June/July 07
We spent some weeks in Puerto Montt fixing everything for wintering the boat, tickets to Santiago, Easter Island and to Sweden via Madrid. We finally left Lindisfarne on the 22 of July by night bus to Santiago.
As we where not certain if we would be able to sail to Easter Island we did it by air. After one day in Santiago we took of to Easter Island for 7 days. We hade two days of rain and the rest perfect weather for travelling and hiking around the small island, looking at all the stone statues.
Back in Santiago we spend one full day walking around in the town, looking at all the famous places. Early next morning we flew to Madrid. Leaving Santiago in mid winter 10 degrees (C) arriving in Madrid in mid summer 38 degrees is quite an experience. Luckily the air isn't humid at all so the heat was not that unbearable.

August 07
The next afternoon we left Madrid for Gothenburg where we where picked up at the airport by friends with dinner and accommodation prepared.
Our plan was to stay three month in Sweden, two weeks in the south, two month in Gothenburg and two weeks in Stockholm before going back to South America. The calendar was completely booked with meetings with friends, relatives, and lectures almost every day. Of course we had to take care of such matters as dentist, health examination and other similar items.

Nov 07
Our plan to be back in South America late October was relatively soon overruled due to Björn’s health examination. They discovered a very early cancer tumour, and the operation was planned in second week of November. The operation was successful and Björn was up and running after 10 days again – running was maybe not the right word... Final visit to the hospital was the 4 of January and we could leave 16 of January with full clearance from the cancer. (Of course there have to be some checkups in the future, but so far...)
Our schedule was as we wrote above completely full for the first three month, but the funny thing happened, in spite all meetings in these three months, the extra months soon filled up and we where as busy as the first period. So considering the relatively dramatic reason for our longer stay in Sweden, a lot of extra fun and pleasant meetings took place in these extra months.
We also "unplanned" spend the Christmas with Björn’s mother, which of course she loved, even if she didn't like the reason for the delay.

January-February
Finally the day came for leaving Sweden. But even that was a little bit of a problem. We thought our problem was our overweight, but it turned out to be our one way ticket to Santiago. For the excuse that Chile eventually would not let us in without a return ticket the air company wouldn't let us fly without buying a return ticket. We argued that we are not flying out, on the contrary we are flying back and have our "house"/boat in Chile and that's a proof as good as anything of our founds for taking care of our selves.
The boss who could read Spanish was called and when she had read our paper from the Aduana (Custom in Chile) allowing us to have our boat in Chile without paying tax, they no longer argued that Chile eventually should stop us at the border and we got our boarding cards for the whole trip.
It was a little bit funny that our worst formal problem so far since we left Sweden three years ago appeared here in the airport of Stockholm. We, who always complain about the bureaucracy in South America!
Finally we took of with our heavy luggage tagged all the way to Santiago. In Madrid we boarded a jumbo jet after a few hours of scheduled waiting. But at the gate we where asked to step aside. Not speaking Spanish it's always a little scary when something out of routine happens. It turned out that we had only been given new seat numbers and after that we where allowed to board the plan. Of some reason we where upgraded to Businesses Plus Class! We had meals and drinks as if we where Kings and we slept like babies almost all of the 12 hours night flight.
Now we only had to pass the customs in Santiago with all our boat gears. We planned to show them our Aduana paper if we got caught (which was the purpose for bringing that paper which come to use in Stockholm instead) Nothing happened, we think they didn't even look at the X-ray monitor when our luggage was scanned!
No flight was available to Puerto Montt, being high season and relatively late in the morning, so a taxi to the bus terminal was the best option. 7 hours of waiting for the night bus to Puerto Montt and another 14 hours later we where at Lindisfarne in PM, 45 hours after leaving Stockholm. Luckily Lindisfarne was in a shape as if we had left here there for only a week or so. The long trip made us take a time out for the next 24 hours.
Recovered from the trip we started to plan all we had to with the boat before leaving for Pacific. The list became impressing long and we found that our earlier estimated departure in the end of February wasn't overestimated!
We will not bore you with all details, but here are some cornerstones.
First we dried out on the wall, using the spring tide, fixing the loose propeller (after more than 3000 hours). We had in Sweden prepared three 0,5 mm thicker shafts for the foldable blades, and the new holes fore these where now reamed with reamer, also brought from Sweden. The propeller is (after 10 hours of motoring) now silent and without vibrations. Hopefully the temporary repair will last all the way to New Zealand where we will have a more permanent solution. (Probably a new propeller)
An internal-external galvanic protection system was installed on the propeller shaft together with the rudder shaft and the surrounding through hull fittings.
From Sweden we even brought an AIS transponder B, witch took some time to install. The AIS had separate VHF and GPS antenna not to mention all its cabling .
A new main fuse system, which is quite time consuming, working with heavy cabling and large terminal to be pressed.
New house bank batteries was bought and installed (the old one only two years old!).
All equipments that were dismantled in July had to be put on place again.
The rigging retuned because it had been slacked before we left in July.
A saltwater tap with it's pump was installed in the galley.
A leaking part of the water heating in the bathroom had to be bypassed and removed. We have to install a new one before the next coldwater passage. One more item for New Zealand.
A lot of checking, greasing and other maintenance items where taken care of.
Upon all these examples we bought and transported a lot of food to the boat for the Pacific passage, all which of course filled up a lot of space, not to mention that we had to live in the boat during this time. Sometimes it looked impossible only minutes before dinner!
During this time Annika spent a lot of time in other boats, helping the crew with their computer related problems. It's time consuming, but it pays back. Wine, car hire and best of all; Scott in the motorboat Egret "paid back" buffering the hole superstructure and upper part of the hull. Lindisfarne is really sticking out among other fibre glass sailing boats after that treatment. The only downside is that we have to try to keep her that way.
Finally we where ready to go to sea. We started the last day of February with a Zarpe (the allowance from the Armada to navigate in Chilean waters) for the waters east of Chiloé and the Pacific to Juan Fernandez where we intended to check out from Chile.

Mars
We got two very nice days sailing down to Marina Quinched, just south of Castro, where we spent a week meeting friends and doing the last preparations before Pacific. On the 5 of March we left for Pacific. One anchorage and we where on Gulfo de Ancud ready to pass through Canal Chacao to the Pacific.
But now our new SLR camera decided to give up. Suddenly it just went dead and all our efforts to get it working again were in vain. Sailing out in Pacific without our best camera was not an option. The only possible solution was to continue north, back to Puerto Montt and make contact through the Internet with the camera supplier.
This is actually the process going on right now. The camera has to be shipped to Sweden for repair and can earliest be sent back in five weeks. Knowing about the delays and costs trying to get goods through customs we don't even think of having the camera send back to us in Chile. It has to stay in Sweden until we have friends coming sailing with us in Tonga. So much for warranty.
It all ends up buying a new camera, which of course is easier said than done in southern Chile not to mention the price. Luckily we have an option to by it in US and have it transported to Puerto Montt with part of the crew from another boat. We hope all these matters are solved by the mid of March and that we shortly after that, when the weather conditions are ok, can continue our trip.
Never the less, we are still not in a hurry. The cyclone season ends in April/May in Polynesia and we have not more than five to six weeks of sailing to get there.
           
9 Mars 2008
Annika & Björn
S/Y Lindisfarne

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