South through the Chilean Channels

The Schooner Maggie B got underway from Puerto Montt at about 1715 on November 19th, headed south through the Chilean Channels for the Horn. It is clear and lovely, with the snow capped Andes as backdrop to our East. The wind is light from the South and we are motoring at seven knots. The tide is playing with us and sometimes our GPS speed is eight knots and sometimes five.

Monday was….Monday. We had the diesel mechanic come back one more time to help us change the impellers. He was a few hours late but then worked very hard. It was fortunate we changed them as the Onan generator impeller had already lost one of its vanes. Now both engines are running very smoothly and all our fuel is perfectly clean. The mechanics took US dollars, the marina insisted on piles of pesos and the gas dock loved my Visa card.

We are full of fuel, water, food and good cheer.

We have doubled the watches, with Hannah and Alden on one and Freddie and Curtis on the other. I have taken myself out of the rotation and will be up with both watches, especially Freddie and Curtis on their first few, to do the necessary training in our systems. The channels are full of boats — we probably passed or were passed by 40 in the first two hours out of Puerto Montt, including little wooden fishing boats and ocean-going tugs towing big barges.

We have an open stretch in front of us, about 250 NM across the Gulf of Corcovado and down the Canal Moraleja, which we hope to do in a day and a half. This will give us some time to play in the Canal Errazuriz (where they make a great Sauvignon Blanc), before we pick up, hopefully, a nice NW’erly to make a big run down the coast. We’ll see. The latest report from Commanders should be up on the web site soon.

All is well.