Landfall In Valparaiso
Clark May 8th, 2007
That was about as smooth as a passage gets. It was as though Neptune pointed his trident at me and said, “Go north, Clark! I shall grant you fair wind and seas!”
It was dead flat calm leaving Valdivia, just long enough to run the engine a few hours to charge the batteries, then it went dead just my last hour before making landfall, again perfect timing to charge the batteries. For the three days in between there was a perfect south wind that even shifted ever so slightly at times so I didn’t have to jibe at various turns in the coastline. Still, the sleeping at ten minute intervals leaves me feeling a little wonky.
I anchored last night in a bay just south of Valparaiso, figuring I didn’t want to enter the biggest port in Chile in the dark. I woke up this morning to see palm trees and cactus. It looked just like California. By the time I got to the yacht club it was downright hot, shorts weather. When I left Valdivia it was still definitely the frozen South, and now I’m putting on sunscreen. I guess it would be the same as leaving Crescent City on a rainy October day and sailing to San Diego to find the Indian summer in full swing. Anyway, I’m shocked and amazed.
The yacht club is plush…and free for seven days. They actually dropped guys in navy whites onboard Condesa at the entrance to help me put out fenders and dock. Don’t get that kind of service in California.
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