Location 41° 30S 76° 30W
Friday 11.09.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 41° 30S, 76° 30W at noon on November 9th. We are still taking a bit of a beating. The wind is from the South at 25-30, which puts us on a broad reach, but the Southerly waves and swell make up for a short sea that is putting a lot of water on board, and giving the boat an occasional abrupt motion. We still have the main up with one reef and the jib rolled up to a bit less than 50%.

We have 117 NM to go to the mouth of the Channel into Puerto Montt. We seem to be right on time to arrive at about daybreak tomorrow. If we need to wait for the start of the flood, there is a protected bay where we can hang out.

We have 15-20 Pintado Petrels doing their aerial ballet in our wake. Hannah saw them doing a “walking on water” technique to attract food. It is behavior that I only associate with Stormy Petrels.

As with most boats that get themselves in a churn, our fuel tanks produced a big load of water and junk for the engine fuel filters. Fortunately the filters are instrumented and warned of the junk, which was removed before any trouble. What a great way to start the day — getting coated in diesel fuel before breakfast!

One more day! It seems impossible.

All is well.