WESTRI AROUND THE HORN

Chris West

(Westri is a 51ft Apogee sloop, aboard which Chris and crew are `exploring the world'. The following account arrived from Uruguay last April, just missing the previous issue of Flying Fish. It was accompanied by some useful cruising and anchorage information which has been passed on to the Cruising Information Service.)

We have been continuing our circumnavigation of South America from Northern Chile to Uruguay, including an incredible visit to Antarctica.

From Algorrobo, Chile (just south of Valparaiso) we headed for Valdivia, and what was potentially a hard core beat into 30-40 knot south-westerlies turned into a nice reach and motor. Valdivia is a good ten miles up the River Valdivia, and one must be very careful to stay in the centre of the channel as there are submerged seawalls on either side (for what reason we could never figure out). Many boats have hit these and done severe damage.

Valdivia was terrific. A town of German descent, it has beautiful physical aesthetics and everyone bent over backwards to help in every way. There is a lovely yacht club at the edge of town with a do-it-yourself lift to haul out (thought not possible for us with with a wing keel due to the V shape of the cradle). Drinkable water is available by hose, though we also have a watermaker. The town is a fifteen minute walk from the yacht club, with great markets and terrific fresh vegetables and fish sold down at the quay by the main bridge, which is also the place to go for fuel (good quality).

We also found lots of helpful yachties with information about the sailing farther south in the Chilean waterways. Nick and Lynn Pyles of Murrielle have been in the area for five years and had a terrific run-down on all sorts of anchorages in the waterways -- this was very useful to us and a copy is enclosed for the club's Cruising Information Service. Another useful contact was Tony Wescott, who is collecting information for a potential cruising guide for the waterways. Before leaving we enjoyed a fun trip inland to Pucon, a three hour bus ride. Pucon has a hikeable volcano and is quite beautiful when the clouds disappear.

From Valdivia we headed south to the waterways (one of the anticipated highlights of our circumnavigation). From local knowledge we had several small havens already earmarked to duck into en route to Puerto Montt as the south-westerlies can get quite fierce. But luck prevailed and we had light westerlies all the way to the entrance of the Chacao channel into the waterways. No matter how much we had been prepared for the tides in the Chacao Channel, we were not prepared for what we found. Somehow we hit the tides just wrong and found ourselves sailing at 10 knots through the water with 40 knots of wind from behind and making marginal headway. Counter to the charted routes at the eastern end of the channel we hugged the southern side (20 feet from shore) and managed to escape a ripping 15+ knot current down the centre (it was truly bubbling and seething). From there we made it to our first anchorage in the Chilean waterways, and the next day up to Puerto Montt, all in the pouring rain.

Let me highlight a few facts about the waterways, and leave the anchorage details to the notes which my father put together. Puerto Montt is fantastic. Great shopping, great yacht club with marina, showers, water, full protection from the elements... After leaving Puerto Montt we cruised for two weeks, finding the most lovely anchorages I have ever seen. During that time we never saw another cruising boat, except when we dropped my mother and brother-in-law off in Chacabuco to bus up to Balmaceda to fly out. We had picture perfect weather (expected on occasion in November and December -- 70% chance of rain). Some small towns had limited supplies (ie. bread, assorted vetables and meat of questionable freshness). The Chilean Navy monitored our progress, with zarp's necessary from every port to the next, but it was not a problem. I had been led to believe that it was necessary to have advance permission to cruise in many of the areas of the Chilean waterways but this simply was not true. We went everywhere and it was awesome. The weather was cold at times but pleasant, though of course it can and does get WET. We also found that the proliferation of salmon farming creates a real problem when anchoring in most of the `anchorages'. Do your homework before visiting the waterways and you will be well rewarded.

Our three weeks from Chacabuco down to Puerto Natales (the only harbour east of the Patagonia mountain range) was wet. The passage out into the Pacific and through the Gulf of Pe¤as was as bad as expected, with 50+ knots on the nose in driving rain for long enough to be uncomfortable, but we were rewarded after our two days offshore with a mooring at the anchorage -- ahhhhh, bliss. Mooring buoys can be found in various spots, but these change from year to year. We always aimed for these places but never counted on the buoys. We had read so many tales of the `williwaws' coming down from the mountains that we found ourselves tying off almost every night with all four corners of the boat secure, only to laugh the next day after a windless night. However, the several times we did experience true williwaws, south of Puerto Natales, we understood why people treat them with such respect.

Puerto Natales was our Christmas spot. Father flew home to be with the rest of the family, and Lisa and I sat back to catch a bit of R & R and get Westri ready for the next leg of the trip. We had great fun with our new friends John Neal and Amanda Swan on Mahina Tiare as well as Jim Leonard, Molly Holt, Ishbel and Arron on Beagle Star 2. At first we picked up a mooring off the town pier in front of the new five star (yellow) hotel. Assured by all that this would hold, we found the first big blow (50+ knots on a crystal clear afternoon) almost dragged us up on the rocks. After that we moved over to the other side of the river and anchored in thick mud with 200 feet of chain. For three weeks all three yachts sat comfortably in winds of up to 65 knots.

But the weather was beautiful for the most part. Being on the eastern side of the Patagonian mountain range the weather is dryer and a lot warmer -- a very pleasant change from our three week soggy sojourn from Chacabucco. Puerto Natales is a pleasant town, with good food shopping at reasonable prices. On light wind days we could tie up to the town pier and load up with good quality water and fuel, brought down to the dock in the back of a pick up truck -- they would even bring it out to the boat if you wanted.

Puerto Natales is a jumping off spot for hiking in the Torres del Paine National Park, so is full of backpackers. We took a week to go hiking in the Park, and I highly recommend it. It is a three hour bus ride, and for the non-hiker there are nice base huts that can be reached by bus. For hiking nuts like me there is the standard seven day hike which is truly awesome. We did it in three days which was a bit rugged, especially for our buddy Amanda who managed to do the whole thing in her sea boots -- her feet will never be the same. We also took a bus trip to Punta Arenas -- another three hour ride. Good charts are available there, but not much else.

After Christmas and New Year a fresh crew arrived and we set off for Ushuaia. We had been told that we must head for Puerto Williams, as unlike Ushuaia it is Chilean, but this is not true. Beagle Star got permission first and we followed suit. Ushuaia, in Argentinia, is the port to head for as it is further west than Puerto Williams and much better for restocking. If you go to Puerto Williams first you have to fight wind and current to get back to Ushuaia. We took only seven days to make the passage and I wish I had allowed at least two weeks. We were forced to sail in some pretty miserable conditions over some fairly long distances, but it was truly amazing all the same. Thank God we were heading west to east in our circumnavigation, as the prevailing winds and currents make for difficult progress in the opposite direction. The fjords were magnificent, the icebergs occasional, and the glaciers stupendous. But the weather was tough. Williwaws in their true fashion were severe -- we had winds over 4O knots and very often gusting up into the 50s. We would tie off carefully every night with multiple lines ashore and anchors off the bow. When a buoy was available we headed for it. We kept in daily touch with our friends on Mahina Tiare and Beagle Star and this increased our comfort. We did not check in with the Chilean Navy other than at certain checkpoints along the channels (we did not call in morning and night, and they did not care). Two books which were invaluable were Hal Roth's Two Against the Horn and Debra Shapiro's Northern Light.

By the time we arrived in Ushuaia we were pretty tired, but after an immediate crew change we had to get ready for the big leg to the Antarctic. Checking in was a bit of a nightmare with much shuffling from Immigration on the western side of town to the Navy Prefectura on the east (when Immigration was not over at the airport checking people in). Copies of the forms are available from the yacht club, and you must fill out three identical copies. We spent three days refuelling (by jerry jug -- ugh) and restocking with food. We anchored off the small yacht club where the bottom is kelp and mud, and held well in the 40+ knot westerlies which blew every afternoon. (On returning to Ushuaia from the Antarctic we tied alongside the end of the dock in 6ft at extreme low water. It is a soft mud bottom and other boats with deeper draft settled into the mud without any harmful effects). At the dock one can get ample water, and we learned that the best way to get fuel is to anchor off the gas station and go stern to shore -- the hose will reach out to the boat. Now they tell us...

Ready for the Antarctic and with five aboard, we headed south to the Chilean harbour of Puerto Williams. This is a gorgeous little port with total protection, water, a small dock to tie alongside (actually an old Navy supply ship with restaurant and showers inside). It is a ten minute walk to town where there are phones and limited food shopping. Fuel is available at the Navy dock and is much easier to get than in Ushuaia; the same applies to propane. Our friends John and Amanda decided to leave Mahina Tiare there for six months while working back in the states. There is a small airport, and an occasional ferry service back to Ushuaia (but all international flights are via Ushuaia).

Puerto Williams is the jumping off point for the Horn as both are Chilean. We had a seventy mile sail to the Horn, but several potential anchorages to duck into if the weather got tough -- which it did. Unfortunately when we had winds over 60 knots on the nose we had to push on to an anchorage called Calleta Martial. We had ripped our mainsail badly, and our ten hour day turned into an eighteen hour nightmare entering a tiny bay in pitch black with three other boats already at anchor and winds still gusting to 50 knots in the lee of the land. We spent two days there sewing our mainsail and getting psyched up for our crossing of the Drake Passage. At the end of the second day the winds died and at 1800 we raised anchor and motor-sailed the ten miles to the Horn to go ashore. This was really good fun, and thank God we did as we never would have been able to the next day.

The next day we headed off for the Antarctic, the most rewarding experience I have ever encountered. We had some very severe conditions for a great deal of the trip and people in the area said that it was the worst summer in over ten years. But the sights were truly breathtaking, even when shrouded in fog, clouds, or hidden by icebergs miles in length and over ten stories high. Records indicated that we were the first American sailing yacht to visit in more than five years, reaching as far south as the British Faraday Base at 65ø15'S -- and a glass hull at that.

The wild life was spectacular and our interaction with humpback whales larger than Westri's 51ft was something the National Geographic could not outdo. But the sailing was brutal, the worst of all being a low that hit us on our return across the Drake Passage. With no warning via the weatherfax (we received reliable weatherfax information from Valparaiso at 0800 and 2000 every day along the entire west coast and still do here in Uruguay) the low built into 70+ knots of hell within twenty-four hours and brought the largest waves I have ever seen. We had one dangerous knockdown but the boat handled the storm well. At the height of it we kept a handkerchief hoisted plus full engine to maintain 7-8 knots of speed, in order to steer in and around the curling crests which could have capsized or pitchpoled us in a second -- the waves reached well above our 65 foot mast. The Antarctic is awesome, and for hearty adventurers it is a must. (More factual information about the Antarctic including anchorages, weather experiences etc, has been lodged with the Cruising Information Service).

After broken fuel gauges misguided me on our remaining fuel supply, we ran out of fuel with several hundred miles yet to go on the way back north and were forced to return to Puerto Williams and Ushuaia to refuel and restock. We were mentally and physically exhausted, and it was tough to watch our two additional crew, Bourne and Peter, fly back to the USA knowing we had an immediate 1200 beat to Buenos Aires and an additional 5500 miles to get back home to Boston. From Ushuaia we stopped several times before entering the Atlantic and heading north (detailed in the Cruising Information on anchorages in Chile). When rounding the south-eastern tip of Argentina it is crucial to have the proper charts of the Lemaire Straits. Our chart was very old and had incorrect current readings which could have proved disastrous as the currents are dangerously strong. From the Lemaire Straits we had a ten day slog into 30 knot northerlies and choppy seas (due to shallow waters) before reaching Mar del Plata, Argentina. In addition to the conditions our trip was plagued by our generator failing (again), this time due to a failed fuel lift pump. We tried to duck into a recommended port, Quequ'n, south of Mar del Plata, but it was so industrialised that we headed back out to sea and pushed on the extra 75 miles to Mar del Plata. And thankful we were, as this is a beautiful haven of a marina.

As host to the upcoming 1995 Pan American Games, Mar Del Plata was busy with activity. But the Club Nautico and Club Argentino, which share the enclosed marina, are beautiful spots to stay. There are showers, restaurants, tennis courts, swimming pools, and easy access to good markets and stores. Each club offers a visiting yacht one week free dockage, and you can move back and forth between the clubs to stay for longer periods. There is good water available and a fuel dock in the marina, plus a travel-lift for boats up to 15 tons. Sophisticated boat parts are not available in Mar del Plata, so it is best to wait for Buenos Aires if travelling north or take the five hour bus ride back there if heading south. The centre of Mar del Plata is a 60c bus ride from the marina and has all one could ask for -- even English movies (wow, what a treat!). We spent a week there and really enjoyed the rest. The Navy were based a fifteen minute walk from the yacht club and required us to check in before leaving. The only other thing worth noting is the entrance to the port, which shoals dangerously at the southern tip of the breakwater and is not indicated on any chart.

A local friend joined us for the three day jaunt up to Buenos Aires, which was fun. Sailing along the east coast of Argentina was so different to our sail along the west coast of Chile at the same latitude. The water is very shallow (often 15-25ft) and brown with silt from river run-out. We managed to pick up a favourable stream up the river, and rode a 2-3 knot incoming tide for eleven hours from the mouth of the La Plata river all the way to the central Club Nautico Argentino on the edge of bustling downtown Buenos Aires. Navigation up the channels was fairly straight forward, though some of the buoys were missing and others are not on the chart, which made our entry at night more than difficult.

Buenos Aires was great. Talk about culture shock -- it was terrific to get a taste of true civilization for a change. Civilization like we had never experienced anywhere else in South America. The Club Nautico Argentino has a one week free stay policy, and then a marginal fee for additional days. So rarely do foreign yachts visit that lots of curiosity and interest is shown in visiting vessels. But Buenos Aires is a major boating area, and there are good chandleries and other facilities available. We tied up at the yacht club dock and enjoyed good water, with 220 volt shore power available as well. We sent and received faxes from the club, used their restaurant, and enjoyed all members' privileges. The Prefectura is a ten minute walk, and check-in there was minimal and easy. To walk into the hub of Buenos Aires is a fifteen minute stroll. There is also a delightful estuary/park beside the club for jogging or walking.

After two weeks we moved the twenty miles upriver to the real yachting hub of Argentina -- the suburbs of San Isidro and San Fernando. There are dozens of yacht club marinas to chose from and we opted for the San Fernando Club Argentino (the same club as in downtown Buenos Aires). We hauled the boat to work on the bottom -- about $600 to haul a 51ft boat. We were pleasantly surprised to find a clean hull after a year on the move, due to cold Chilean and Antarctic waters as well as the fresh water of the La Plata river and fjords. There are sophisticated facilities in San Fernando and several thousand sizeable boats. We found North Sails, who have a sophisticated loft here, and a major Yanmar facility who were available for consultation on my engine. They also worked at no charge to decipher the latest problem with the generator.

From San Fernando we checked out of Argentina after a really restful month, heading for Colonia 35 miles across the La Plata River in Uruguay. We had been advised that we could sail across the bay after channel marker `26.5' on Channel Norte and we did, but it was a bit nerve racking sailing along in 8-10ft of murky brown river water. According to the chart every wreck had buoys on both sides, but we only saw one wreck so marked -- we were never sure if the wrecks were gone or just the buoys. In spite of this we enjoyed a beautiful sail.

We spent several days enjoying the nice little marina and quaint old town of Colonia, with its cobblestone streets and restored forts and buildings. We found both moorings with a launch service and places to tie stern-to the dock. For the 51ft Westri a mooring was $7.50 per day and the launch $1.00 per person, per trip (ouch). It is also possible to come alongside the quay with about 6ft depth, but the cost is twice that of a mooring. Check-in is easy at the Prefectura at the end of the dock. There is a terrific book available at Uruguayan yacht clubs which details every possible anchorage along the entire coast. It has a diagram of each anchorage, a photo, and information on facilities.

From Colonia we sailed ninety miles along the coast to Montevideo, passing the main port to reach the small harbour of Buceo several miles east where there is a delightful yacht club. There is no charge for a one week stay and they have lovely facilities including restaurant and showers. There are moorings, but we were advised not to stay on them in bad weather or strong winds, and when the weather did go into the south we pulled in alongside the coastguard quay for protection. Major supermarkets are a fifteen minute walk away and there is a great fish market in town a stone's throw away from the club.

Well, that's about it for now. The information in Flying Fish continues to be of great use to me and I hope that some of my data may be of use to other members.