Talcahuano

4 March 2024

Talcahuano

We have enjoyed the weather warming up over the last few days. One of the special things about travelling by ship is that you experience the changes in climate degree by degree, unlike the shock of walking out of an air-conditioned airplane into the tropics. This change in temperature is doing good for the morale of the crew and allows us to crack on with some maintenance without the varnish being blown off your brush before it reaches the surface. After Punta Arenas, we feel relatively on top of the ongoing maintenance but work never stops on a ship.

Being at anchor in the sheltered Bahia de Conception is a stark difference from the blustery of Punta Arenas, and it relieves the crew massively. An array of wildlife is bustling around us 24/4. Humpbacks breaching in the bay entrance, a friendly sea lion we have named Simon, Inca Terns soaring and our favourite of them all – the Pelican. Gliding smoothly until it spots its prey and dive-bombs with an almighty splash.

Talcahuano – Valparaiso

The ship is well-stocked for the upcoming voyage to Valparaiso. As it is a shorter trip, a mere 250 NM around the corner compared to our last leg, we have been working on the voyage planning extensively. What time do we have to arrive? Gale warnings for the oceanic area in between. What speed can we make? When shall we depart? All said and done we decided to order our pilot and heave anchor at 0100 in order to reach favorable winds by early morning. Instantly, as we exit the shelter of the bay, we begin to feel the large swell of the Pacific, unfortunately, the Southerly wind takes a little longer to reach our sails, so the ship begins rolling. Slightly uncomfortable for the first night. As soon as we feel the wind, we begin setting a series of sails which counters the rolling movement of the ship dramatically. We are happily sailing with no engine by breakfast. This continues over the next 12 hours, jibing up the Chilean coast which lies just out of sight to our starboard side. Due to the gale warnings further out to the ocean, we are tentative to sail too far away from the coast and instead find the sweet spot with not too much wind along the coast.

However, reality disproves the weather forecasting, and we discover that the wind is far less than was expected. This leads to a change of tactics from jibing in and out with our fore staysail, mainsail and topsails configuration to setting the giant fore course and square sail tower allowing us to sail in a straight line to our destination. We must average 6.5 knots to reach Bahia de Valparaiso in time. We made it through the night. However, now the wind has dropped off, and we have been forced to use a little engine power for the last few hours. It has been a diverse trip, giving all people onboard a real taste of oceanic sailing and all it entails. We are now truly back in the tropics enjoying the Valparaiso sunshine up to 30degrees all week.