Epic Journey is complete! (Or at least the first, and longest, leg is behind us). We departed Puerto Williams, Chile, on 14 March in the early afternoon and dropped the anchor in English Harbour, Antigua, on 27 April at 6:30 in the morning – 45 days later.
We had a bit of a false start with our first weather window, and we ended up anchored in Bahia Buen Sucesso on the very tip of Tierra del Fuego for 6 days while we waited for a second window. Once we started sailing again, the trip to Antigua was just under 37 days and a total of 5,778 nautical miles, for an average speed of 6.6 knots.
Over the course of Madrone’s previous ocean sailing life, our average speed on ocean passages has been 6 knots, so this passage was a bit faster. That’s largely due to two factors – steady wind on the beam for the 1000 mile stretch up the southern Brazil coast more than counteracted the half knot adverse current, and the favorable Guyana current gave us a push for much of the rest of the trip once we rounded the “bulge” of Brazil. And that takes into account most of a day we spent drifting to let some strong wind and waves pass ahead of us. We’re lucky to have a boat that sails so well.
Madrone spent 100% of the passage under white sails – we didn’t break out the spinnaker even once. We were tempted on two different days, but each time the conditions were right the forecast called for the wind to pick up a few hours later. Setting up the spinnaker takes a fair bit of effort, especially in a decent sea state, so we were just patient and waited for the wind.
Aside from those two days, we spent 90% of the rest of the passage with either one or two reefs in the main, and often part of the jib rolled up as well. We didn’t suffer from a lack of wind on our way north!
In our experience, there are two types of long-distance sailors. One type views passages as a necessary evil – something to be endured in order to get the boat to a new destination. The second type actually enjoys the long passages, embracing the process of keeping the boat moving in a variety of wind and sea conditions as well as the isolation and sense of being the last humans on the planet.
We are definitely members of the second camp – we actually look forward to passages and enjoy the challenges associated with them. Even then, this passage was a little bit too long for us. The pandemic makes people do crazy things, and we’re obviously affected – without all of the current border closures, we would have hopped our way up the coast, exploring and surely enjoying Uruguay and other countries on our way north.
That said, we’re proud that we successfully managed the long passage, and now we can say that we’ve done it.
We’re very happy to be in Antigua!
