Windhorse Sailing

Day: 2
Position: 39 south, 59 west
Air temp: 50 degrees F
Daylight hours: 9
Heading: due south
Weather: Rain
Seas: Relatively calm

Things are moving pretty quickly. Gavin McClurg arrived almost 3 weeks ago and jumped in like the pro that he is. Combined with his know-how and our collective elbow grease we’ve repaired the headsail, installed a new throttle linkage, serviced the engine, epoxied and varnished the tiller, built a new bracket for the alternator, and provisioned for the voyage to Cape Horn. Getting ready for any ocean passage is always an endless list of tasks. Given the extreme conditions we expect to face on this dead-of-winter passage those tasks take on magnified importance.

On July 4th Francis and I set sail down the Rio De La Plata from San Fernando to Mar Del Plata on the Atlantic coast. We logged 450 miles for the 300 mile journey in 5 days, weathering a gale from the south, which forced us to heave to for the night, one day of calm and a blustery northerly gale which blew us straight into Mar Del Plata, the ‘Silver Sea’. While we battled the elements Gavin took our computer and his Spanish skills to Buenos Aires to arrange repairs as it had crashed. We would later have to buy a new one, as our weather updates and email are reliant on a working laptop. Francis and I endured the cold and wet slog to Mar Del Plata as a shakedown trial for the elements of Tierra Del Fuego. After 6 months at sea together and some incredible miles Francis and I have decided to part ways, citing nothing other than the trials of living with one another on a small yacht. Our relationship has simply run its course. He plans to complete a diesel mechanics course in Orlando in the near future and will undoubtedly get back on the sea in short order. I wish him nothing but the best.

Undeterred Gavin and I have decided to take on the sail to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina. Our four days in Mar Del Plata convinced us that the two of us were more than prepared to handle the expedition. We found the staff at the Yacht Club Argentino to be a wealth of information, many of which had sailed our route before. The North Sails representative Paco, or the ‘duck’ made some repairs and reinforcements to our headsail overnight knowing what we would likely face on the trip south. Tito, the head mechanic who helped us with the alternator bracket took an interest in our trip and was keen to impart wisdom from his two trips to Cape Horn. All things considered Mar Del Plata was a great staging point both physically and mentally. While we will miss Francis, Gavin and I have the confidence and motivation to achieve our goal.

We left yesterday afternoon heading out of the port dead into a northerly gale. A sliver of headsail and full engine got us just past the breakwater where we could hoist the main and enjoy the following winds that for the last 24 hours have been sweeping us southwest at upwards of 7 knots under a deeply reefed main. With our first night under our belt and a favorable forecast our excitement has grown, tempered only by the lore of the weather that we will undoubtedly face as we travel further south.