Windhorse Sailing

The Mission Statement on the home page of this website uses the phrase “circumnavigate South America.” When I wrote that I envisioned visiting great cities such as Buenos Aires and Rio De Janiero to name a few. I envisioned side trips to The Galopagos and Machu Pichu. However, all the focus and preparations indeed even the choice of Shangri-La as our vessel, have centered on the rounding of Cape Horn.

In sailing the phrase “weather allowing” shapes most decisions. In addition to teamwork, energy and determination we have enlisted research of local knowledge and technology to help us decipher what weather will allow. Recently, I sent the following email to my fellow crew members.

May 24 2005

Francis and Gavin,

The thinking right now is that postponing until October may be a good idea. There are many interests we each could pursue in the meantime.
It would not be time wasted. However before making the decision I think it is worth making a case for a try now. In reading three sources at hand now, namely:
South Atlantic Circuit (SAC)- Tom Morgan 2002
Chile, Arica Desert to Tierra Del Fuego (CH)- Andrew Ogrady 2004
SAC and CH are ROYAL Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation
Patagonia and Tierra Del Fuego Nautical Guide (PAT)- Rolfo y Ardrizzi 2004

These books have plenty of information and agree that winter is not popular, but does not present unnecessary dangers for the well prepared.

PAT covers the southern route from Mar del Plata and says “in our opinion, the route from the Caribbean to Europe, followed by hundreds of yachts every year, can be more difficult and dangerous.” With regard to seasons Pat says ” in winter, the two high pressure centers retreat leaving a wider passage to the depressions. Isobars are well spaced, winds lighter and days colder. Furthermore, Tierra del Fuego creates a small High pressure (cold and dry) barrier that apparently shields it from depressions, which tend to slide either N or S. Winds often come from N/NE and days are clear and very cold…” PAT goes on to suggest that this is increasingly the norm for the area.

With regard to dangers, there are three worries.
1. Sudestadas- SE blow that is rare,7 or so a year, 2 or 3 that are strong. It usually blows between March and October. However, sudestadas are found above 45 degrees south up to Brazil. With Mar del Plata at 38S we are quickly out of harms way.
2. Cold fronts - Usually last 2-3 days and are less pronounced in winter because of the high-pressure centers described above. PAT suggests be prepared to hove to for these. PAT seems to suggest that the cold will be the danger with these.
3. The 188 mile stretch SE from Estrecho de Magallenos to Estrecho De La Maire - Although following winds can be expected for this leg there are no protected anchorages. However there is a safe anchorage just before the Estrecho de la Maire called Bahia Thetis. “It is conveniently located for crews in need of rest after a south bound passage and to wait for the favorable tide the Estrecho de la Maire.” Estrecho de la Maire is then a 14 mile slog against the westerlies.

As far as course, South PAT recommends “the longer, but calmer and safer inshore course.,” as close to shore as possible “avoiding big seas raised by the fetch further out.” West winds predominate and fronts turn wind from NW to SW so you are consistently blown offshore. By the pilot charts it seems we can set waypoints down the coast and preprogram sheltered anchorage waypoints off those as contingencies. ” S-bound sailors should be ready to deal with at least a couple of cold fronts, with many hours spent hove-to.” (less in winter.)

Once in the Beagle Channel our concerns are different and are addressed by CH. Concerning winter, CH agrees with PAT saying, “In the winter a high often establishes itself over southern Argentina, pushing the lows either far S or far N, providing very cold, but calm, or easterly, weather with cloudless skies in the canales.” Moreover, “Those who have experienced these (winter) conditions, in yachts with good heating and winter clothes, highly recommends winter cruising in this area.”

This leg also has three main dangers:
1. Williwaws anytime of year - Locals call them Rachas they are violent squalls resulting from eddies set up in high level winds by the mountains. “These squalls can come from any direction and are known to exceed 100 knots on occasion.” Ground tackle is paramount in this area.
2. Ice - Extremely cold water allows the more sheltered anchorages can freeze over. CH suggests that the ice can be broken by the bow. Certainly Shangri-La’s 17 millimeter thick bow can take it. Ice will likely only present a problem at “shallower inlets well inland” which we can easily avoid.
3. The cold - With prudence, good gear, the heater, oven, and an excess of fuel we should manage well. I have dreamt of Patagonia all my life and never in my dreams was it warm.

With regard to course, we make our way through the main “canales” north as much as the short days will allow. Most of the year winds are down if not nonexistent at night and “making it easier to go west at night or in the early morning."-CH. As we get north toward Puerto Montt the Northerlies predominate in winter. All these things point to slow going through the canales, but I feel the risks are manageable and comparable to other seasons.

I make my case for the cape in July, because I want to go. I ask you both to do your own research as I will do more, and come to your own conclusion. We can only succeed if we all believe in goal.

A couple other notes. We will have the boat in Yacht club Argentino at MAR DEL PLATA. SAC “the staff are very helpful and are a mine of information.” It is 270 miles from Buenos Aires by river (PAT). There are many machine shops and a north sails, fuel, provisioning. Overall a recommended staging point.

I think launch in late June is realistic and 2-3 months duration is fair. I have extended emails to Skip Novak and L&L Pardy asking for thoughts, ideas and resources. No reply yet. Any feedback would be great. Live the dream. LUKE

For all those wondering, no, I haven’t been lazy, quite the contrary. I have been busy with a number of trips and preparations and as a result, writing has been on the back burner. Now that I have found some free time, I am ready to fill my readers in on a couple of things. First and foremost, I would like to let you know who will be a part of the next portion of the journey and where we are now.

As you may know from previous logs, Steve is no longer with us. This fact has never seemed like a bad thing to me and indeed it has turned out to be good thing. As for Francis, he has remained silent on the subject. Our crossing from South Africa took far longer than any of us anticipated, and as it dragged on certain conflicts began to develop. Francis is always more comfortable at sea as seen in the many smiling pictures of him. I myself enjoyed the journey, but at sea like on land, I am as comfortable as those around me. I think because of this trait I was acutely aware of Steve’s growing reservations. He never buckled and indeed made things pleasant for all with some great cooking. Steve made it look especially easy with the great array of provisions he expertly put together at the outset, provisions that never ran out. But I think he started to think about the seasonal job he usually applies for at this time of year and felt that his future might be better served if he returned to the states sooner rather than later. I sensed that to be his wish and could never fault anyone for that.

If you sense that things did not end well between Steve and me, I will say that you are wrong and I will define “end well.” We were out at sea for 57 days and we had expected 45 days at the most. The three of us made our home on a 10-meter sailboat. We all brought with us what we needed to make ourselves individually comfortable, but we couldn’t bring more space. When an architect designs a prison he allows for a minimum of space per inmate at capacity. Unfortunately a boat designer has to make compromises between shape, weight and stability. Long on stability, Shangri-La might be short on space as a result. Regardless the assumption is that we were all there voluntarily… until day 45. After such time one begins to question the commitment and the meaning of the quest - for Francis and me it is Cape Horn. For Steve, Cape Horn just didn’t hold enough meaning, thus his change of plans and because of our confines and our immediate task still at hand, true discussion would have to wait for land.

Understandably, the pink elephant in the room created tensions. Differences in ideologies, political or philosophical became kryptonite because we no longer believed in a common goal. We reached land and Steve left. I wanted him to leave. Beyond that, he has wished Francis and me a safe journey and I have wished him well in all his future pursuits. We probably won’t include each other in the long list of people who love us, but I think Steve is a good guy and I will remember our crossing together as great adventure.

Joining us soon is Gavin McClurg of OffshoreOdysseys.com. Francis and I sailed with Gavin in the South Pacific last year where Gavin runs a sailing charter. We both consider Gavin a great friend and great sailor, who we have learned a great deal from over the past year.
I called Gavin in Australia to find out what he was doing. As an American he was unable to attain a work visa in Australia. He worried he would have to wait out cyclone season aimlessly sitting about. I asked Gavin what he thought about joining us around the Horn, he responded, “I have always wanted to round Cape Horn. I can’t think of anyone else I would rather do it with than you and Francis.” Welcome to Shangri-La, Gavin McClurg.

We are in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We have been here for four weeks now. In that time Francis and I flew down to the city of Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel near Cape Horn. We took advantage of cheap Argentine flights to inspect the local conditions in the Austral winter. We talked to charter operators and local sailors who all encouraged our endeavor.

Yacht Club Argentino, where we pulled in as we first arrived.

Later Francis made a week-long trip to Brazil and I traveled home to New York to see my family and girlfriend whom I have missed tremendously.

Although a bit homesick, I am now back in Buenos Aires ready to write and work. Expecting Gavin’s arrival in a few days, we are preparing the boat for the next leg – sanding, priming, and painting rust spots; inspecting sails and rigging and provisioning. We will also conduct engine maintenance and install our navigation software. Our hope is to have everything ready for final inspection when Gavin arrives. Then we begin our journey south 1,600 miles to the Beagle Channel and Cape Horn.

Puerto Madero, where we are as we wait for Gavin to arrive.

With Steve gone, Francis and I carried on. After dropping Steve at the dock we picked up Luis Salinas, the mechanic. We loaded his tools in the dingy and set out to fix Shangri-La’s transmission. Luis had spent the last three years in Stamford, Connecticut working for a marine diesel outfit. It made him the perfect guy for us. He knew what he was doing and for my sake spoke enough English well enough that I could follow along. Included in all his tools that we brought out to the boat were six wood blocks. Punta Del Este had all the trapping of a modern city, but these looked primitive with regard to my transmission. Luis soon proved with these blocks that we could not have fixed this problem at sea. With our help, he disconnected the prop shaft on one side of the transmission and the engine block on the other. With a crowbar as a lever we raised the engine block enough to slide out the transmission and put the wood block underneath to hold the engine in place. Placing the engine in such an unstable position could not have been done at sea.

Now that we had the transmission out we could open it completely to get at the problem. Francis and I asked if he minded us watching him work, as we were keen to learn. Just as keen to teach, Luis invited us to his workshop where he had all the gear necessary for the job. His workshop turned out to be his home. A home for which his work in the U.S. made possible It had a large front lot full of neighbor’s vehicles he was in the process of fixing. In the corner of the lot was a stone and brick barbeque with a fire going on which a Flintstone rack of ribs was simmering. It looked to be a great set up and we didn’t realize it yet, but it was for us.

Mauro, Luis’s 15-year-old son came out to learn with us. Luis had been teaching him the trade since they arrived back in town from the U.S. four months earlier. He was more excited to speak English with us than to help decipher the problem with out transmission. Mauro made us each a gourd of Yurba Mate, the local tea. Everyone in Uruguay walks around with a shoulder bag holding yurba mate and a thermos. I had read about it, but until Mauro showed us, didn’t quite understand. He showed us the art of filling the gourd with the right mixture of hot water and Mate. How to pack the tea against one side of the round container and pour the water on the other side leaving the top of the pile of crushed tea leaves dry to absorb the moisture from below. Traditions aside, it was super caffeinated drink that left me “jacked” all day.

As I drank the mate (ma’ tay) we got to work on the trannie. Luis inserted a small magnet that picked up metal shavings, not a good sign. We removed 12 bolts to get in and found that the shavings came from a washer that had worn away. That tiny washer allowed enough excess room for the forward clutch to push away the gear rather than engage it. That washer left us at sea for what I would estimate was two extra weeks. The cause was apparently poor transmission fluid. It also hadn’t been changed in a while when I took over the maintenance. Having found our problem Francis and I sat down to a meal of beef ribs with Luis and his wife Marianna - overall, a very great day.

Luis and Marrianna told us about their time in the states and how much they loved it. It was good to be home, but they would never forget the kindness of the families they met in Connecticut. Francis and I became the beneficiaries of that genuine gratitude. They invited us to their daughter’s high school graduation party the following Saturday where the rest of the cow from which we had our lunch, would be served to classmates and friends. I accepted the kind invitation. I thought that since Francis is 20 years old, he would enjoy the crowd and I would be lying if I didn’t admit I almost burst out “I gotta see this.”

So far Punta Del Este had been a real homecoming. People loved our story and took us in as their own. The next day Luis returned to Shangri-La and we all reinstalled the transmission in less than an hour and dropped the mooring for a flawless test run around the bay. We said goodbye to our guide Mario and settled things with Luis. We would move Shangri-la up river to Montevideo and return to Luis’s town of Maldonado for the party on Saturday.

We took our time getting up after our late night arrival. The three of us got the dingy and its engine set up quickly and went ashore. In a way it was like we never left land and in another way it was like arriving on another planet. The first person to say anything to me spoke Spanish at an alarming rate. I fired back “Estoy aprendiendo Espanol…” as if that would slow him down. His name was Mario and he was the security guard at the port. He had a huge smile with a big gray tooth in the middle. He tried to speak English until Francis stepped in. Then the information flowed.

Before steering us to customs and immigration Mario gave us the rundown. Where everything was. He would later walk us to his favorite lunch spot. Whenever we went to or from the boat we were sure to see Mario. And to see him was to talk to him, even me with my pigeon Spanish.

There were several tall apartment buildings in sight. Indeed we had remarked on the way in that they were dark. Everybody must be asleep. It turns out they were empty. Punta Del Este is a summer vacation beach town for South America’s elite. Being the-off season now, things are really quiet. They crowd picks up on weekends, but nothing like the summer months that make this a place that gets talked about. It is like a cross between South beach and Vegas, except they go all year long.

Mario told us that that fireworks we heard coming in at 2am were at the local stadium for the mayoral elections in Maldonado, the provincial capital right up the road. There seemed to be several parties all with vocal supporters. The people here love their democracy and seem to accept matter of fact that it comes with a fair bit of corruption.

Once we got the formalities out of the way, Mario, customs and immigration, we could focus on searching out that which we were missing most. For me those things were beer, movies and a hot shower in any order. Stevo and I found the port facilities and each bought a 6 minute token thanks to Stevo’s Spanish and 2$ US. It had been cold and damp the last few days and a hot shower was a luxury even considering I had to use at least 2 minutes of my token waiting for the hot water to warm up. Then we all grabbed lunch at a seafood joint were I was able to order steak. It was the only place open. Anyway the local brew, Pilsen, went down like water. Having been at sea for 57 days, I only needed one, so I had two, which went perfectly with the steak, which was great. After dinner, it was off to the movies. I quickly realized that the theater is only open on weekends in the off-season so I settled for a New York Times and a Maxim Magazine. Real sailors on leave, eh?

Getting down to business, Francis Stayed talking to Mario while Stevo and I got showers and, surprise, Mario had a mechanic for us. After lunch and a short walk around we came back to the boat, to meet Mario and Luis Salinas who would fix our transmission. He took a look and agreed to come with the proper tools the next morning. With that we took a bus into nearby Maldonado and checked out emails for the first time in months and then settled down to a few beers and pizza.

And here comes the part where, in a way, it was like we never left land and in another way it was like arriving on another planet - it was decided over these beers and pizza that Stevo would leave us.

Suffice it to say that 57 days at sea can put a strain on even the best intentions. Stevo has gone home to the U.S. to pursue his regular seasonal employment. He will be missed and I wish him well.

Hello all - while I am in the midst of writing more updates, until they were posted, I thought I would share a few random pictures that were taken throughout our journey.

On the way from Luderitz to Buenos Aires, although as you know our first stop ended up being Punta del Este.

On the way to and arriving in Luderitz.