back in Chile

Imvubu arrived back in Puerto Williams, Chile this morning. More to
come soon. In the meantime, please call (see number in previous post).

southward

Imvubu is departing Puerto Williams, Chile today, Sunday the 29th, with destination Deception Island (South Shetland Islands just north of the Antarctic Peninsula). Should take us about 4 days. Check the Imvubu blog for more details and updates.

Puerto Williams, Chile

New country, new phone:  +56 982074436.

Imvubu sailed the ca 25 miles from Ushuaia, Argentina to Puerto Williams, Chile Thursday the 26. On arriving we joined about twenty other yachts tied up to the Micalvi Yacht Club and rafted 3 or 4 deep. The Micalvi is an old ship that was purposefully grounded in a narrow inlet and now serves as the local yacht club (though all the boats but one are from elsewhere). Their claim to be the world's most southerly yacht club is probably not an exaggeration.  Formalities were completed at the port captain's office. Now we wait for a favorable weather window to cross The Drake Passage which will take us to The South Shetland Islands and The Antarctic Peninsula. 

Call me

I have an Argentinian sim card. My number is +54 92901644187. Please call.

OK,  I think the link to the photo album has been fixed. Have a look: 

Click Here for some photos from Ushuaia and the passage from South Africa. 

Ushuaia

Commerson's Dolphins, right?

and False Killer Whales (?)

Cape Town, South Africa to Ushuaia, Argentina, with imvubu

Imvubu arrived Ushuaia, Argentina around 22:00 local time Sunday December 22 as the sunset lit up the snow clad mountains of Tierra Del Fuego and Isla Navarino.   It took us over a day to get here from the Strait Of Le Maire (between Tierra Del Fuego and Isla De Los Estados and where we first spotted land after a month at sea) as we had tidal streams and ocean currents against us for much of the way. As we approached The Straits, we saw the Dutch schooner OosterSchelde which was quite a sight in the grey afternoon. The next day we got a closer look and I took this photo:

Tall ship Oosterschelde near Straits Of Le Maire

 The Beagle Channel was very mellow as we motored in flat seas and light headwinds and enjoyed the scenery. 

Ushuaia is stunning. That is to say, the scenery surrounding the town is stunning. The town itself is not anything to write home about. Like Punta Arenas, Ushuaia features a garish casino on the waterfront as a contrast to the natural beauty all around. There is a small, friendly community of sailors down here. Most from elsewhere and many of them running charter businesses, taking customers to Antarctica and the area around the soutern tip of South America. All the sailboats here look like serious expedition boats, so Imvubu fits right in. 

Total distance sailed: just over 5000 nautical miles

Total time:   34 days and some hours (this was both Ralf's and my longest passage time and distance-wise)

We sailed ca 2/3 of the time and motored the rest (the majority in the first 10 day. 

A few days out of Cape Town we passed directly over the Vema Seamount which rises to just 11 meters(at the shallowest) below sea level from the surrounding ocean which is ca 5000 meters deep. It being dead calm, we decided to drop anchor, wait for daylight, and go for a swim if we could find somewhere sufficiently shallow. Unfortunately the shallowest we saw was ca 40 meters which is too deep to anchor properly with Imvubu’s 100 meters of chain, so onward we went.

Heading west northwest, we got as far north as 30°35' south on day 7 before leveling out and heading more or less due west for the next two weeks which saw us motoring quite a bit  as we skirted the top of the South Atlanitc High.  At 31° 11' S, 36° 8' W, ca 700 miles from the Brazilian cost, we turned left and followed a course parallel to the South American coast until we neared The Falkland Islands. 

We hit a couple of small low pressure systems which gave us near-gale and occasioinally gale force winds, but onboard Imvubu that barely causes a ripple in one's martini. That was while we were still in the latitude of the 30s.  Surprisingly the Roaring Forties did not roar at all, and we did not encounter winds above 25 knots between latitude 40 and 50. In the 50s, the weather was more Souther Ocean-like, but not bad. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, we bypassed the Falklands and that might've been a good thing in the end. The Argentinians are still a bit sore about losing The Falklands War, and yachts have been fined for sailing directly to Argentina from The Falklands (which The Argentinians consider part of Argentina) without first getting a permit to go to The Falklands (which of course is English territory and populated by English people) from Argentinian authorities.

The whales that took such a liking to Imvubu were False Killer Whales, not Pilot Whales, I found by consulting a guide (a book, not a person nor a whale). At least that's what I think. See photo:

False Killer Whales (I think)

Around Dec 18 a pod of Commerson’s Dolphins played in Imvubu’s bow wave for a couple of hours. They are entertaining, sometimes getting airborne as well as swimming upside down and spiraling.  In The Straits Of Le Maire some Peale's Dolphins came to play for a few hours. 

Cooking:  To say we ate well is an understatement. Two main meals were had each day, and each person cooked both meals every other day. If there was a little friendly competition augmenting the cooking, Ralf won it hands down.

Sailing:  On one hand, being on Imvubu feels like being on a ship.  She displaces around 35 tons and is 57 feet long. I was surprised to find, though, that sailing and sail-handling was not that different from Twister. The sails are bigger, the sheets thicker, forces probably orders of magnitude greater, but still basically the same animal. 

Fishing: Ralf caught a large (over a meter long) Yellowfin Tuna near Vema Seamount . That one was let go as it was too large and we had no freezer space. Later, I landed two smaller Albacores which we honored by eating them.

Birds: lots of Albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters, fulmars, and LBJs. 

Bypassing Falklands

Mon 16 December. 1200 UTC. 43 deg 51 min S 55 deg 22 min W
We've been beating into and hove to in variations of westerly winds,
so progress has been slower than hoped. Unfortunately we'll bypass the
Falkalnd Islands in order to get to Ushuaia/Puerto Williams
(hopefully) by Christmas. We have landed two Albacore Tuna to
supplement our diet. Temperatures are dropping but days are getting
longer as we're getting farther south. Petrels and Albatrosses keep us
company.

Check the official Imvubu blog for more frequent updates:
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/imvubu/

1600 miles to Falkalnd Islands

Hi Yáll,
I'mvubu's position: 31 degrees 08 min S, 034 degrees 48 min W
It's day 19 from Cape Town and we're close-hauled sailing NW at the
moment since the wind is from the WSW. We had a nice visit from about
20 pilot whales today along with our usual entourage of petrels and
albatrosses, including a Wandering/Royal Albatross. Today was the
first time I've seen a flying fish and an albatross flying along side
by side. The plan is now to make landfall at The Falkland Islands
(which I'm pretty excited about--always wanted to go there) before
continuing on to Puerto Williams, Chile. If the winds cooporate we
should be at The Falklands within 10 days. Fishing has been slow. Ralf
caught a big tuna near Vema Seamount that we let go because it was too
big. I had something big on the line yesterday, but whatever it was
got off the hook before I could reel it in.
I appreciate all the SMS messages. Keep ém coming. I will be in touch
again when we get to The Falkland Islands.

Day 3 out of Cape Town

Imvubu departed Cape Town Monday Nov 18 just after midday, with Ralf
and LT onboard. A Jackass Penguin and a Mola-Mola (Sunfish) bid us
farewell as we motored out of the harbor. Leaving the lee of Table
Mountain, the wind freshened and soon Imvubu kicked up her skirts and
ran along with 25 to 35 knots from astern. Day two found us motoring
again for awhile and now we've had alovely 15 to 20 knot breeze more
or less on the beam with Imvubu doing 6 to 8 knots. Tomorrow we expect
to pass over Vema Seamount where the fishing promises to be good.

Back in South Africa

I arrived Durban the evening of November 6 and joined SV Imvubu at Bluff Yacht Club. It took me a bit under 9 months to sail Twister from Durban to Bergen, via Brazil and Florida (blue line on map). It took ca 18 hours (flying time) to do it by airplane via a more direct route (red line).

sailing vs flying

SV Honeybadger Imvubu

Imvubu looked sharp after a year of refitting which included new sails, new engine, a new galley, and much more. I spent two days in Durban as we put the finishing touches on Imvubu's refit and provisioned for the shakedown cruise to Cape Town. We (Ralf, Jenny, and I) departed Durban the morning of November 9 and motored, sailed, and motor-sailed the 811 nautical miles to Cape Town. The weather was uncharacteristically mild (for the South African coast) the entire passage (I don't think the wind was over 20 knots), and we arrived Cape Town late on Wednesday the 13th (4.5 days). Coming down the east coast, the amount of wildlife increased noticeably after we passed East London. We saw hundreds of Humpback Whales, many of them giving us impressive breaching displays. One appeared to get totally airborne. Also in attendance were Cape Gannets, albatrosses, seals, and a few Jackass Penguins.

We will spend a few days here in Cape Town fixing a few small issues that revealed themselves on the passage as well as provisioning for the South Atlantic crossing. We plan to depart Monday the 18th of November. Where we make landfall on the South American continent depends on the winds. 

No job, no work permit, what to do?

Imvubu and Twister in Durban 12/2012

Go sailing, of course. In early November I will join Ralf on his sailboat, Imvubu (yes, that is Zulu for hippopotamus), in Cape Town, South Africa. The plan is to sail across to Chile (which will probably entail a much longer passage than the great circle route. How long will depend, among other things, on the position of the South Atlantic/St. Helena high). From Puerto Williams, Chile we will sail to The Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands and back up to Chile. Should be fun. I met Ralf in Rodriguez and again in Reunion Island and South Africa where he completed his circumnavigation which took him through The Northwest Passage. When he mentioned that he was planning to sail to Antarctica next, I naturally volunteered. 
Today Twister pulled her keel out of the chilly waters of the Norwegian fjords and sat down on a cozy aluminum crib for the winter. The hull looked surprisingly good given all the abuse I've give it the last couple of years.

Some more data-entry and number-crunching yielded the following:

Total distance sailed San Diego to Bergen (not counting a few hundred miles of day-sailing/side trips and assuming shortest route between each data point):  32 286 nautical miles (29 224 nm solo)
Total time:  2 years, 132 days
Time at sea:  318 days, 10 hours (285 days solo)
Average speed:  4.22 knots

Best 24-hour run: 169 nm, 00:00 31/01/2013 to 00:00 01/02/2013, (2nd day out of Cape Town on passage to St. Helena) with some help from Benguela Current. 

Longest passage: both by time and distance was the first one from San Diego to Nuku Hiva: 2931 nm and 27 days 9 hours--Also the hardest passage (though weather-wise, very gentle). The second longest time-wise was also the slowest: Darwin to Cocos Keeling: 2022 nm in 26 days 12 h. One of the easiest passages. 

Fastest passage (speed-wise):  St. Helena to Recife: 1778 nm in 13 days 19 h = 5.68 knots average speed.