Ready to Round the Horn

The Schooner Maggie B is still at the Marina del Sur in Puerto Montt, Chile at 41° 29.38S, 72° 58.95W. We are mostly ready for the trip South to the Horn.

It has been a hard working week to fix things. We have re-varnished the cockpit table; renewed the protections on the mast where the boom jaws rub; rebuilt blocks; changed the engines’ oil, fuel and oil filters; cleaned out both fuel tanks; rebuilt the toilet (again!); restocked food, water and fuel; and replaced the injectors on the Yanmar. We are “re-” tired.

We have two fuel tanks, a smaller one at 120 gallons and a bigger one at 200 gallons. I, probably mistakenly, mostly used the small one and I suspect that the 200 gallon one built up water, biological fouling and sediment from non-use. Our engine problems coming in were from the bigger tank getting stirred up, bringing sediment and water into the engine in amounts that overwhelmed the two filters. We purchased the last four appropriate Yanmar injectors in Chile. The new injectors, together with new filters and burnished fuel and clean tanks, seem to have solved our problems.

We have also purchased six more jerry cans, to give us a little extra margin and also make it easier to resupply in the towns to the south, where you have to fill up at a service station and tote the fuel to the boat.

Sadly, we are going to leave ashore Strika, our South African surf kayak. In the last storm, the jib sheet got tangled around the very tip of the bow. When the sail filled, the sheet bent the fore 1/3 of the boat up almost 90 degrees, cracking the fiberglass all around. She is repairable with time, skill and plenty of space. Not available on the Maggie B. She should make a fine project for someone in Puerto Montt.

The crew for the trip south is Hannah Joudrey, Alden Blair, Freddie Kellogg Curtis Weinrich and Frank Blair. Full bios and photos will be up on the web soon. Hannah has been with us since Cape Town and is Bosun. She should whip the new recruits into knowing their ropes soon! Alden is my 25 year old son, back fresh from Africa, Freddie is an experienced sailor who I have known for fifty years and Curtis is the fit-it man from my brother-in-law’s farm and a Alaska commercial fisherman. We will probably start off with two watches of two, watch on and watch off. I’ll take myself out of the rotation and use my time getting the new guys up to steam and doing the relatively complex navigation.

The Chilean Navy, the Armada, have issued our Zarpa. The Zarpa is a formal itinerary with specific places and times that we are generally expected to conform to all the way to Puerto Williams. You are expected to check in twice a day as to your position, direction, speed and ETA next point. In practice is supposedly isn’t that big a deal, at least in the north. In the South, closer to “differences” with the Argentineans and more extreme climate, the Armada keeps you closely monitored. One must also check in with every “reporting” lighthouse (the major ones) and any Armada boat one passes. Reports used to be over SSB, which was apparently very difficult, now one can do them by email. Progress?

Chile has been fascinating. We have had some time to explore Puerto Varas to the north (a beautiful lakeside town) and Chiloe Island to the south. Economically things seem pretty good, streets clean, people well dressed and active shoppers. People work hard, six days a week not being unusual. Our repaired sail was finished and returned today (Sunday). The Armada issued the Zarpa at 1700 on Saturday. But Puerto Montt is a hard-working fishing port, and not necessarily a fun place. Perhaps it is more lively in the summer season. Everybody has been kind and helpful, though there ae not as many English speakers as I would have expected.

All is well.