{"id":3397,"date":"2019-07-26T10:48:08","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T14:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=3397"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T23:08:58","slug":"alternator-realities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2019\/07\/26\/alternator-realities\/","title":{"rendered":"Alternator Realities"},"content":{"rendered":"
Position: 38\u00b039’32.5″N 27\u00b012’34.5″W\u00a0<\/a><\/h6>\n

\"Claudio<\/a>I called my buddy Mark in the United States from the Pirate\u2019s Pub in Angara, Terceira. I told him that I had just met a guy named Jos\u00e9 on a street corner and handed over my Balmar high output alternator. They cost around $1,000 new. Mark guffawed. Then he accused me of being an inveterate traveler. It was at that point I realized how our situation looked objectively.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d pulled out a critical piece of Aleta\u2019s technology, spoken with one of the managers at the marina, hopped on a bus to the next town and handed over said critical piece of technology to a complete stranger without so much as a second thought. Traveling really instills (or restores) your faith in humanity. Trust is so deeply ingrained in our consciousness that we panic only when it\u2019s called into question. The adventure, they say, begins when things go wrong. Almost any kind of adventure puts you in direct touch with your paleomammalian cortex.<\/p>\n

My alternator came back the next day. Jos\u00e9 said the alternator checked out perfectly and gave me a worn bearing that he\u2019d replaced as a keepsake. But, he said in broken English, there might be a problem with the voltage regulator. He gave me a promise that if it didn\u2019t work then tomorrow the \u2018electrician\u2019 would pay us a personal visit. I forked over the 90 euro ransom. A couple of hours later I had installed the alternator on Aleta. It didn\u2019t work. It was late. In the morning I texted Jos\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Numb<\/h6>\n

Then I called him. The electrician would come to Aleta in the afternoon and see if there was another, non-alternator, issue causing the problem. I was skeptical. Then I wondered, what the heck do I know? Well, I\u2019ve got 18 months of fault-finding experience, along with Nigel Calder\u2019s books under my belt, so I\u2019m not a complete numb nuts. Okay, I said. We waited. We ran errands. We had Marlon checked out by a veterinarian. We visited the Coast Guard\u2019s tall ship, The Eagle. Nothing. I texted Jos\u00e9 again. We returned the rental car and my phone rang. A guy named Claudio said he\u2019d be at the dock in 30 minutes. We had a beer while we waited, keeping our hopes in check.<\/p>\n

Then Claudio turned up!\u00a0 Woohoo! Happy day!! At first I thought he was a Russian gangster. He had all the hallmarks, a shaved head, cellphone in one hand, cigarette in the other and talking like a Russian (at times Azorean Portuguese can sound a lot like Russian to the untrained ear). With the help of Microsoft Translate we soon sorted everything out. We all piled into Nell, our dinghy, and puttered out to Aleta. There he traced the fault and tested for continuity by bridging a high amperage, deathly high, pair of contacts with a good fuse and his bare hands. Ah, the value of experience. With the fuse swapped everything lit up and we were back in the bar in under 20 minutes. My faith in humanity restored, we were also delighted to have met Claudio.<\/p>\n

Rube<\/h6>\n

Born and raised on Terceira, he\u2019s the best marine electrician on the island and probably all of the Azores. Over a brandy for him and another beer for us (beers in the Azores weigh in at a paltry 20cl) Claudio told us about his work. He\u2019s living his passion. As a kid he discovered an interest in electronics, studied it at school, and finally started his own business. The most fun he has is Rube Goldberg<\/a>-ing solutions for shipboard systems that no longer exist. Repairing ancient radios, or pump control systems, by designing and building replacements from scratch in his garage. A garage, by the way, that is a vast museum of defunct nautical electronic wizardry from the last century.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in the Azores with a boaty electrical issue, call Claudio. His buddy Jos\u00e9 Vieira at nauticazores@outlook.com<\/a> will put you in touch. And be sure and buy Claudio a brandy for me.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Position: 38\u00b039’32.5″N 27\u00b012’34.5″W\u00a0 I called my buddy Mark in the United States from the Pirate\u2019s Pub in Angara, Terceira. 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