Tradewinds Sailing Blog

I have arrived!  All is well, and safe and sound, and all of that. And not a moment too soon, either- that new system with all the wind showed up yesterday morning with gusto. Fortunately for me, the 25 to 30 knot winds were a beam reach, and as I was along the southern shoreline there was no fetch for the waves to build. Which made for very fast, easy, wonderful sailing as the sun came back out, and got me to Buenos Aires in the early afternoon. The part that came next ended up being the hardest thing I had to do in the last 20 days of sailing solo-  park the boat!  The wind was 20-25 knots through the marina, and it was sideways to the slips. And I wanted to back the boat into the slip, and my dock was on the upwind side ( 2 boats between sets of fingers). It took 3 attempts and some help from the marina staff, but I got it parked without damaging my boat or anyone else’s in the process.

This last leg was the longest single-handed trip I have done, some 2700 miles, which is about 25% longer than a Transpac. And now the inevitable mental review has started, deciding what was good and bad, what I Iiked and didn’t, etc. Perhaps I will change my mind over time as some details fade, but right now I would say the trip was overwhelmingly positive, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I liked the single-handing much more than I thought I would. Overall, the boat did really well, and most of the issues were with items that had been “repaired” by the Moorings folks. I understand how it is with a charter operation, though- something breaks and they need to get it fixed quickly, so the boat can go out on a charter. And a quick fix is often a temporary fix, so they end up doing the same repairs over and over quickly, instead of fixing them right once and for all. Today I will develop the long list of stuff to do on the boat…

On the formalities side of things, I had to do immigration and the port captain yesterday, and it was surprisingly easy and quick, especially compared to Brazil. Today is customs, and they come to the boat for that, so hopefully that is equally easy. The boat is in a prime spot in a great marina in the middle of downtown, just steps from my office here, and surrounded by scores of the best restaurants in Buenos Aires, where all good folks come to promenade. So I am particularly happy about that.

So what’s next?  Back to regular life, which for me is pretty good- I am leading the Tahiti charter in a month, which is always tough duty. But for the boat, I plan to keep it here for a while and discover the delta and local waters. Perhaps share them with friends from near and afar. After all, the boat is designed for charter, with 4 double cabins, en suite heads, etc.  Spring arrives in a few days, so we’ll see…

Thanks for joining me on this trip!

-David

Almost there!  The weather system I was going to wait out got delayed a bit, so I decided to keep going. I pulled into Punta Del Este just to check it out anyway, and from there I was headed due west. Although the wind was gusting to 30, it was from the NE, so my westerly route means it was behind me, plus it was an offshore wind, so the water was flat. I made great progress, and at Piriapolis the winds were moderate with no sign of the approaching system yet, so onward I went.

I passed Montevideo a little after sunset, officially into brown water and on the Rio de la Plata, the widest river in the world (30 to 40 miles wide here). As there was still no sign of the new weather system,  I decided to push all the way, knowing I would get some rain and spoiling my otherwise perfect record in that regard. But the updated weather said that if I waited I would likely have to wait until Monday for the delayed system to pass, and being so close, I just couldn’t stop. Plus, the farther west I got (up the river), the less severe the new weather would be.

So,  I am almost there. The wind became variable about midnight, and the rain arrived at 3am, so after the center of the low passes overhead later today the new southerly system will kick in. But by then I will be far up the river and really close. I couldn’t repair the fuel/water separator filter thingy, so I installed an in-line filter bypass which is working fine, so no worries about the motor for when I need it. Barring any last minute surprises I should arrive late today (Saturday). The total journey will have been 5500nm, encompassing 38 days of sailing. Whew!

Anyway, I’ll send a final message letting you know I made it to the dock, hopefully late tonight or tomorrow morning.

34.49S  57.05W  5393nm gone, 68nm to go.  8am  9/17

After sailing 3800 miles of Brazilian coastline, I finally crossed into Uruguayan waters last night, which means I am getting close!  My weather strategy seems to have worked out pretty well, as I enjoyed a steady 20 knots of following breeze most of yesterday, and with  conservative sail plan it was smooth and balanced and easy and quick. In fact, it was a 191-mile day. The weather system that I was trying to stay in front of did finally catch me, but I was only 40 miles from rounding the cape in Uruguay when it did, so I only had a few hours of 25+ knots. So I went back to 3 reefs in the main and a 3×5 jib, and continued on comfortably.

Another short but severe system is coming up from Antarctica, and will pass through the area tonight and tomorrow. So my plan is to park and hide somewhere along Uruguay, maybe Piriapolis or Montevideo, then depart after the rain and winds pass on Saturday. This should have me arriving into Buenos Aires on Sunday, beating spring by a few days.
Of course, that depends somewhat on my ability to unclog my fuel lines and/or fuel-water separator, which are currently blocked and preventing me from using the engine. After several days of sailing and lots of rocking and rolling, I guess there was one last piece of gunk that I was able to suck up into the system. I think I have it narrowed down, and I know I can bypass everything and run the engine straight from a 5-gallon jug if I need to, but I would prefer to have things working properly and the fuel filtered, so I don’t damage the injectors. It’s just a bit more challenging and time consuming to work on the motor while rolling along in 20-25 knots of wind and seas, while also keeping the boat moving in the right direction. I’m sure I’ll figure something out soon…

34.52S  54.32W  5262nm gone,199nm to go.  8am  9/16

It got c-c-c-cold last night!  When they say the weather fronts come up from Antarctica, they mean it. I was watching for iceberg and penguins last night, after layering  on most all of my clothes. I even put on shoes, for the first time in over 5000 miles.

Other than that, it was a good day, with more clear skies and sunshine and following winds and seas. The wind went directly aft last night, so the boat rocks a bit more now, and it’s a bit harder to keep the helm balanced and neutral, but I continue to make progress and it’s a dry point of sail. If my luck holds and weather cooperates, I could arrive into Buenos Aires Sunday or Monday, depending on how long I need to hide in Punta Del Este.

An interesting tidbit- I read that long-distance single-handed sailors (not just day-sailing) are a rare breed indeed . Not even one in a million do what I did. Apparently I am only one in 10 million. I always knew I was a little different…

32.38S  52.04W  5071nm gone, 389nm to go.  8am  9/15

Yesterday turned out OK. The wind didn’t veer as early as forecast, so that meant I was sailing a close reach for much of the day- about 12 hours of sailing lightning bolts instead of the expected 6.  But in the evening the wind lightened and started veering a bit, allowing easier sailing through the night.

I made good progress, and expect the wind to start getting stronger and rotating through E to NE today. It’s remained sunny and clear, but it did get cold last night- I’ve had to add a few layers.

One interesting thing is that I passed through a debris field of river effluent about 15 miles long, when I was 8 miles offshore. Literally thousands of tree branches, clumps of weeds, and various other trash and debris, including two nice dining room chairs, floating along all spread out everywhere. I don’t know where it came from, but there it was.

When sailing along a coastline, there are always some places that are windier than others, due much to local topography. In Brazil, they make it easy to see when you are approaching a windy place- there will be hundreds of huge wind turbines lined up to take advantage of it. I’ve sailed literally thousands of miles of Brazilian coast, and am still amazed at the number of wind farms they have.  We may talk about it a lot, but the few turbines we have in the Bay Area and Palm Springs are nothing compared to what they are doing down here.

Finally,  and I know I will probably jinx the last days of this trip, but I realized this morning that other than a few squalls around the equator, I have sailed 37 days so far without  rain. I think that’s pretty lucky…

30.10S  50.06W   4887nm gone, 570nm to go.  8am  9/14

About as perfect as it could get. That’s what yesterday was. The sun burned through the clouds by late morning, and the rest of the day was clear and sunny and nice. And the wind came to 12 knots from the NE, making for perfect broad-reaching spinnaker conditions. And it was so stable, I didn’t need to adjust a thing for 14 hours!  As the sun went down, a huge orange 100% full moon rose, and lit the night like daytime.  The wind did finally veer a bit during the night, but I continued making good progress with the jib.

I scrutinized all the weather info this morning, as the next leg is a longer one, with no shelter for about 300 miles. And based on my meteorological analysis, I need to be like Louie Louie- I gotta go now.  I should see winds this morning from the South, then SE, then East in the afternoon, and finally NE tonight, and then the strength will build. The idea is to stay ahead of the gale that will be chasing me as much as possible, and get to Punta Del Este, Uruguay before things get too exciting. I’ll hide there while the NE gale passes, and continue waiting while a southern gale passes the other way the next day.  If all goes well, I could leave Uruguay late Sunday, and get into Buenos Aires sometime Monday. Of course, all this could change, as weather forecasting is not an exact science…

Hopefully the next few days won’t be too exciting, but I’ll let you know.

28.27S  48.43W   4757nm gone, 695nm to go.  8am  9/13

I was glad to be anchored and comfy when the front passed through yesterday, as the south winds were howling for a while, and I know what that would have looked like out at sea.  I did some routine maintenance, had a nice meal, then a very early bedtime and long sleep.  I awoke early this morning and raised the anchor, then an easy run back out of the bay with the ebbing tide, over the bar and back out into the South Atlantic ocean. I am now headed almost due south in light air and fairly smooth seas, and expect a pretty easy day. It looks like the sun might break through again, so maybe I won’t lose my Caribbean tan just yet.

25.54S  48.18W   4595nm gone,  840nm to go.  8am  9/12

I am comfortably anchored in Paranagua, after crossing the bar at first light, around 6am. It’s a large bay, so of course I had to explore a little bit before dropping the hook. The big surprise here- patchy fog, and I could see my own breath in the air!  The tropics sure forget you fast. If it keeps getting colder, I won’t be able to run around in swim trunks and barefoot day and night anymore. What if I have to (horror!) put on shoes?   It’s a good thing there is only 10 days left of winter, and then I am sure everything will suddenly get warm to herald the arrival of spring.

Yesterday remained lightly overcast with peeks of sun, but the winds were light and the seas calm, so it made for an easy day.  At the moment, it looks like I will wait out a southerly front today, and hopefully make some more progress tomorrow, but obviously I will be watching the weather closely to figure the best timing.

I’ve got a short list of basic maintenance to do today with the boat stopped, and I also plan to rest and relax a bit, as I am expecting a few days of wild and woolly downwind again soon…

It’s kind of nice being disconnected- I imagine lots of 9/11 anniversary news today, but I am not missing it.

Anchored at 25.33S  48.23W   4566nm gone,  857nm to go.  8am  9/11