No rhyme nor reason to it!

Caramor - sailing around the world
Franco Ferrero / Kath Mcnulty
Wed 12 Oct 2016 14:27
45:43.82S 73:57.49W

Well, here we are, tucked into Caleta Jacqueline and made fast with four shore lines and the main anchor, while the gale rages outside. We are moored in the current of a considerable waterfall which gives this place a charm all of its own.

The waterfall in Caleta Jacqueline

We arrived last night just before dark after a pleasant trip though Canal Pulluche. Because the tidal streams are strong we had delayed departure until 1330. This meant we had to keep up an average speed of 4.5 knots to arrive before dark, so we sailed when the wind was up and motored in the quiet spells. 

Canal Pulluche runs west to east through the southern end of the Chonos Archipelago. This is a maze of hundreds of islands and dozens of channels, so it should be no surprise that the tides are complex. However, we set off one hour before low water and travelled 26 miles. Normally, seven hours later you would expect it to be around HW. Wrong, we arrived at Caleta Jacqueline at low water (the Mk1 eyeball and old fashioned lead line don’t lie!). There is complex and there is plain weird! 

It reminded me of an incident in a part of Scotland where the tides are as regular as clockwork. I asked an old lady who had worked in the village post office overlooking the bay for the last forty years if she knew what time high water was. She looked me straight in the eye and replied: “Sometimes it’s in, and sometimes it’s out … there’s no rhyme nor reason to it!” Talk about unobservant.

We’ll probably be here a couple of days until the weather improves.

Franco

PS Fans of Kath’s blog can relax. She is just having a couple of days off from creative writing and normal service will be resumed soon.