the dock is slim to none; as he and Alberta Steve had pursued this for several hours before giving up frustrated and defeated the weekend prior.

   Tomorrow is the start of our Race Rally , wish us luck!  I am now going to add a couple important links. 
    Track Altair's progress and watch the movements of the entire fleet. fleet tracker

    Read the Altair Blog or "log" on ARC 2017 (WorldCruisingClub) site 'b'logs

    These and more images in larger res are at my dropbox for view or download  ARC 2017 dropbox