Change of Plan

Those of you who've been paying attention to our track might have noticed some horrible kinks in our course. The headwinds, which have forecast for several days, duly arrived. At first they were light, allowing us to make decent speed under engine. Now, however, they are F5-6 with 3m waves and pretty much stop the boat dead if we try to motor directly into it. So, we've been tacking towards Tristan de Cunha, with a horrible VMG. This morning, the starboard tack had plenty of westerly component, which is a bit discouraging. Our arrival at TdC, and therefore Cape Town has been gradually pushed back and back.

Ken has therefore decided to by-pass Tristan and head straight for Cape Town. We will attempt to pass close to, and view, Gough Island, some 250 S of TdC and pretty much on our new amended route. We're close-hauled on port tack and hope that from tomorrow am the wind will back to our beam and then stern, allowing us to make better progress. In the meantime, the forecast is for 35knots + on the nose tonight – but at least I'm not on cooking duty.

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Hi
I'm writing this on my laptop, so that a) I know where all the punctuation is and b) I don't feel that I'm hogging the ship's laptop.
It's a lovely sunny day today - gentle wind, which means we need engine assistance and the waves are still big(ish), but both less than yesterday.
I'll do a quick rundown of the crew, which I'll also post to the blog.
Skipper is Kenneth - leader of the 'Catalan mafia'who are running this ship. He's sailed every mile this boat has done and is hugely experienced and competent. What he says, goes. he is now fully recovered from the cold/flu he suffered from in the 1st couple of weeks.
1st Mate is Justino (or Justi, pronounced 'Hoosti'). Fewer grey hairs but still many seasons on IMOCAs and other large yachts. The king of rigging.
Oscar is the final Catalan. A late replacement for Paddy, he is normally the skipper of 'Kaap Hoorn' - the personal yacht of Nicholas Ibanez (owner of VoA). He was brought on board in case Ken failed to make the anticipated recovery.
There are 6 paying crew like me - with the exception of Kate, men of my age(ish) and mosytly with 3 kids!
Tim - Irishman from near Dublin. Owns a Contest in the Med and has plenty of sailing experience & sense. 3 children slightly older
Maurice - the late arrival. Also from Dublin. He's recently bought a catamaran with the intention of doing the ARC. I'm trying to convince him to carry on westward! Also 3 kids
Carlos - Intensive Care Specialist from Valencia via Ealing. An absolute bundle of energy all the time; full of enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. 3 sons slightly younger.
Chris. Single from London. He's found the 1st few days of ocean sailing hard work, and missed Cape Horn with seasickness. I share a cabin with Chris.
Kate. Younger Californian Has her own small yacht in San Franscisco. Very knowledgeable of the wildlife
In addition, we have the 3 Chileans.
Christian. Ex-Chilean navy in early 30s. He's here at Nicholas' invitation and to help with the young trainees. Passionate about navigation, he is punctillious in the accuracy and neatness of the logs and navigation plots.
Arturo. 18 year old Chilean trainee from Puerto Williams. Quiet
Anton. Precocious 15 year old who is like a young labrador wanting to be in everything. Always smiling, evern when seasick.
All in all, it's a cohesive crew that is gelling well and works without fuss or shouting, and everybody is very supportive of others. It's great pleasure to be on board.
We have 3 watches, so it's 3 hours on, 6 off. I'm on with Justi, Maurice and Carlos.
Yesterday, there was plenty of wind (30-35 knots) and big seas (up to 5 m waves). VoA cruised over everything with ease, but taking the sights for navigation was difficult as the horozon wouldn't stay still. I think we getting better at taking the sights and not making mistakes with the arithmatic. Our EP today at local noon (13:40UTC) was 50deg50'S 50deg 13' W. How are we doing?
We're heading more north than the great circle route to avoid a nasty low that's coming in a couple of days. The idea is to cruise along the area between the high to the north and the low to the south, giving decent wind and pleasant conditions. VoA needs a good 20knots from behind to get her moving.
i was due to cook again this evening, but Ken - who is normally excluded from the rota (as on all good yachts) is making a guest appearance. Perhaps I was so bad the 1st time, he doesn't want me on again?!

Yesterday, as we passed south of the Falklands, we were buzzed by a military transport aircraft. They flew over us at low level, turned round, flew over us again and went back from whence they came. We think it was a routine surveillance mission by the RAF from the Falklands, but don't know for sure. They weren't very communicative on the radio!
That's all for now, I'm going to act as sous chef for Ken!

No pictures now, but there should be some good ones on the Vinson of Antarctica Instagram account. Let me know!


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Fw: Falklands to port

---------- Original Message ----------
To: (rob1621.tintin@redholme.com)
From: Vinson of Antarctica (vinson@remotemail.co)
Subject: Falklands to port
Date: 14/04/2022 17:47:42

>
> Hi
> I'm writing this on my laptop, so that a) I know where all the
> punctuation is and b) I don't feel that I'm hogging the ship's laptop.
> It's a lovely sunny day today - gentle wind, which means we need engine
> assistance and the waves are still big(ish), but both less than
> yesterday.
> I'll do a quick rundown of the crew, which I'll also post to the blog.
> Skipper is Kenneth - leader of the 'Catalan mafia'who are running this
> ship. He's sailed every mile this boat has done and is hugely
> experienced and competent. What he says, goes. he is now fully
> recovered from the cold/flu he suffered from in the 1st couple of weeks.
> 1st Mate is Justino (or Justi, pronounced 'Hoosti'). Fewer grey hairs but
> still many seasons on IMOCAs and other large yachts. The king of
> rigging.
> Oscar is the final Catalan. A late replacement for Paddy, he is normally
> the skipper of 'Kaap Hoorn' - the personal yacht of Nicholas Ibanez
> (owner of VoA). He was brought on board in case Ken failed to make the
> anticipated recovery.
> There are 6 paying crew like me - with the exception of Kate, men of my
> age(ish) and mosytly with 3 kids!
> Tim - Irishman from near Dublin. Owns a Contest in the Med and has plenty
> of sailing experience & sense. 3 children slightly older
> Maurice - the late arrival. Also from Dublin. He's recently bought a
> catamaran with the intention of doing the ARC. I'm trying to convince
> him to carry on westward! Also 3 kids
> Carlos - Intensive Care Specialist from Valencia via Ealing. An absolute
> bundle of energy all the time; full of enthusiasm and eagerness to learn.
> 3 sons slightly younger.
> Chris. Single from London. He's found the 1st few days of ocean sailing
> hard work, and missed Cape Horn with seasickness. I share a cabin with
> Chris.
> Kate. Younger Californian Has her own small yacht in San Franscisco.
> Very knowledgeable of the wildlife
> In addition, we have the 3 Chileans.
> Christian. Ex-Chilean navy in early 30s. He's here at Nicholas'
> invitation and to help with the young trainees. Passionate about
> navigation, he is punctillious in the accuracy and neatness of the logs
> and navigation plots.
> Arturo. 18 year old Chilean trainee from Puerto Williams. Quiet
> Anton. Precocious 15 year old who is like a young labrador wanting to be
> in everything. Always smiling, evern when seasick.
> All in all, it's a cohesive crew that is gelling well and works without
> fuss or shouting, and everybody is very supportive of others. It's great
> pleasure to be on board.
> We have 3 watches, so it's 3 hours on, 6 off. I'm on with Justi, Maurice
> and Carlos.
> Yesterday, there was plenty of wind (30-35 knots) and big seas (up to 5 m
> waves). VoA cruised over everything with ease, but taking the sights for
> navigation was difficult as the horozon wouldn't stay still. I think we
> getting better at taking the sights and not making mistakes with the
> arithmatic. Our EP today at local noon (13:40UTC) was 50deg50'S 50deg
> 13' W. How are we doing?
> We're heading more north than the great circle route to avoid a nasty low
> that's coming in a couple of days. The idea is to cruise along the area
> between the high to the north and the low to the south, giving decent
> wind and pleasant conditions. VoA needs a good 20knots from behind to
> get her moving.
> i was due to cook again this evening, but Ken - who is normally excluded
> from the rota (as on all good yachts) is making a guest appearance.
> Perhaps I was so bad the 1st time, he doesn't want me on again?!
>
> Yesterday, as we passed south of the Falklands, we were buzzed by a
> military transport aircraft. They flew over us at low level, turned
> round, flew over us again and went back from whence they came. We think
> it was a routine surveillance mission by the RAF from the Falklands, but
> don't know for sure. They weren't very communicative on the radio!
> That's all for now, I'm going to act as sous chef for Ken!
>
> No pictures now, but there should be some good ones on the Vinson of
> Antarctica Instagram account. Let me know!
>

Re: Rob Withers

Hi

All good on board. Rounding the Horn was indeed dramatic - I have seen a couple of the pics arnd they looking stunning. We had a helicopter come out specially to take them! Now Ive got photos to compete with James on Mariette in New York

The wind and waves were pretty challenging round the Cape, but nothing we havent had before. Since then the wind has died, so we are on engine. Seas are sloppy, so many of the crew are feeling a little green. I havent been sick, but just a bit lethargic.

All GPS displays have been switched off or hidden, so we are using DR and celestial navigation from now on - except there has been no sign of the sun yet today.

Rob

Heading to Cape Horn

Photos

All Set for Cape Horn

I'm on deck of Vinson as the sun sets in the north west over Argentina. 
We're due to untie in an hour and anchor off the town, before departing
properly at about 3:00.  The timing is so that we can navigate the
kelp-filled channels and Cape Horn in daylight.

We loaded a huge quantity of food today, loading the forepeak, lazerette
and under the floor and spent the day sorting some of the huge variety
of minor issues that always need fixing on a boat.

The days in the Beagle channel were awesome - a combination of Norway
and the Alps with added ice.  Here are a couple of pictures

Moonrise at the far end of Chile

Icy waters

Some photos….

Anchoring in Seno Pia

Hi from the Beagle Channel

We left Puerto Williams on Sat am for quite a long motor west along the Beagle Channel. VoA doesn´t go to windward well - so they don´t try. Both engines on at 2000rpm and bash on! Copious wildlife - a few penguins & dolphins, but best of all several pairs of whales. One pair surfaced in front of us and we needed to slow down not to hit them. They were identified as humpback whales. We anchored in Calleta Yengedera, where a big glacial river joins the sound. 3 of us walked up the valley, past a disused estancia. An old path led up the valley. Skip (Novak) described it as an easy walk - but that was before the beavers arrived. They have built several REALLY large dams - 100+ m long 1-2m high, which - because they leak - led to a combination of lakes and bogs! They put our Mill Bay efforts to shame by orders of magnitude!

We motored up to Caleta Olla last night - the most popular anchorage in Patagonia, apparently. There were 5 boats already as we attempted to anchor med-style, with 2 lines back to the shore. It started snowing with gusty winds and everybody but me grabbled with anchors and long lines. I was designated cook (for supper and lunch) so was in my shirt sleeves down below. I git in verybody´s good books by presenting them with hot soup as soon as they had finished! Roast veggies / lentils & tahini sauce. Roast Veggies for 12 is a ridiculous amount!

Overnight, the wind touched 55 knots, apparently. But I'm not skipper so I slept soundly! This morning - horizontal snow and amazing glaciers, but I was down below doing lunch, so could keep warm. Lunch now done, I´ll put all my kit on and get on deck (or at least in the doghouse)

Walking on water

Week 1

We've been in Puerto Williams and will depart tomorrow morning for our exploration of the Beagle Channel.  This week, we've been going through a slightly amended Yachtmaster Ocean course.  I have the qualification already, but it's well worth revising as the intention is to sail from Chile to Cape Town via Tristan de Cunha without use of GPS at all. 

There has been a slight change of plan in that our tour of the Beagle Channel will not include Cape Horn; we'll do that at the start of our passage to Cape Town.

I'll introduce the crew.
Ken  - the captain.  Spaniard from Barcelona.  very experienced.  Has sailed Vinson of Antarctica for every mile of her life so far.  A many of many parts, having been a shoe designer and also written a cookbook.  Currently recovering from a bad cold (not Covid) in his cabin.
Justi - 1st Mate.  Also from Barcelona.  new to Vinson, but many years and sea miles.  Lovely.
Paddy.  2nd Mate - Yachtmaster instructor from Belfast

Paying crew like me:
Tim:  Sometime doctor and entrepreneur from Dublin.  Plenty of sailing experience
Carlos:  ITU consultant from St Marys.  A bundle of energy.  Been swimming at least once a day. Did the same 1/2 IM triathlon as Jo in 2003
Chris:  Business consultant from London
Kate:  From San Francisco - younger than the rest of us!

Also on board
Anton:  15 year old cadet - 6'3" very sharp.  From Cape Town he'll go to Spain to get more experience before return to Chile for exams
Arturio:  18 years cadet from Puerto Williams.  Has not stayed on board yet, and has come down with the cold.
Christian:  Ex-chilean navy lieutenant here at the invitation of the owner, Nicholas.  Just recovering from the cold.

Also:
Maurice, who was meant to join us but has been delayed by Covid.  Hopefully he'll be here by next weekend, when we set sail 'properly'.


Most of the crew in front of the sailing schoo; loking towards Micalvi
L to R:  Christian, Late, Ken, Carlos, Me, Chris, Tim, Anton



Beagle Channel looking north to Argentina

After we leave tomorrow, ability to send pictures will be poor or none - will send some on my return to Puerto Williams

Day 1 pictures

Day 1 Course

Another lovely calm day in the Beagle Channel.  We started our course of
the 'RYA Pelagic Ocean Syllabus' - the ocean yachtmaster course altered
to be more relevant for high-latitude expeditions.

Just now we have had the naming ceremony for our yacht, Vinson of
Antactica.  It is actually owned by Chilean entrepreneur Nicholas Ibanez
- who has a serious, and very expensive boat-buying habit. Vinson is
owned by him but used by Skip & co for expeditions. We are parked next
to his 57 Hallberg-Rassy, for his personal use....but not to be confused
with his Hallberg-Rassy 64 for use in the Med.  He flew in a priest from
Punta Arenas on his personal jet(!) to say mass and bless the boat
before his wife broke some champagne over the bows.  I was reminded that
South American countries do like pomp, ceremonies and speeches

Our provisional schedule is:
Course : Mar 27th to Thurs 31st
Depart to explore Beagle Channel Fri 1st/Sat 2nd
Cruise west along the Beagle Channel as far as the Pacific.  Return to
Puerto Williams via Cape Horn
Arrive Puerto Williams 9th April
Depart Puerto Williams bound for Cape Town 12th April
Arrive Cape Town 5th May

All date are assuming 'AGW WP' (All going well, Weather permitting)

Day 1

A lot has happened. It's getting late and I want to go to bed, so I'll be quick.

Arrived successfully in Puerto Williams yesterday, and met Chris, one of my crew mates. Today we joined the boat, Vinson, and settled in. We trekked up the hill behind Puerto Williams for some great views along the Beagle Channel followed by a dip in the sea.

Drinks aboard the Micalvi this evening.

Punta Arenas

The start of an adventure from Chile to South Africa. Actually, getting here is quite an achievement- overcoming (or rather understanding) bureaucracy and - most important- not getting Covid. Jo got it last week and so it was hard not being able to be near her for our last time together for 6 weeks. But the aloofness paid off, and I'm still negative today having been tested on arrival.

We flew over some as amazing scenery…..here's mount