[password] rachel25
[position] 45 27.450s 072 48.429w
[status] Hooray, hooray. At last we have escaped from Chacabuco and Seno Aysen and we are anchored in Caleta Santiago.
The day has not been without drama. A sleepless night as yet another front passed through. Then some doubts about departing because of the horrendous gusts which kept bombarding us in the anchorage. We had decided we must leave. We couldn't spend another day here looking at the same patch of shore. Not even a particularly pretty patch. The forecast was quite good but not reflected in the reality.
The safe anchorage at Chacabuco has a tidal entrance and even we, with lifting keel and rudder have to take care. We left at 1100, half tide and rising, following our inward track on the I-Pad. Bang! the keel hit bottom, Bang! The rudder too. Not enough care taken! The keel rode up because I had freed the hydraulics. The rudder however, was a different matter as its hydraulics were locked. A good safety feature in the OVNI is a bursting disc in the hydraulic systems for each of the rudder and the centreboard. This works like a fuse protecting the rest of the system. It burst with a pop and a hiss and the rudder rode up over the sandbank we had hit. So no harm done...we hope. We motored gingerly back to the anchorage, re-anchored, and I replaced the bursting disc. An hour later we set off again, very slowly, very carefully. Chacabuco's parting remark was a hail storm. We motored into it the hail stinging our faces.
Not a nice sail down Seno Aysen. Wind on the nose for the first ten miles, sometimes only 10 knots and then 30 knots a minute later. We found headsails and engine to be the best combination. Then, amazingly, the wind went aft and we scooted out of the fjord in great style. But it didn't last. Back on the nose again for the last 6 miles.
Glad to be here. Glad not to be in Chacabuco. Glad of the heater which is warming the cabin very nicely. Good night.
[END]