Clark April 14th, 2007
April 14, 2007
48º54′ South, 74º21′ West
Caleta Sabauda
I set sail from Puerto Eden today. Alejandro and Susana were looking relieved now that their charter guests had gone. We poured over some charts this morning and planned to meet up in a day or two. They aren’t in any hurry, but when they do decide to go they’ll move much faster than me, since Mago del Sur is 60 feet.
Puerto Eden was a regrouping point for all the yachts in the region. Now there are five of us within fifty miles of each other: The German; the Belgians; Alejando and Susana; some Swedes who I’d never met before; and the Gringo.
Continue Reading »
Clark April 13th, 2007
Puerto Eden
49º07′ South, 74º25′ West
Arrived in Puerto Eden (population 350) yesterday.
If you’ve seen the movie The Piano or McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Puerto Eden is like that: a sodden frontier town. You walk everywhere on boardwalks above the mire, and everyone wears knee-high rubber boots. The main occupation is fishing for centolla, the southern cousin of the king crab. They use mussels to bait the traps, so they have giant piles of mussel shells next to their houses. They use wood fires for heating, so on the other side of the house is a giant pile of sawdust, wood chips, and wet logs.
Continue Reading »
Clark April 12th, 2007
49º07′ South, 74º25′ West
Puerto Eden
Human beings, for the first time in three weeks.
I was really starting to lose it there, and then El Mono came out of nowhere. Alejandro, AKA El Mono, is my favorite of the Old Guard in Ushuaia, a true old salt. To describe him physically is easy: Santa Claus without the red suit. Wait, I take that back. I just looked outside and he’s at the helm, motoring alongside me about fifty yards away, and now wearing red foul weather gear. The image is complete.
He is originally from Buenos Aires, but has been doing charters out of Ushuaia for quite a few years now and has more trips to Antarctica and around the Horn than we can count. He was very inspirational and influential in some of my plans earlier in the year.
Continue Reading »
Clark April 10th, 2007
April 9, 2007
Posición 50º11′ Sur, 74º49′ Oeste
Isla Topar
Ridiculous Moments in Sailing, Part 1:
Today I thought I’d be real tricky and get a line around a tree without even using the dinghy. There was deep water right up to the wall, with a few promising trees sticking out. I nosed Condesa in, ran up to the bow, checked it all out, and it seemed do-able.
I got my longest shoreline ready to go with a loop tied in the end, and nosed Condesa in again. There was a merciful pause in the williwaws. I poked the line around the tree with the boat hook, hooked the loop and pulled it back. Ha, I’d done it. I just had to pull the looped end back and run it out so that both ends terminated on Condesa, then I could just slip one end when it was time to go.
Continue Reading »
Clark April 8th, 2007
April 8, 2007
Puerto Mayne
51º18′ South, 74º04′ West
I’ve been having a terrible time keeping up with my position reports with the Armada.
I’m really in No Man’s Land now, so VHF is useless and the only hope is the HF radio. At 8AM and 8PM, the designated check in times, Puerto Montt Radio comes on the air and about fifty fishing boats give their positions in a fast, intimidating, truncated, vernacular Spanish, and I consider myself a fluent Spanish speaker. The only reasonable thing to do is to let them all finish, then those of us with training wheels can give it a shot. The propagation is horrible too, so my data ends up being relayed by some fishing boat. Whether the correct data ever arrives, I cannot say.
Continue Reading »
Clark April 7th, 2007
April 7 2007
51º36′ South, 73º56′ West
Caleta CONDESA
I discovered my own caleta.
I’m not sure about the one a week or so ago, but this one is mine, all mine. It’s a good one too, a circular basin with a narrow entrance, mud bottom, good depth, surrounded by tall trees, and protected from all winds except due south. It’s on par or better than many of the ones in the book.
All I have to do is pass on the data to Giorgio and Mariolina, wait another six years for the third edition of their book to come out, and there on page 533 will be Caleta Condesa for all to see, and I will be famous. Until then I’ll just have to self-promote, talk it up among the yachties: “Say, on your way down, did you happen to stop at CALETA CONDESA?”
Continue Reading »
Clark April 7th, 2007
April 6, 2007
52º53′ South, 73º42′ West
Caleta Columbine
I thought the water tanks might be running a little low by now, so I connected the hose between the awning and the fill pipe to collect (the ever-flowing) rainwater. Many gallons of pure Patagonian rain would be filling my tanks. In the morning I saw that about five thousand Patagonian sand flies had ended their lives on the awning during the night. Why? I thought, be a man, there can’t be that many flies that actually went down the hose into the tank. The very first glass of water I got from the faucet had a dead fly in it.
Spent twelve hours at the helm today, and logged over 50 miles. I ended the day with mild hypothermia, my hands frozen to the wheel. I just penned an article about high latitude preparation, in which I discussed proper clothing in detail, and there I was wearing a damp cotton t-shirt as my first layer. And I got my gloves wet.
Continue Reading »
Clark April 5th, 2007
April 5, 2007
52º40′ South, 73º46′ West
Puerto Profundo
The kink worked and I finally got out of purgatory.
I had anchors up and got under way at the very first light, and it was a good thing because I just made my nineteen miles when I got shut down by thirty knot headwinds. At the same time the Armada announced that in the Boca Occidental it was back up to fifty, gusting to eighty.
What a horrible place for weather. There is an Armada station on one of the Islas Evangelistas, in the Boca Occidental, and apparently the weather is so consistently nasty that they have real problems supplying the post and exchanging personnel. They just can’t get boats out there. I’d rather round the Horn a dozen times than sail in this mess. At least at the Horn you’ve got some sea room; in the Boca Occidental there are boneyards at every turn.
Continue Reading »
Clark April 4th, 2007
April 4, 2007
52?55′ South, 73?46′ West (STILL stuck in the same place)
Number one reason for being stranded by myself on a boat in one of the most remote places in the world (I’ll skip 10 through 2 because they all have to do with bodily functions):
#1: Full volume, a cappella solos of show tunes, any time, anywhere, day or night, and I don’t even know the words.
It’s getting pretty nutty out here. Cabin fever, I tell you. Sometimes I step into the cockpit and scream at the top of my lungs. There’s no one to hear me and my scream is just carried away by the howling wind. Ranting about Chilean politics, it’s like my boat is my own ‘compound,’ and to defend it I must start my own ‘militia.’
Continue Reading »
Clark April 3rd, 2007
April 3, 2007
52?55′ South, 73?46′ West (still the same place)
I think this is about the worst storm I’ve ever been in. It hasn’t blown less than 50 knots in over 48 hours, and a lot of that time it’s blowing 70-ish. I can’t tell the difference between rain and spray anymore, but some kind of water, fresh or salt, is always being blown in great sheets over my boat. The Boca Occidental of the Straits of Magellan is open to the full force of the Southern Ocean and the seas are getting unbelievable. Thank God I’ve got my little peninsula to protect me from the seas, but not the wind. No end in sight. I go crazy.
Continue Reading »
