Back at the helm - sailing the Yaghan to Antarctica, Patagonia and the South Pacific

by Martensson, Helene

  We reached Bahia Anna Pink in the morning, which took us back among the islands. Bahia Anna Pink is named after one of Commander George Ansons’ ships that sailed here in the 18th century during a campaign against the Spaniards. She was a Pink class ship called Anna. She drifted towards land in a westerly storm, and everyone thought she would founder, but at the last minute they discovered an opening where they were able to find shelter. The whole area is now called Bahia Anna Pink.

  We were now motoring towards Caleta Jacqueline (45°44.0 S and 073°57.3 W). We had formally left Patagonia and could look forward to a warmer and better climate. The place names in Patagonia speak volumes about the way navigators of old felt about the place: the Bay of Pain, Port Famine, etc. For the first time in months we turned off our heaters during the day.

  We had planned to moor with ropes to shore at Caleta Jacqueline, but it did not look promising when we got there. There were few trees and bushes, so we opted for anchoring in the middle of the bay. The following day we went ashore in the dinghy and went for a walk. It was a wonderful morning, nice and quiet as usual and no other boats in sight.

  Warmer Weather and Built-up Areas

  After a quiet day at Caleta Jacqueline we set off towards Estero Attracadero (45°11.7 S and 073°42.0 W), which was situated only fifty nautical miles away. We slept late and then we weighed anchor. As usual, we breakfasted en route.

  We enjoyed the improvement in climate and less fierce winds. It felt as though we were getting closer to built up areas, but we had not seen any houses so far. Rolf and Deborah had told us that one person lived at Estero Attracadero. His name was Carlos Vidal, and he collected photos of sailing boats that came past.

  In the afternoon we entered a narrow inlet that was very beautiful. Across the strait were the snowy peaks of the Andes. The Andes is the longest mountain range on earth. It reaches along the entire South American continent from north to south. The view from our anchorage at Estero Attracadero was glorious.

  We had probably not been there for more than an hour when Carlos Vidal and his dog came out in his rowing boat. We communicated as well as we could, and he showed us pictures of other boats that had passed through. He wanted a nice picture of Yaghan too. The problem was that he wanted a paper copy. We had none since all our information is digital, so we had to print some for him. We also gave him a cutting from a magazine that had published an article about Yaghan. We enjoyed the lovely landscape in Estero Attracadero, but we never went ashore. There is often no better way of enjoying a beautiful bay than remaining on board.

  We continued along the canals east of the large island of Isla Magdalena. We wanted to get all the way up to Caleta Poza de Oro (44°08.8 S and 073°06.2 W), seventy miles further north, on the same day. Now we were beginning to see houses every now and then.

  When we arrived at Caleta Poza de Oro we noticed a house situated right at the entrance to the caleta. We almost did not want to moor there. We had spent so much time in lonely places that we did not want to be seen from a house, but we went in to have a look. The house turned out to be empty; it was probably somebody's holiday home. The bay was just as empty as all the others, despite the house. There was no doubt, however, that we were approaching civilization. We were only fifty nautical miles from Isla Chiloe, the second largest, most populated, island in the archipelago. Twenty-five thousand people live in the capital, Castro. Our final island stop – Puerto Montt with 125,000 inhabitants – was two hundred nautical miles away.

  Even though there was nothing special about Caleta Poza de Oro, we spent two days there waiting for a storm to pass.

  Isla Chiloe

  It was not without excitement that we weighed anchor on February 24 in order to travel the one hundred nautical miles to Estero Pailad (42°51.4 S and 073°36.0 W) on Isla Chiloe. I was almost a little anxious at the prospect of meeting people since I had hardly talked to anyone at all except Heléne for a whole month. After a few hours we entered the open waters of Golfo de Corvado. We could see small and large boats travelling back and forth in all directions. It almost felt as if civilization was closing in on us.

  Isla Chiloe is 190 kilometres long and 5 kilometres wide. It is the second largest island in Chile. It also has the largest population, with about 150,000 inhabitants. So it was a populated part of the coast. Isla Chiloe was the last Spanish bastion during decolonisation. This is where the loyal Spanish governors fled to, desperately urging the island to be placed under British rule, which the British refused. The island has been sacked, burned and destroyed by earthquakes many times over in the past, but surprisingly there are churches everywhere.

  Estero Pailad is a fjord that cuts into the landmass. We chose to visit it since we had been told it was beautiful. There were no towns, only farmland. The landscape reminded us of Tuscany, in sharp contrast to everything we had seen before. We travelled as far up the fjord as we could and anchored in the middle. We saw a Catholic church on the shore. Horses and cows were grazing, and soon we also spotted the famous black-necked swans that are common here. After a while an old man came rowing out to us. He wanted to invite us home so he could show us an old, disused mill. He had been doing these “guided tours” for a long time. Both he and his mill were mentioned in our cruising guide!

  On February 27 we continued to Castro (42°28.7 S and 073°45.3 W). It was only forty-five nautical miles there, so we did not have to spend many hours at sea that day. On the way we passed several salmon farms. The salmon industry in Chile has grown faster than anywhere else in the world in the past few years. Norway and Chile have now cornered a third each of the world market. This is very obvious around Isla Chiloe. There seems to be a salmon farm in almost every bay.

  We anchored in central town. This is a strong tidal zone, so you cannot moor unless there is a pontoon jetty. Anchoring is the better option. We went to town in the dinghy and booked a table at a restaurant. We had not eaten in a restaurant in two months.

  One advantage with sailing around the way we do is that we do not have to stay in places we do not like, so in the evening we decided to set off for Puerto Montt early the following morning.

  Chile – a Light on a Dark Continent

  It was rather a long haul, 109 nautical miles, to Puerto Montt (41°29.4 S and 072°59.0 W), but we left at dawn. It is sometimes eerie how Heléne and I experience things in the same way. We both know immediately – often simultaneously – that we do not like a place. Never has one of us wanted to stay when the other one has wanted to leave. It is nice that we think alike, it makes things easier. We set off full speed ahead to Puerto Montt – a large town with a population of 125,000. It was the biggest town on our route since Mar del Plata in Argentina.

  We arrived at Marina del Sur in the evening. We were really looking forward to staying in a nice marina and spending a few weeks in a big town with good shopping and restaurants. We also needed to repair a few things. We had three weeks in which we had to get a lot done before setting off on our longest leg ever: 5,000 nautical miles across the Pacific. It was fortunate that we had saved time while we were travelling on the channels. It left us more time for repairs and provisioning. According to our original plan we would only have spent just over a week at Puerto Montt, which would have been too short.

  We found a very nice mooring at the Marina del Sur and rented a car the same day since Marina del Sur is situated a few kilometres outside Puerto Montt. The town was founded by a famous Chilean family, the Edwards. Their Swan 82 Gloriana was moored in the harbour. The family, who has made a fortune in banking, is one of the wealthiest in Chile. They own several other boats in the same class around the world.

  We quickly established an infrastructure at Puerto Montt. We soon found a few decent restaurants, a couple of cash points and one of the finest supermarkets we have ever seen anywhere in the world, Sweden included. It is good to find an excellent food store when you need to buy provisions for two months, like we needed to do now. During our circumnavigation it had oft
en struck us that you can find good food shops in almost every country in the world that surpass the standard of Swedish shops. When Swedish retailers began to put price before quality a few years ago it was all about low prices and their own brands of unspecified quality. Those of us who want quality brands have suffered ever since.

  We also got to know a Finnish man, Mani. He had sailed to Chile many years ago and had settled at Puerto Montt. Before setting off he had worked as an electrician in Finland for thirty years. He was wonderfully competent and reliable. He installed all the spare parts that we had not dared to install in Argentina. For the first time in months the generator on the Volvo worked.

  We enjoyed our three weeks ashore. We hired a few men at the marina to polish the hull. The rest we took care of ourselves. As usual, we wanted to cross the Pacific in a nice, clean boat. I changed the oil in the motors.

  After one and a half weeks the Empire turned up. It was a fond reunion. We went out to dinner with Heidi and Eivind.

  Puerto Montt was significantly better than any other place we had stayed in, in South America. Even spare parts we had sent for by courier arrived, a clear improvement from Argentina even if it took a week.

  Among all these positive things there were still some South American “tarnishes”, to be truthful. One day I went to buy some motor oil from the local Volvo dealer. I took the car to their premises, a few kilometres outside town. We soon established that they stocked what I wanted. I needed one hundred litres, so that there would be enough in case I needed to change the oil during our South Pacific crossing. When it was time to pay, the staff started to ask all kinds of questions about my home address and telephone number. I answered them patiently to start with. Others had to overtake me in the queue because of all the paperwork I had to fill in. After a while I found out that I was not allowed to pay by credit card. Fortunately, I carried enough cash in my wallet, so there was no problem. Since I was paying cash for a hundred litres of oil, I thought that the whole thing would speed up. It did not. After half an hour another customer, who spoke English, came up to me. I asked what it was all about. He explained that they were not used to dealing with foreigners and that the authorities require a lot of paperwork when they sell goods to foreigners. I decided to leave, and went back to the marina. I asked them to go and buy me one hundred litres of oil. Chile is not immune to the South American disease, which can be clearly proved by the oil buying incident and the reporting system in the archipelago. Nonetheless, it was a relief to be there. They have got a lot further than any other country in this godforsaken continent.

  ≈

  The Pacific

  (Heléne)

  To Polynesia via Robinson Crusoe Island

  I had been looking forward to Puerto Montt for a long time. Spending more than five weeks on the deserted channels was a little too much, and I was pretty sure that it was something that I would not like to do again. Arne was more positive. He considered it a unique experience that we would later come to think of as one of the most wonderful things we had ever done. I found it unique too; uniquely deserted and often very sinister.

  But it had been a very powerful experience too, in many ways. The desolation, the sometimes incredibly beautiful and barren landscape, dramatic weather changes, strong, harsh winds – wind speeds we had never experienced before – rain like nowhere else, and yet, at times, a calm, peaceful sense of happiness. Conflicting feelings, but that is how we experienced our weeks spent on the Chilean channels. It often felt as if we were the only two people in Patagonia. And for weeks on end this was true. We were alone. There was not a human being in sight, no houses, nothing, only the two of us and our boat.

  Late in the afternoon on Wednesday February 28, thirty-eight days after we had left Puerto Williams, we saw signs of civilization again as we slowly entered the Marina del Sur in Puerto Montt. It was completely wonderful.

  The first thing we did was to rent a small car. While we were there we would stock up on provisions for the long Pacific crossing. We had to do some repairs and we had to pick up some parcels from customs. A car was practical. The first evening we motored down to a village called Angelmo outside town for dinner. It was wonderful not to have to cook for the first time in five weeks, and we ran out of vegetables several days ago. We had an immense plate of salad each, full of tomatoes, cucumber and golden, ripe avocados, grilled meat and Chilean red wine. We finished off with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. We loved it! Civilisation in the form of restaurants serving good food is not to be sniffed at.

  We spent the first few days looking around town. There were many things that needed to be done before we could set off across the Pacific Ocean: repairs, maintenance and some serious provisioning. We were not sure about where to start, so we put on our jogging shoes and ran all the way round the bay. Starting off by going jogging is always a good thing to do when you arrive in a new place; it allows you to quickly get your bearings. We needed to get fit again after leaving Sweden. Our legs felt weak, as if our muscles were all atrophied.

  We visited customs to find out whether our parcel with spare parts had arrived. Not on the first or second day, but on the third day we were able to open our parcels like little children at Christmas. I would never have believed that I could get so excited over a little 12 volt alternator or a new gauge for the watermaker!

  We were lucky in Puerto Montt. We found Mani, who had sailed here in 1991. He and his wife were living on their boat in the neighbouring marina. Mani was competent, he had over thirty years’ experience and he was nice and reliable. Mani managed to carry out all the repairs that we needed to do in the first week; and he really had to work hard. He changed the 24 volt alternator, installed a new external regulator and replaced the 12 volt alternator on the main engine. You could easily say, without exaggerating, that the quality of Volvo's alternators is not up to scratch if they break down after less than a year. He had to change the pump for the air conditioning that had been mended in Salvador de Bahia too. It had not worked for many hours after the “repair job”. He also changed the broken gauge for the watermaker for the one that had just arrived, but it had served us well.

  We established that all the repairs that were carried out in South America had to be fixed by Mani. The rewinding of the 24 volt alternator that was carried out in Mar del Plata, and that would render it “as good as new” had not lasted. But it held up while we were sailing around Antarctica; we were happy about that. We trusted Mani down in the engine room. We had not met a better repair man during our entire voyage. I made him coffee and fresh buns every day. We enjoyed our week together, getting the work done.

  After Mani had finished, Arne started servicing both engines: the Volvo, which is our main engine, and the Westerbeke, which is our faithful electricity generator. Even though the engine room in the Yaghan is large, we had filled it with so much equipment that it is rather cramped. Arne is 1.95 metres tall, and it is hot down there too. Servicing the engines is always a stressful job, both for Arne and his little assistant, Heléne. The bowels of the boat are spread out throughout the saloon and galley. Our boat is well organized, but everything is not easily accessible. Practically every single thing has to be shifted to get to the motor filters, oil and other items that need to be removed. Not to mention all the tools that need to be retrieved. Especially the ones in the box marked “tools that are seldom used”, which is stored underneath four other blue boxes in the space “underneath the settee in the stern”, according to our inventory. The day ended with a well-earned visit to our favourite restaurant at Angelmo.

  The boat also needed to be cleaned and polished before we headed out to sea. That is my job. I started by working on the superstructure. Then it was time for all the stainless fixtures that need to be cleaned and polished until they shine and sparkle. The only way to clean the teak deck, which we take good care of, is liquid soap and a soft brush. We try to keep it pristine. Another job that needs to be done once a year is to treat the deck with Borac
ola, a liquid chemical that kills fungi and mould. The problem is that it is very labour intensive to do with a small paint brush, board by board all along the deck. I began at ten in the morning and did not finish until five hours later. But it felt good to have it over and done with. We want to keep our beautiful, pale grey teak deck mould-free.

  About a day later the ridiculous incident at the Volvo dealers occurred. Arne gave up and went back to the marina when they started asking him to provide the names and addresses of his immediate relatives. It was not as if he wanted to buy the entire shop, only a hundred litres of motor oil.

  After all these bodged repairs and attempts at having spare parts delivered to South America, we have come to the obvious conclusion that you must avoid doing all kinds of serious repairs on this continent. If the problem is not corruption and bureaucracy it is sheer incompetence. Should we ever sail back to South America, all we will do is to enjoy the grilled meat, Malbec wine and learn to dance the tango in Buenos Aires.

  The otherwise fortunate James Cook also ran into problems during Endeavour's first voyage between 1768 and 1771. The experienced sailor, navigator, cartographer, astronomer and mathematician was exposed to small-minded bureaucracy, illogical red tape and global politics. He was disappointed, and he wrote a long report for the benefit of the Admiralty. What happened when he arrived in Rio de Janeiro was that the crew was not permitted to go ashore; to begin with they were not even permitted to get either provisions or water. The Brazilian viceroy did not trust any of their documents, including Captain Cook's personal documentation. In the end they were allowed to leave the harbour, and there was not a man aboard who was not pleased to leave Rio behind. South America was a problem already in Cook's time.