Windhorse Sailing

Day: 23
Position: 55.49 67.30, anchored 15 miles north of Cape Horn
Temperature: 30 F
Weather: Calm and clear

“The true voyage of discovery does not consist in looking for new lands, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust.

Last Friday we entered Ushuaia harbor. From the deck of Shangri-La, the city was an amazing sight. Under the gray sky the city’s lights reflected off the still water giving it the appearance of being larger than it is. Ushuaia is just large enough to have all the things you need and just small enough to welcome all visitors with its charm. I was excited to get on land and take care of all our repairs in a place that had decent facilities. I also looked forward to calling home, getting laundry done, and a hot shower. I was ready to take advantage of all Ushuaia has to offer. However, I wasn’t intoxicated by the city, rather I was intoxicated by how I had arrived there - under sail. There have been many times throughout this voyage from Cape Town, South Africa that I thought of quitting. There were times when I felt that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I felt that things had conspired against me and this simply wasn’t meant to be. Pulling in to Ushuaia was a definitive victory over all those doubts.

Arriving Ushuaia

I think of all it took to get here, the sacrifices, the stress, the logistics, the labor, the imagination, the courage, and the friends…oh, the friends. My family’s support never wavered, but it was my friends who helped me get to here. A positive word or a good idea, the offer of help with technical matters beyond my experience, and much more – throughout this, my friends were always with me.

One such friend is Gavin McClurg. Gavin is here now on Shangri-La. He has had opportunities before to round Cape Horn and for various reasons has never capitalized on one. He chose to join me. For that I am honored. I would never have thought he would have been able to, but it turned out the timing was perfect for him. And so I tell him here now how important he is to this voyage. With all his experience he walks me through the replacing of the alternator regulator and the diagnosis of the problem from the engine alternator, the field wire to the regulator. That is just one of many jobs. The ease with which he attacks the complex issues that a home at sea can present is enviable. I am encouraged by his strength of character and enlightened by his abilities.

Gavin at the helm on a nice day.

Another such friend is Miss Elvia Garcia. Supportive since the inception of this voyage, she has never been offshore, but she has been a most important crew member. Elvia has been a tireless source of information and help. I thank her for always being there as a guide and for her keen and positive insights the many times I was at an impasse. Were it not for her I could not have made it this far.

I thank Gavin and Elvia, my family and all my friends at home and along the way for Giving me the new eyes I sought.

We got all our work done in Ushuaia and picked up Shangri-La’s builder and former owner Dr. Dirk Kotze. With Dirk’s help the work was easy and made easier still by the amperage he added to our already charged excitement. Cape Horn is literally just around the corner.

Wednesday we checked out of Argentina and made our way 30 miles east on the Beagle Channel to Puerto Williams, Chile. Chile controls the archipelago south from here that includes the infamous Cabo De Horno. By mid evening we had safely docked and checked in. All that was left was to rest up before reporting to the office for a cruising permit and setting out towards cape horn. Dirk still jet lagged from the flight in from South Africa retired early and Gavin and I watched a movie before retiring ourselves. Personally I was too excited to think of sleeping, but at this point it is vital to be rested.

Thursday morning we got our Zarpe or permit and left the dock at 10am heading east and then south around isla Navarino to the southern most village in the world Puerto Toro. With favorable NW winds we made the 30-mile trip in 4 hours and were encouraged by the quickly changing weather report to pull in and raft up to a fishing vessel. For a bottle of wine we scored six walking, crawling Centolla. A Centolla is a giant crab, with six legs and two arms each they will feed us three mariners for three days.

Meanwhile the low swept thru and the fishing vessel we were rafted to decided to pull out at 1am. We had planned to leave at 3am, but after this rude awakening sleep would be hard to find again so we set sail as well. We had to navigate through the Gorree channel using GPS and radar being unable to see thru the sleet, snow and darkness. Light, though no sun, came at 8:30 and revealed magnificent snow capped mountains on the islands all around. As well, having left early we were able to sail due south to Paseo Bravo en route to an anchorage in the isla Wollaston group. There are two recommended anchorages. On the east side of the island group is Coletta Martial and on the west side is Isla Maxwell. As we made our way further south, about 60 miles the winds shifted to NW and allowed us to sail a bit more west and make our way into the western and spectacular anchorage of Isla Maxwell.

We are now nestled in for the night in ten meters of water and in the protective lee of the mountains that dominate this archipelago. We will rest some more for tomorrow’s short run around the southern most Isla of the archipelago, Cabo De Horno. The forecast is for 30-40 knot westerly winds and clear skies. The weather here can change as you report it so we will keep an eye on all our weather report sources and hope to make sense of them as we make our decision. Whatever tomorrow brings, I am glad to be with friends and confident in our equipment and abilities.