First day at sea

A relatively quiet night on our way westwards to the entrance of the Beagle Channel.

First under a light breeze from the south. A bit of brash ice from the Darwin mountain range glaciers drifts over the calm waters. But not for long, soon the Europa speeds up again. She is in a bit of a hurry tonight to time her progress and match it with a sudden and total shift of weather and winds.

As the day goes along, she makes way under the rain and winds, leaving Cook, O’Brien, London, Steward Islands to our port side and the fjords and inlets from Tierra del Fuego to the north. Europa passes also through “Seno Ladrones” or the Thieves Sound. Yet another spot of historical relevance in the area. Again we have to talk about the HMS Beagle and her two expeditions here. As the story goes, it was during her first expedition and while staying in the surroundings of London Island, when one of the ship’s whaleboats used for surveying works and landings was stolen by the local inhabitants. The Captain spent about two months unsuccessfully searching for it. During one of his efforts to find his precious boat he decided to kidnap four young Yaghans. A girl whom he called “Fuegia Basket” and three boys “York Minster”, “Boat Memory” and “Jemmy Button” with the intention to ransom them back in exchange for his boat. A sort of deal that never happened. However, in the end he decided to bring them back with him all the way to England with the goal to “civilise” them.

“Boat Memory” died there, but the rest were brought back during the Beagle’s second voyage. A most famous trip around the world with Charles Darwin aboard as the naturalist of the expedition.

The Europa motors her way through this area, but today she is facing too a taste of rough sailing on her way between the Beagle Channel and the Strait of Magellan.

Starting Brecknock Channel during the early hours of the day, dawn finds us under a turning wind from about 35 knots of northerly to a strong southerly. As we progress we come across gusts often over 45 to 50 knots, with peaks of even 60. All along the channel the conditions are blustery.

After a quiet and calm start of the trip in the Beagle Channel, now we hit the rigours of one of the small but vigorous low pressure systems that sweep past over Patagonia on its way eastwards.

The Southern Chilean Channels. Beautiful fjords and breathtaking landscapes of an almost mythical territory. Famous waterways framed by high alpine mountains, glaciers and forests. Its waters and weather unpredictable and its changing moods legendary.

Leaving the relatively sheltered waters of this waterway, the swell grows and tirelessly the wind keeps blowing strong, and for a while before steering more eastwards into the mouth of the Straits of Magellan, the conditions become rougher. But it doesn’t last for long and not much later, under southwesterly and then winds veering to a more westerly, we set sail.
First we try with the Fore Lower Topsail, but it is just after unfurling when we realise it seems it is ripped. Well, after waiting a bit and with easing conditions more from the aft, Fore Upper and both Main Topsails are sheeted down and hoisted, together with Fore Course, Lower Staysails and Inner Jib. And like this we sail on. First along the Cockburn Channel. A wide and deep waterway, about 40 miles long, running WSW from Canal Magdalena to the Pacific Ocean. Captain Parker King named the channel in 1825 after George Cockburn, a British Admiral famous for having escorted Napoleon Bonaparte to his exile in St. Helena.

Back again into the channels, heading now eastwards and then to the north at the end of the afternoon, the wind eases down and blows more from our aft, nevertheless gusts keep running over us now and then.

Now the sun shines, now it rains, and why not a bit of hail? Maybe a while of snowfall too, though the conditions gradually abate and let us have a wonderful and easy afternoon and evening under sail.

The sail that got ripped in the morning is bent off its yard, while on deck many join several times for bracing and adjusting our rig to the changeable winds and different headings, meandering our way through the channels.

Monte Sarmiento shows amongst the thick clouds that often guard its top. Its summit climbs up to 2404m high and together with Mount Luigi Savoia and Mount Darwin are the only ones in the whole of the Darwin Range that exceed 2400m.
It is at night when we douse the canvas that was set during the day and furl it as the Europa finds a good anchorage to spend the night at Hope Bay, a small natural harbour on the eastern shores of Capitan Aracena Island.