sWell sWell sWell.
Leaving the anchorage is sweet, running out into the chaos is not. Out the channel between the islands, incoming current, waves and wind. The trifecta of uncomfortable, almost turned back but finally broke past the chaotic pounding and got settled into a rhythmic pounding. Well past where we turned around. Still slow going but all is well. Foggy, and dodging 70 meter fishing boats in the dark with 34 knots of wind on the nose and when they do not respond on the radio makes for a long night. Started with 160 miles to go, have traveled 133 miles with still 60 miles to go, very efficient we are NOT when beating.
We found a little groove during the day, the winds came down a bit, and we could see the wave direction in the daylight and picked an angle to “skate” over the waves made for a much more comfortable daylight trip. We hugged the shoreline, trying to keep the main sail full, currents played havoc on our southbound progress. The fog did not lift till dinner time, just in time to see the Mocha island as we went by. There was a cruise ship on the other side of Mocha that was bound for Punta Arenas. One of the very southern most parts of Chile. We would need more clothes to go that far south.
New favorite meal, pulled pork over a baked sweet potato. Pressure cooker style of course.
One more night to go. We will arrive at the mouth of the river bright and early in the morning then its about 2 hours up the river to the “club de yates” where we will make home base for a bit and provision for the run west. And wash the salt spray off everything. And see what Valdivia is all about.
They say “head south till the butter melts then turn right”, we are heading south but we have New Zealand butter in a can, how can you tell when it melts?
They say “gentlemen don’t go to weather” Well this trip south has proved that I’m no gentlemen, and we are ready for some downwind sails. Or course knowing our history, somehow someway there will only be upwind sailing as we head west.
Onward through the fog, all good on board Cheers and Happy Friday.
At 3/1/2019 @ 1:25 AM UTC Our position: 38°54.02’S, 073°36.00’W Traveling 6.0 heading 170T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-38.90033,-73.60000

Just crossing the 35 degree south mark on the way to Valdivia. As we leaving Quintero there was enough wind to use the sails and it was a downwind sail along the coast heading south again. Was about to launch the spinnaker when an ominous clouds started to appear ahead of us, thus we stayed with working sails and as soon as we reached the clouds the wind dropped to 3 knots. Bummer, on comes an engine and we motor through the night replenishing the the water tanks with fresh water.
The night air was so thick we could barely see 1/2 a mile, radar more than once proved its worth. The big tankers were sounding their fog horns and of course reporting their positions on AIS so they were easy to spot. The fishing boats on the other hand were a hard to spot. With radar we simply set them as a “target” and keep anything suspect a safe distance of a mile or two away. The radar proximity alarm warned of all ‘suspect spots’ that got within 3 miles of us. A quiet night besides the fog horns, the swell also seemed calm.
Today was a very grey day, the drizzal continued and the sun only poked out for just long enough to dry off the nightly moisture. Then started to drizzal again. Still no wind, slow boating under one motor as we really don’t have a deadline to arrive. After 2 months in the northern desert of Chile this moisture from the sky is a strange phenomenon.
Made a pretty tasty pizza for dinner, also helped heat up the salon for a little while. It is ‘summer’ here until this coming Saturday. For us its down right cold, not cold enough to leave the beers outside to chill but after being used to shorts and t-shirts, temperatures in the mid 60F in the morning merit long sleeves and pants (or foul weather gear) 🙂 We have used the heaters to warm up the boat, but seems that 75F is too warm, we must be spoiled.
Thought about stopping for a quick swim as the water is glassy calm. Checking the water temperature, 17.3C (63F) degrees quickly removed that idea off list.
260 miles to go to mouth of the Valdivia river.
Happy Friday.
At 2/22/2019 @ 12:42 AM Our position: 35°37.35’S, 073°04.78’W Traveling 4.9 heading 205T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-35.62250,-73.07967