Time has come to take the left or right turn, which ever gets you to go west young man.
First tho, Valdivia is pretty awesome. As you know beer is part of my basic food group. Valdivia has a German background/history so lots of artesian beer pubs. Town looks like it belongs in the mountains with big green trees, some big mountains in the background but has a waterfront at sea level. Definitely worth the visit.
This morning there was virtually no wind at dawn, perfect for leaving the tight slip with steel poles on both sides with the river current. But we didn’t get going before the wind picked up and was gusting into the 20s. Ugh. Waited some wasn’t getting any better, the predict wind forecasts for our journey had Saturday as the ‘best’ of the up coming week average winds near 20 with gusts maxing out at 28knots, where a Sunday departure had 35knots along the way. So another forecast and some good help from the marina we got out without incident. A big 70 foot SunReef power cat was blocking most of the wind that was blowing us sideways.
Once out of the slip we idled forward and down the river stowing all the fenders and lines we won’t be needing for a while. Another sailboat also left the marina and they set the jib and was walking away from us. Everyone knows that 2 boats going the same direction, its a race. We followed suit and set the jib and eventually caught them. When we were along side they asked if we were leaving and then when we explained out plan we had instant crew requests, and one of them said they were great cooks.. 🙂
Near the mouth of the river the wind picked up some more, we were doing 7 knots going with the current and wind. Everything was in our favor as we left, the wind hit 35knots. We had just a the jib out, a little reefed and all was good for the first couple of hours. They the forecast lied, the wind started to die down right about dinner time. 3 hours of day light left, do I set the spinnaker or just go slow. Decided to make burgers and think about it. After dinner wind was down in the 10s so spinnaker was coming out. Got it all setup, and checked the wind. Ugh no wind, not enough to hold the jib and not worth it. Put the spinnaker away in time to see the sunset.
One motor on to maintain course and not head toward land. Wind finally returned an hour after dark so back under sail .. at least for a while.
Hoping to find the deeper water soon so that the waves can get organized and make for more comfortable ride. All good, 430 miles till Juan Fernandez (Robinson Crusoe) Island. Just a sliver of the moon and a gazillion stars to light the way tonight.
[realtime]
At 3/10/2019 @ 12:41 AM UTC Our position: 39°28.41’S, 073°49.64’W Traveling 5.6 heading 320T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-39.47350,-73.82733