Some Chilean anchorage notes...

[Frank Holden]

.... with photos... that some may find of interest...

This takes you to the docdroid site where you may either download the pdf or simply view it online...

2020.2 Chilean Anchorages.pdf

 

[LittleSister]

Amazing!

Well done for putting all that together. Looks a fascinating, if rather challenging, cruising ground.

I doubt I shall ever get there to make use of your copious guidance, but I've enjoyed skimming through your photos and will take a closer look later.

 

[capnsensible]

Great pictures, thanks!

 

[IanR]

Well that was a happy hour of voyeurism, thank you. Just added to my bucket list

 

[Neeves]

Magic,

I had not realised that Tim Tams might be something a UK readership would understand. The world is very small. I wonder if they are equally keen on Tunnocks caramel wafers? (which I would prefer to Tim Tams).

Virtually in every anchorage you are using shore lines, not one but many. Not something you see much of anywhere - except high latitudes. Very educational. It removes the debate about 'anchors' as you rely on other means.

Very useful

Thanks

Jonathan

 

[GHA]

Nice
And tempting............

 

[Sadlerfin]

Thank you for sharing great reading while land locked at home.......

 

[Frank Holden]

Magic,

I had not realised that Tim Tams might be something a UK readership would understand. The world is very small. I wonder if they are equally keen on Tunnocks caramel wafers? (which I would prefer to Tim Tams).

Virtually in every anchorage you are using shore lines, not one but many. Not something you see much of anywhere - except high latitudes. Very educational. It removes the debate about 'anchors' as you rely on other means.

Very useful

Thanks

Jonathan

Hello Jonathan, north of Bahia Anna Pink anchorages where you would run lines are in the minority....south of Anna Pink they are in the majority.

Several reasons.... many of the anchorages are quite tight with no swinging room, many are very steep too... and nearly always the closer in you get the less wind you will have. Speaking of which... the longest I have been weatherbound is 8 days.... invariably waiting for a strong norwester to abate.

Cheers,
Frank

 

[GHA]

Quick question - is it ever a bit feisty keeping the boat in position while you are getting lines ashore? How many crew do you usually have involved?

Thanks again for uploading, really interesting & great pics.

 

[Frank Holden]

For the last 12 years we have been sailing with just the two of us. Prior to that often 3 or 4 of us. Most of the time it goes OK... approach with dinghy in water, rope bags set up and plenty of rope out of the bags and coiled ready to go. I swing her, cook drops the anchor... we back up into position, cook scampers aft jumps in dinghy and takes off... doesn't really matter where first rope lands... as long as it lands somewhere... plenty of time afterwards to tidy everything up, change trees , drop out or take in more chain, etc.

Sometimes too windy to hold her like that so you just go nose in as far as you can go and sort it out if needs be after the wind moderates...

Plan is that even with a lot of wind outside there will be no wind in the 'anchorage'.

 

[Skylark]

An amazing, rich and graphic resource. It must bring back wonderful memories each time you turn a page. Some stunning pictures.

I’m not made of “stern stuff” so I’ll never avail their practical use but that does not detract from my enjoyment of reading through your notes.

Thanks for posting, a great read ?

 

[Frank Holden]

An amazing, rich and graphic resource. It must bring back wonderful memories each time you turn a page. Some stunning pictures.

I’m not made of “stern stuff” so I’ll never avail their practical use but that does not detract from my enjoyment of reading through your notes.

Thanks for posting, a great read ?

Thankee... hardest bit is getting there... esp just now dunno when I will get back to the boat... trip to Ecuador was just an 'aduana' run resetting
the 2 year clock...

Re a question above regarding tieing up in 'hot' anchorages at the end of the day... its pretty much all 'day sailing'.

When you get out of bed in the morning you don't just consider what its like 'just now' but what its going to be like at the end of the day... I've been blown clean past destination a few times... once in the not too distant past have had a bonzer down hill run all day... was a bit tardy getting sail off her... took over an hour to motor back about a mile into a short steep sea to get back to the entrance
r

 

[Neeves]

Again, thanks Frank.

Where do you keep the boat when you are not there? As you mention its a devil of a place to get to and there is a 'lot' of it.


Jonathan

 

[Frank Holden]

In the early days I kept her at Marina Oxxean, Pto Montt, but they now favour long term berth holders.
In more recent times Club Nautico Reloncavi where I tend to leave her on the hardstand.
Down south... alongside Micalvi but that is less than appealing these days..

My first time visit by boat to Valdivia was late last year... that is where I will be heading when I eventually get moving again....

 

[Metabarca]

Terrific! As you note, Puerto Williams seems to have become far more 'gentrified' than when I was there (and I'm sorry the Micalvi bar's closed. And I had a memorable cold shower on deck...). Caleta Beaulieu is my favourite anchorage of all time. I note, too, that there seem to be far more boats around; when I was there in 2007, we saw one yacht in two weeks (brazo noroeste, cabo Hornos area). Does the Armada still make you stick to a few selected routes or can you wander at will now? I'm dreaming of getting to Brecknock and also to Wulaia (Yendegaia too, for trekking, but that can now be more or less done by a new road coming from the north). I love the picture of the 'wrong-way waterfall': brings back memories!

 

[Frank Holden]

Hola Metabarca,
The armada still keep a firm grip on things but seem more relaxed about where you can go and what you can do and there are fewer prohibited channels... Canal Murray is still forbidden to foreigners..

A couple of years ago a boat was fined $US5000 and kicked out of the country for playing fast and loose with the rules. Sailed from Ushuaia down to the Horn without entering Chile first. Were boarded at Isla Lennox by the armada and told to go to Williams and enter the country... ignored that instruction and carried on to Horn and back. They had negotiated the fine down from $50000.

A few years ago it was very busy in the south 'in season' but the Chileans shut down the illegal charter industry in 2016. Now a lot quieter.

The road to Dos de Mayo on the eastern side of Yendegaia is probably finished by now. There goes the neighbourhood.

Just for you... the view from Cta Beaulieu almost exactly 12 years ago... 25th April 2008

 

[Metabarca]

Wow, very naughty boat to try sailing in Chilean waters without entering at P Williams!
As you say re Yendegaia: there goes the neighbourhood. The same is true of areas with other new roads: heading down towards Cabo Froward and the other one on the west side of Seno Skyring (another dream is a circumnavigation of Isla Riesco: John Ridgeway went that way in the 70s on what was then a major expedition and now would be a fun outing...). (For those not in the know: 'road' here is not a macadamed road but a 'rip', a graded dirt track. Europeans use these ripios in souped-up 4x4 lorries with stickers on the side; it's hunkier than in the rented Opel Chevrolets I use...). I have friends in Ushuaia (including, usefully, the former owner of the Beagle brewery!) but as you know, the best bits of this part of the world are in Chile and if you're boatless, you ain't going far. I dream of sailing these waters again; pisco sour with 'locally accessed' ice, the centollas. And there's a bit of scenery! And there's South Georgia... Have you visited the caleta where the SMS Dresden hid out? Any signs of its passage?

 

[Metabarca]

Here's my memory of Caleta Beaulieu in January some years back.


We were anchored (as were you doubtless) just out of sight at the base of the photo.

 

[Frank Holden]

The Dresden hangout south of Montt...? Estero Quintupue?.... yes a nice spot but no sign of her passing... there are a couple of photos in the pdf.
I have never been able to find anything about her trip up through the channels except a little about her time near Punta Arenas.

When I eventually get back to the south I want to coast around the edge of Golfo de Penas, retracing the route taken by Captain Cheap and also visiting Bahia San Quintin where the German fleet stopped for a while on its way from Coronel to the Falklands.

This is a brilliant resource.... Patagonia - Books - Libros - Historia - History especially the 'Wager' stuff.

Did someone mention centolla?

 

[Metabarca]

Thanks for the Patagonia resource: I shall dip happily (I have my own 'Patagonian bookcase' with some 40 or 50 books about it, including sailing accounts, and have also travelled it from north to south, killer whales to condors!
Re Dresden, no, I was thinking of her hidden-hole further south, somewhere around Isla Clarence of Cap. Aracena, perhaps (I'll look it up).



Centolla trumped!!!