Day 23 ‘South’

Caramor - sailing around the world
Franco Ferrero / Kath Mcnulty
Fri 15 Jul 2016 00:47
52:53.77S 73:48.02W

Caramor of the Antarctic was trapped in ice. Frakleton needed to consider his overwintering strategy. Puerto Angosto has form when it comes to long-term residents, Joshua Slocum spent a month there with his yacht Spray sometime in the 1880s, trapped by bad weather. It needs to be said that he didn’t have an engine. When he did finally set off, heading north, he got blown off course and ended up nearly at Cape Horn and had to start all over again. More recently, the Italian couple who wrote the excellent Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego Nautical Guide, were stuck there nine days, waiting for a weather window to sail north. 

Puerto Angosto iced over

Time to get the blue gloves out. Waterproof, lined with warm fluff, worth every penny of our twelve quid. All the Antarctic charter skippers own a pair.

We launched the dinghy but she didn’t take well to ice skating and I had to break the ice with an oar before I could haul myself through using the shore lines. Eventually everything was back on board but poor Ding has suffered a few cuts, inflicted by the sharp ice shards, luckily, nothing structural.

The anchor up, we let it hang just in the water, clearing a path through the ice for Caramor’s bows.

Have you ever seen flightless steamer ducks doing a ‘Holiday on Ice’? Great entertainment.

Back out in the Strait of Magellan we were able to sail and what a fabulous day it was; total sunshine, a nice breeze, a following sea and an ebbing tide, all pushing us west. 

Franco enjoying a great day’s sail in the Strait of Magellan

As we turned up Paso Roda, dolphins came bounding over to play. They are small, fast and agile and seem to hang around sheltered bays.

The best anchorage for us tonight, with the unusual wind direction from the south-east, was the one that none of the guide books recommend : Caleta Rachas (meaning ‘Williwaw Cove’). The williwaws only happen when the wind blows from the west, so we should have a peaceful night.

View from Caleta Rachas