Report On Our Travels Through The Chilean Channels
20 March 2008
Anchored Caleta Playa Parda, Estrecho de Magallanes
Today is day thirteen out of Puerto Williams - 7 days of travel, 3 days layover by choice, and 3 days forced layover. All in all, it has been a good trip with the weather a little bit of everything; sun, partly cloudy, wind and rain.
The Estrecho de Magallanes (Straits of Magellan) link the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in a V-shaped pattern, 310 miles long, separating Patagonia from Tierra del Fuego. The Eastern section runs from NE to SW and the Western section runs SE to NW. Weather in the Western section is dominated by N/NW frontal winds that average 25 - 30 knots. Coming off the Pacific, these fronts carry a great deal of moisture which is discharged in frequent rain squalls (called chubascos)as they approach the Andean mountains. The high mountains, with their steep valley walls, can funnel the winds down the valleys creating sudden violent katabatic winds (what we know as williwas, or in Spanish, rachas) well in excess of fifty knots. We have heard weather forecasts predicting rachas of one hundred knots! It is with good reason that the pilot books caution against getting caught with too much sail, and reports of boats loosing sails and even the rig are frequent each season.
The discovery in October 1520 by the Portugese Fernao de Magallanes, sailing for Spain, opened up a route from Europe through the Spanish controlled Western hemisphere to the Indies. One of his anchorages was the same one we were anchored two nights ago, Caleta Gallant. Joshua Slocum, in his engineless sloop "Spray", was to first to single-hand sail around the world. In 1896 it took him several months and many attempts to complete his passage through the Estrecho. His tales are well-known in the yachting world.
Two days later, 22 March 2008
We are tucked away in a small caleta on the south side of the Western end of the Estrecho waiting for weather to make the 20 miles crossing into Canal Smyth. It has taken us three days in the Magallanes to get here - two days of easterly winds on our stern and one day of bashing into strong NW winds. Today the winds are howling outside but we are secure with 4 lines run to trees ashore while a 1,000 foot waterfall, which has doubled in volume overnight due to the heavy rain, tumbles into our anchorage 200 yards from Tamara. If the weather forecast holds we leave the Estrecho de Magallanes tomorrow and continue on our way north.
Anchored Caleta Playa Parda, Estrecho de Magallanes
Today is day thirteen out of Puerto Williams - 7 days of travel, 3 days layover by choice, and 3 days forced layover. All in all, it has been a good trip with the weather a little bit of everything; sun, partly cloudy, wind and rain.
The Estrecho de Magallanes (Straits of Magellan) link the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in a V-shaped pattern, 310 miles long, separating Patagonia from Tierra del Fuego. The Eastern section runs from NE to SW and the Western section runs SE to NW. Weather in the Western section is dominated by N/NW frontal winds that average 25 - 30 knots. Coming off the Pacific, these fronts carry a great deal of moisture which is discharged in frequent rain squalls (called chubascos)as they approach the Andean mountains. The high mountains, with their steep valley walls, can funnel the winds down the valleys creating sudden violent katabatic winds (what we know as williwas, or in Spanish, rachas) well in excess of fifty knots. We have heard weather forecasts predicting rachas of one hundred knots! It is with good reason that the pilot books caution against getting caught with too much sail, and reports of boats loosing sails and even the rig are frequent each season.
The discovery in October 1520 by the Portugese Fernao de Magallanes, sailing for Spain, opened up a route from Europe through the Spanish controlled Western hemisphere to the Indies. One of his anchorages was the same one we were anchored two nights ago, Caleta Gallant. Joshua Slocum, in his engineless sloop "Spray", was to first to single-hand sail around the world. In 1896 it took him several months and many attempts to complete his passage through the Estrecho. His tales are well-known in the yachting world.
Two days later, 22 March 2008
We are tucked away in a small caleta on the south side of the Western end of the Estrecho waiting for weather to make the 20 miles crossing into Canal Smyth. It has taken us three days in the Magallanes to get here - two days of easterly winds on our stern and one day of bashing into strong NW winds. Today the winds are howling outside but we are secure with 4 lines run to trees ashore while a 1,000 foot waterfall, which has doubled in volume overnight due to the heavy rain, tumbles into our anchorage 200 yards from Tamara. If the weather forecast holds we leave the Estrecho de Magallanes tomorrow and continue on our way north.
Labels: Chilean Channels, Tamara
posted by Photoessayist at 12:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home