Back at the helm - sailing the Yaghan to Antarctica, Patagonia and the South Pacific

by Martensson, Helene

  The Mohini was moored in the harbour. She had arrived only a couple of days before us, even though she had had a head start of two weeks. Before we spoke to her crew we needed to enter the country officially. We were given a list of authorities to visit. It consisted of five different offices spread across town.

  We took a taxi to the first, which was the police. They told us we needed to see another department. The taxi driver tried to find it, but failed. We had already discovered that nobody spoke English. Since we do not speak Portuguese, there was much confusion. After spending the entire morning trying to find the proper authorities, we realised that we would never manage to enter the country officially without employing someone who spoke both English and Portuguese. We went back and talked to Francisco who said he would help out. We now began a tour around the various authorities that took two whole days! It was obvious that the system was not adapted for sailing yachts but for large commercial vessels. When we arrived at the department of health they asked us how many crew had died at sea! Many did not seem to have the faintest idea of what to do with a leisure boat. At customs they spoke to us for five minutes, and then they said it would take two hours before the papers were ready. When we picked them up we discovered that the staff had filled in some of the information, for example the value of the boat, without consulting us. It was very low compared to the real value, but the information was apparently completely irrelevant as long as the forms were filled in and filed. We arrived at one office at eleven and the officer in charge told us he was about to go out for lunch. He asked if we could come back at two! This was our first encounter with the infamous South American version of bureaucracy. Not only is it costly, it creates enormous problems for people who come into contact with it.

  Our ordeal was relatively mild compared to Mohini's problems, however. Americans need a visa to enter Brazil. Before leaving the United States they were issued with three month visas. Due to the foul weather in the doldrums, Mohini arrived a day or two too late, their visas had just expired. They thought that one day would probably not matter if you had a good reason. They were wrong. The authorities told them to leave the country immediately, even though they had spent the past month at sea and needed both to rest and to do some repairs. The woman aboard the Mohini started crying when she was informed about it. But people in other boats told them to take it easy. Countries like Brazil have no control over their territory, so there is no problem staying in the country without permission. Even though the people aboard Mohini did, the whole joy of having sailed all the way to Brazil was ruined. You cannot rule out that the authorities are punishing Americans for the complicated regulatory system that was introduced after September 11; or that it is an expression of anti-Americanism in general.

  During the first few days we took it easy and tried to build up a local infrastructure. The marina was very well kept, and there were two good restaurants in the compound. We enjoyed being ashore, and we ate both lunch and dinner out.

  We wanted to start jogging again, but were quickly persuaded not to. It was a couple of kilometres from the marina to town. The area was such that we were told always to travel by taxi, so jogging from the marina was out of the question. If we took a taxi to central town we could walk about without problem, however. Many parts of Brazil are the same. Certain streets are considered dangerous, and these are found here and there.

  We took turns looking around town and ticking off things on our to-do list. Some of the spare parts we needed to have sent over from Sweden. We were still looking at our problem with the couriers in the Canary Islands as a single occurrence, and we were expecting four parcels. We still believed in their five-day delivery promise. In the end one of the parcels arrived after fifteen days, one after eight days and two did not arrive at all before we had to leave! We were now beginning to think that there was something badly wrong. When the parcels did not arrive, the courier service blamed the Brazilian customs, which was odd, since we always checked with the couriers at home before we packed certain items. We did not want anything that slowed down the customs clearance. The suppliers in Sweden had promised that the products would not present any problems, but now e-mails were starting to arrive in which they were asking questions about various items, for example a special tea blend that kind people at home were sending us. The local courier staff was not very helpful. You would not think that you need to be able to speak Portuguese when you are using a United States courier.

  You normally associate the word ‘courier’ with prompt and uncomplicated delivery services all the way to the customer. After these events we were beginning to think that delivery times of two weeks from Sweden were more realistic. We were now fully aware of the fact that the couriers we used took no responsibility whatsoever for customs clearance of the goods – a very significant exception. Frankly, all the courier does is to deliver your parcel to the airport; after that the customers are on their own. When we realised how long it took, we decided to sail before the two last parcels arrived. We could get the stuff locally or live without it.

  So far, we had taken for granted that goods could be shipped to almost anywhere in the world. The fact that it did not work like that was news to us, and it forced us to reconsider our plans for the future. We knew from the start that as much as possible on board needed to be backed up. We never wanted to end up in a situation where we had to cut our voyage short because of technical problems. The difficulty of obtaining spare parts naturally increased our desire to double as many functions as possible. After our problems at sea, the decision to set up a second radar unit was not a difficult one to make. We had experienced problems on and off so far, but no one had figured out what was actually wrong. The radar below deck kept crashing, the screen was working, but it registered no echoes. Sometimes when you are sailing across open sea no echoes are registered for days, so it was hard to see that the radar was out of order. We were also uncomfortable with the idea of sailing to Antarctica with faulty radar equipment. It was, in fact, out of the question. Radar is more important than charts in the Antarctic since the ice is constantly moving.

  We were not comfortable with having new radar equipment installed and the old repaired locally, so we contacted Raymarine Sweden in Gothenburg, and they promised to send down their radar expert, Stefan Andersson. He arrived in Salvador with a new unit, and he experienced no problems whatsoever passing through customs! He installed the unit and managed to get the old one working properly, as far as we could see. The old unit was fitted eleven metres above deck, the new one at three metres. The lower the position the better it receives information that is close. A freighter rammed a leisure boat in a notorious accident off The Skaw several years ago. It was discovered at the inquest that the ship's radar was fitted so high that they received no information at all within a range of three nautical miles. The higher the radar the more interference you get from the waves, so you need to suppress it. There is less interference from the waves on a low mounted radar, so you need less suppression. That is why it picks up more close-range information. So now we had a backup for the old radar and one that was better at picking up anything at a close range.

  Stefan spent four days in Salvador. Installing new radar cables in a boat full of electronic equipment is not easy. Sometimes it feels as if you have to pull the whole interior apart. The morning he was due to return to Sweden, our old radar failed again, exactly in the same way as it had done so many times before, and Stefan changed all the components in the screen. This had been the problem all the time, but it is always hard to pinpoint problems that come and go. We were lucky, and the real problem surfaced the same day Stefan was due to return. We were extremely grateful to Raymarine Sweden for sending Stefan. We now had a spare unit and a functioning main radar.

  The circulation pump for the air-conditioning also broke down in Salvador. There was not enough time to find a replacement, so it had to be fixed locally. They told us it would be as good as new, but it only worked for a few months. It w
as the beginning of a long series of disappointments associated with trying to have things repaired in South America. The service is accompanied by big promises – but they are never kept up in practice.

  I serviced both our motors and Francisco and his assistants polished and cleaned the Yaghan until she was as good as new.

  During our stay in Salvador the SPOS weather software upgrade that we had been looking forward to so much arrived. We would now be receiving nine-day instead of five-day forecasts as well as a lot of new information. Most important was a function that provided full-text rain and thunder forecasts. We had been looking forward to it for a long time. We missed having access to this information during our Atlantic crossing, but better late than never.

  We loved Salvador despite the difficulties in receiving spare parts and finding repairmen locally. One thing was certain, however: if we were ever to find a courier service that assumed full responsibility for the entire shipment, all the way to the customer, including customs clearance, we would use them even if they were much more expensive than any other courier on the market!

  The Abrolhos – “Open Your Eyes”

  We had planned to go straight from Salvador to Ilha Grande, one of the islands off Rio and São Paolo, a distance of almost one thousand nautical miles. We spoke to other crews who recommended the Abrolhos, a cluster of islands three hundred miles south of Salvador. Every year, humpback whales swim three thousand miles from the Antarctic to a place on the 18th latitude south to mate or give birth. The calves are born about eleven months after conception, which means that they mate one season and give birth the next. Between June and October they are found in the warm waters around latitude 18 south. Also famous for whale-spotting in these latitudes is Tonga, which we would be visiting later. We set off from Salvador on the evening of October 3 and reached the Abrolhos on the fifth in the morning. It was a little late for whale-spotting, but it was worth a try. There was a risk that they were already heading for Antarctica.

  Our voyage to the Abrolhos was uneventful. The Abrolhos is the largest cluster of off shore coral reefs in Brazil. It is also the best place in the country for scuba diving. We arrived before dawn on October 5. Several whales showed up on the radar during our approach. Abrolhos means “open your eyes” in Portuguese. The islands were named by the first Portuguese seafarers. Abrolhos was considered dangerous because of the many coral reefs, and they needed to “open their eyes” when they sailed through the area.

  The main island is called Santa Bárbara. On the island are a military base and a Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) base. We anchored off Santa Bárbara. The anchorage is rather exposed, and the water is occasionally very choppy, but you have no choice. You need to be close to Santa Bárbara if you want to go ashore on any of the other islands since you need to be escorted by an IBAMA guide. Being used to the Swedish concept of public access we thought this strange.

  We spent four days among the islands, which have an interesting birdlife. The islands closest to Santa Bárbara are called Siriba and Redonda. We visited Siriba where thousands of birds breed, especially Masked Boobies. They were not afraid of people and remained calm as we approached. There is no fresh water on Siriba, so the birds transform the food they ingest to water. They cool down by opening their wings to the wind. The neighbouring island, Redonda, is where the frigate birds rule. They have a wingspan of two metres and cannot catch fish; they lack the oily substance in their feathers that allow sea birds to dive. They live by stealing fish from the boobies on neighbouring Siriba Island. Talk about an echo system!

  We were disappointed not to see very many whales after the first radar echoes we received on the night we approached the Abrolhos. We must have been too late. By the beginning of October many calves have fattened up and are heading towards Antarctica together with their mothers.

  For the first time during our circumnavigation we were able to swim from the boat. This had not been possible either in Salvador or in the Canary Islands since we were always moored in a marina. We relished our daily morning swim. The sunsets were amazing. It started to get dark as early as six o’clock in the evening. I invented the “Abrolhos” cocktail made with Absolut Vanilla, Cointreau and a popular Brazilian peach flavoured yoghurt drink. When you are out sailing you have to make do with what you have. The “Abrolhos” looked like a glass of milk, but it was still a popular drink on board for a while during our stay in Brazil.

  Angra dos Reis

  The day before my fifty-fifth birthday we set off for Ilha Grande, the largest island in the Angra dos Reis archipelago that begins immediately south of Rio de Janeiro. It continues to the south, just past São Paolo, which means that it is a place where affluent people from Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo go for their holidays. Even before setting off we had decided not to go to Rio. I had been there before, but we find the level of security unacceptable. You risk being robbed in broad daylight as soon as you leave the marina compound, so we sailed directly from the Abrolhos to Ilha Grande, a distance of six hundred nautical miles. Three day legs were beginning to feel like routine by now. We celebrated my fifty-fifth birthday on October 10 at sea. We were pleased about finally being under way after so many years of planning.

  As usual, we gave the coast a wide berth in order to avoid pirates. In the twenty-four hour period that preceded our arrival at Ilha Grande the wind strength was 35 knots, but Yaghan did very well. When you are sailing along a coastline with a bad reputation you always tend to pay extra attention. Also, fishing boats in these countries are often small, they lack radar reflectors and they are hard to spot on the radar. As we got nearer to the coast on our final night we made use of our new radar. Most of the time we navigated by both radars to make sure we would spot fishing boats and other dangers in good time.

  We entered the Ilha Grande archipelago on the morning of October 12. It was dead calm, and the landscape was not unlike the Norwegian fjords – but hot and clammy. A long time before we arrived we had decided on a sheltered bay where we could anchor up. The absence of other boats was conspicuous. Our guide mentioned a restaurant on the beach, but it seemed to have closed down. After a week away from civilization one does look forward to eating at a nice restaurant.

  We had all the cruising guides for Brazil, but we knew that the quality was low. You could say that the quality of the guides generally reflects the economic level of the country in question, with one or two exceptions. We asked some locals on a boat in our bay whether there was a nice natural harbour with a restaurant within reach. They recommended Saco do Céu, and the next morning we sailed the five miles there.

  Saco do Céu was a sack-shaped bay with three restaurants and a floating bar. It was a wonderful anchorage, but the restaurants were disappointing. They were not cheap – about the same prices as in Sweden – but they were probably considered very expensive locally. This is where the Rio and São Paolo jet set spend the weekend in their huge Azimuts. The Azimut is a luxury motor yacht designed in Italy, but manufactured in Brazil. This is why they are surprisingly numerous here.

  It is quite simply very difficult to run a good restaurant, and if the local competition is not as fierce as it often is in Europe, quality suffers. There are no Guide Michelin ratings for South America, and there is of course no equivalent guide for Brazil. Floating bars were very common, however, and to my great joy Absolut Vodka was very popular (I was on the V&S Group board for thirteen years).

  Circumnavigating the World in the Yaghan – Now on Television!

  After a couple of days at Saco do Céu we sailed to Abraão, the largest community on Ilha Grande. Ilha Grande was once a penal colony, and the roads are still in a poor state despite the proximity to Rio and São Paolo. The entire island is surprisingly little exploited. Abraão is a small and basic place. This is where we posted our second tape for DiTV (the television branch of the leading Swedish business daily Dagens Industri). It covered our voyage from the Canary Islands, across the At
lantic to Brazil and Ilha Grande.

  We were very hesitant about DiTV's suggestion that we film our voyage. Heléne was especially doubtful. She did not want it to be turned into a television soap opera. At first, we declined their offer also because we did not want to be burdened with things to do on our first ever extended holiday. But they kept trying to persuade us. In the end our old friend Hasse Olsson, legendary editor-in-chief of Dagens Industri and an old sailing buddy of mine, contacted us. I gave in, but we made no firm commitments. We would only be filming if we really felt like it.

  We began to shoot almost immediately, however. When we had two hours of footage we sent the material off to DiTV. From that DiTV produced a fifteen minute feature. The first of these turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The film was surprisingly good considering the fact that we had never made one before. We were now happy about this initiative; as a result our circumnavigation would be documented in a way that it would not otherwise have been.

  It was time to continue to Angra dos Reis to stock up on supplies. Angra dos Reis – on mainland Brazil – is the district capital. Pirates was a large supermarket situated in the marina. We bought supplies for the two weeks we were planning to spend among the islands off Angra dos Reis. We were very much looking forward to exploring these islands, of which we had heard so many positive things. It was spring in the southern hemisphere with air and water temperatures of 23°C.

  Marina Pirates (an unfortunate name in a country plagued by modern pirates) was too shallow for us. We had to anchor further out and use the dinghy for going shopping. The supermarket was well-stocked, and we found all the supplies we wanted. We were not interested in exploring Angra dos Reis, we wanted to be on our way as soon as possible.