Now that we’ve started to settle in to being back in the US, we can look back on our Epic Journey north from southern Chile.

We left Chile on March 15, and we landed in Charleston on May 25 – that’s a total of 71 days. The big chunk of the passage brought us to Antigua – that took 37+ days. From there back to the US was an extra 10+ days of passage time, for a total passage time of 48 days.

Before leaving on any long passage Mike goes up the mast to inspect all of the rigging. That meant a trip up the mast in Puerto Williams, Chile and another in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua

During that time, we covered 7,224 nautical miles. So, our average speed while sailing was 6.4 knots. Prior to this passage, we’d always averaged right around 6 kts, so adding an extra almost half knot really helped – that shaved about 3.5 days from the passage. Small average speed differences really add up over long distances.

Angie checking the conditions at the eastern end of the Beagle Channel on the way to the Le Maire Strait

Offshore sailing is tough on boats and gear.  There’s nonstop motion and cyclical loading caused by ocean waves, so we spend a fair bit of time underway trying to manage wear on the boat and especially minimizing chafe.  Despite that care, we still had a few mechanical problems. 

Captain Mike celebrating our arrival in Antigua

We stripped several of the screws that hold the whisker pole mount to the front of the mast – luckily we caught that before the entire mount ripped off. Our mainsail now has three small chafe marks on the suncover – one each where we roll up the sail for the first, second, and third reef. Our jib was getting old before the trip, and now it’s stretched enough that it looks more like a bag than a sail; it’s still OK for sailing downwind but we need to replace it in order to sail upwind efficiently.

Handline caught mahi mahi ceviche

And we took some damage during some very, very strong wind in the LeMaire Strait.   Our flogging jib sheets ended up knotting together, which ruined them, and both headsails had some hardware rip out.  Luckily we had a pair of spare jib sheets on board and were able to repair both sails.  How strong was the wind?  We don’t know because it literally blew the wind indicator off the top of our mast!

Happy to be sailing downwind in the trade winds somewhere between Antigua and the Bahamas

During the passage, we were underway most of the time, but we did make three stops – two unscheduled ones for weather, and one for rest and recharge for the final push.  For weather stops, we spent six days in Bahia Buen Sucesso on the very southern tip of Argentina, and seven days anchored in the Bahamas waiting to cross the Gulf Stream.  For resting, we enjoyed 9 days cruising around Antigua in the Caribbean.

Madrone’s jib is looking baggy and well worn after many, many miles of ocean sailing

We’re very happy to be back in the US and are looking forward to exploring the east coast under sail.