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

by Martensson, Helene

  The practice of paying out aid, a model that has failed for sixty years, should be replaced by the abandonment of protective duty on, primarily, agricultural products. This would allow the developing countries to develop by selling their produce and building up an export sector. Today, Europe and the United States impose high protective duties in order to protect their own agriculture at the same time as they offer aid, which has resulted in dependence rather than in a sustainable, positive economic development. This aid policy must be replaced by fair trade. In this way we can contribute to the future development of poor countries.

  For the sake of balance we have to concede that the industrialized world is not immune to mismanagement either. During a period in the seventies, Sweden fell behind considerably, but in the end we pulled ourselves together and sorted out our finances. The Bush era was a period of economic irresponsibility and dramatically increasing budget deficits in the United States. Major, unfinanced tax reductions and costly wars undermined the world's strongest economy. USA savings fell to precarious levels, and the country was forced to survive on foreign loans. The population borrowed money for their everyday existence, which ended in a financial crisis. I still remember travelling by taxi in New York at the end of the nineties. For the first time in my life, I heard of a financial company that advertised “no credit history required”. This works as long as the world trusts the US economy, but sooner or later people will begin to adjust, which must result in lower consumption. With deficits of this magnitude, it is only a matter of time before you lose your credibility with the lenders. But, considering the enormous trust that was invested in the USA, they were able to go on longer than most. It is typical that many people in the US during the Bush era seemed completely unaware of the fact that the regime was running the economy into the ground. This is often the case in badly run economies. The Roman Empire did not fall because they could be beaten in military terms. No one could do that. It collapsed because they mismanaged their finances. That is the reason why most great powers throughout history have fallen. It is also the way the United States will fall unless they get their act together and sort out the country's economy. Unless the US government assumes responsibility, the United States may well become a new Argentina in the future. We, who are basically US friendly, can only hope that this never happens. During the global economic crisis in 2009, it became popular among politicians – not least in the US – to blame the bankers. It is as stupid as when Robert Mugabe blamed Zimbabwe's 10,000 per cent inflation on shop keepers who “keep increasing their prices”. Shop keepers and bankers may run their companies into bankruptcy if they are bad at what they are doing, but they cannot ruin an entire country. This can only be done by incompetent politicians, usually by assuming an irresponsible attitude to the country's finances.

  My ruminations on the global economy were often interrupted by having to participate in buying supplies. We also went into town every now and then. I soon established that a lot had happened in the past twelve years. Everything was much neater and tidier. It was a small, Argentinean oasis, mainly because Ushuaia is now a centre for the expanding Antarctic tourist industry. Many large cruise liners go there. It is beginning to look like an Italian mountain village… There were lots of shops and restaurants along the main street, including the flashy Tante Sara café, which became our favourite haunt. It reminded us a little of Café Opera in Stockholm. There certainly was nothing like it twelve years ago.

  During our one-week stay at Ushuaia, three of the Swedish boats – Cabo de Hornos, Lindisfarne and Sawubona – that we had got to know in Mar del Plata turned up together with the Norwegian Empire, which we would be seeing a lot of in the future. Cabo de Hornos was owned by Lennart, a former Gorthon Lines sea captain. He was realising the dream of his life, rounding Cape Horn in his own boat with the same name. Afterwards, he was planning to go back and enjoy the warm climate of Brazil. Lindisfarne was a Forgus 37 en route around the world without a time plan. At first, Annika and Björn wanted to join us for the crossing to the Antarctic, but we persuaded them to sail in their own boat, which meant that Lindisfarne was the only Nordic boat apart from Yaghan that was going to Antarctica. Sawubona with Bosse and Marja had already circumnavigated the world. They were on their second circuit, but had not yet decided whether they were going full circle. We were to have a lot of contact with the Norwegian boat Empire, with Heidi and Eivind on board. Their route was very similar to ours, even though they were not going via Antarctica. Eivind is the former service manager of the Norwegian Bavaria importer and Heidi is an architect. They had no fixed time plan.

  We spent a lot of time with the other Scandinavians at Ushuaia. They were staying over Christmas, but we had decided to celebrate Christmas in Antarctica, and we were first to leave. The evening before our departure we organised a real Scandinavian party at one of the restaurants in town.

  One day, a huge 180 foot yacht arrived at the main quay. It was under British flag, so we did not realise it was someone we knew. A few days before, I had received an e-mail from Finn Johnsson, chairman of Volvo and the GKSS sailing club, who asked whether we had met Jan-Eric Österlund in Patagonia, but we had not. Suddenly one day when we were loading diesel some people came out to our jetty to say hello. It was the owner of the yacht, Jan-Eric Österlund. His boat was called Adèle after his mother. He had arrived from New Zealand and was continuing to the Antarctic after the New Year. Jan-Eric invited us to a fantastic dinner on board. There was a permanent crew of nine – not including Jan-Eric and his guests. Among them was the former managing director of the Broströms and Johnsson Lines, Lars Lind. I guessed that the boat must have cost in the region of forty million dollars to build, and it probably cost some four million a year to sail, including interest. It was less than two years old and the guarantee service had been carried out by Orams in New Zealand, where Yaghan too was going to be serviced later. Afterwards, we learned that Adèle had been sold in New Zealand when she was only about a year old, which means she was already sold when Jan-Eric arrived in Ushuaia, although he had the new owner's permission to sail around the world with her and then deliver her to them in the West Indies. The boat was built by Dutch Vitters. Another famous Swede, the business man Bertil Hult, had ordered a similar yacht that was to be delivered in 2008. But it was a few feet shorter than Adèle. To those who know Bertil Hult it is somewhat surprising that she is not a few feet longer.

  Adèle was moored with her stern facing east and alongside a large concrete quay. While we were having coffee and brandy after dinner we noted a sloshing noise coming from underneath the boat. We did not notice it at first, but after a while someone said that “the wind seems to have turned to the east”. It did not seem that serious, so we relaxed and stayed until the party was over. When we stepped onto the quay at midnight we noticed that the wind was blowing at about 16 knots from the east. It was a little worrying, and we rushed back to Yaghan. When we arrived at the AFASYN jetty we noticed that all the boats were rolling violently. No one was asleep, everyone was up and about. Things had been chaotic most of the time we had been dining on board the Adèle. Things had calmed down somewhat, but all the boats still seemed to be rolling rather badly. It just goes to prove how dangerous Ushuaia harbour is. Sixteen knot easterly winds can create havoc. A great deal of damage would have been done to the boats if the wind speed had been higher. After a sleepless night in a rocking Yaghan we decided to cut our provisioning short and swing anchor in the bay off AFASYN. It would be easy to get to the jetty in the dinghy. This whole episode gave us food for thought. You should never moor in a bad harbour without being completely informed about the weather situation at all times. If you are in the least dubious, it is better to anchor out in the bay, it saves you from any damages caused by the boat keeling over in the wind.

  Our plan was to sail straight to the Melchior Islands, a fair distance south on the Antarctic peninsula. From there, we would continue south among the islands until the ice blocked our route.
One thing we were concerned about was that there are really no safe harbours in the Antarctic. All available cruising guides are very poor indeed and not at all suitable for leisure boats. It is always nice to be able to rest for a few days in a sheltered and beautiful natural harbour after a tough leg. We had worked hard to locate our first natural harbour on Antarctica that would fit the bill, but we found none. We knew that we were going to visit the Melchior Islands, but there were several anchorages there according to our books. We needed to talk to someone who had actually been there in a leisure boat.

  One day Rolf and Deborah came and knocked on our door. Talk about having your wish fulfilled. They invited us for morning coffee, and a lovely sponge cake that Rolf had made. It was a great moment. We had read all their books. They were largely responsible for our dream of wanting to sail to Antarctica. Ushuaia was an amazing place: Adèle one day and Northern Light the next. There were many different types of sailors there. Rolf and Deborah showed us a natural harbour in-between two of the Melchior islands, Eta and Omega, where they had spent ten days in 1991 when they sailed down to spend the winter in Antarctica. They found the strait unique. It was sheltered even when the weather was stormy in Drake Passage and Gerlache Strait. This proved to be a very useful tip. Deborah also said that “it will make Yaghan the second Swedish private boat to sail from Sweden to Antarctica. We have been wondering who would be next for some time now.” This caught us unawares. We thought that several Swedish boats had been there after Northern Light. Later investigations proved Deborah right – it would have been strange if she was not. No one knew this better than Rolf and Deborah. Since Deborah was born in the United States, this means that Heléne is the first woman born in Sweden who has sailed in her own boat to Antarctica. This was all very unexpected, and it made our journey even more amazing. Other Swedes have visited Antarctica in chartered boats, but that does not count. You need to have sailed all the way from Sweden in your own boat and with the same crew.

  We very much enjoyed getting to know Rolf and Deborah. They are probably the most experienced cruise sailors in Sweden. Northern Light and their voyages are characterized by attention to detail and the ambition never to leave anything to chance. Talking to them made me think of James Cook. On the surface he was a brave man, but on closer inspection he was certainly no gambler. He was always well prepared, never took any risks and he did not assume that things would simply sort themselves out. This is how Rolf and Deborah operate.

  Puerto Williams

  After we had finished provisioning, we went to Puerto Williams in Chile to clear in and wait for fair weather so we could set sail for Antarctica. Puerto Williams is a tiny community, and there is not much you can buy there. This is why you always need to stock up at Ushuaia. You must enter Chile in order to use the best waterways around Cape Horn. You apply for permission to sail to Antarctica back home. Before we left, we were granted permission by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat after supplying an environmental impact report and a detailed account of why we wanted to visit Antarctica. Regulations vary greatly from one country to another.

  We travelled the twenty nautical miles to Puerto Williams on December 15. It was great to be back. It looked exactly the way it did twelve years ago. You moor at the Micalvi Yacht Club – the world's southernmost yacht club. The club house is a sunken German ship that was once a ferry on the Rhine. The harbour is the best sheltered harbour this end of the Beagle Channel. You can lie there safely in any weather. The snowy peaks that surround the sheltered basin make it a lovely harbour. I noticed there were more boats now than twelve years ago, despite the fact that we had arrived early in the season. The harbour was now clearly too small during the peak period, which occurs in January and February.

  We checked in and began to study the weather forecast. Our preparations included baking bread and buns as well as making a number of tasty meals for the crossing. There was a feeling of nervous expectation in the air. We were setting off on the great adventure of our lives, and there was no going back now. We had read about Drake Passage and Antarctica, and obviously we were a little tense and anxious. These are certainly waters you need to approach with respect, and we did. We also took out a printed chart of Antarctica that we had bought before leaving Sweden. There are two electronic chart systems on Yaghan, Transas and C-map. Transas is the one we use most, normally for plotting. C-map is a backup. Since Transas is also used by commercial traffic, it is normally the best one. Sometimes, however, it is not good enough, for example when you get to places where only leisure boats go, in which case C-map is the better option. These two systems complement each other. Even before we left, we noticed that neither system functioned well in the Antarctic. Down there we would be needing printed charts issued both by the British Admiralty and Chile. We now had two electronic systems as well as printed charts covering the area. We hoped that it would be sufficient for finding the places we wanted to go to.

  We soon ascertained that December 20 would be a good day to sail. The SPOS showed a maximum wind speed of 21 knots, a significant wave height of 2.1 metres and an average speed of 8.2 knots. These were excellent conditions. We took out the final weather report at nine in the morning on December 20, and it was consistent with earlier information. We cast off at ten. We were on our way to the alluring, white and cold continent.

  There is no denying we were a little nervous. We were embarking on the leg that everyone considered to be the riskiest of the whole circumnavigation. The water temperature would gradually fall to around 0°C and the air temperature would fall to the same level.

  Drake Passage

  We started off by motoring down the Beagle Channel and out among the islands east of Cape Horn. Around the Horn is a shelf where the water is only a hundred metres deep and where the sea is particularly rough in high winds. Because of this, we were going about thirty nautical miles east of Cape Horn both on the way out and back.

  The wind picked up as we were passing the Horn and we set sail. Unusually, the wind was easterly and about 17 knots. We were on a reaching course, which is perfect for Yaghan. In these conditions she does eight to 9 knots. The sea was unusually calm for Drake Passage.

  The weather remained relatively stable for the first two days. On the third day we were approaching the Polar Front. The water temperature fell dramatically, and Cape Petrels were appearing in large numbers. This is a sign that the number of krill in the ocean is increasing, but also the risk of encountering icebergs! During the third day we began to watch out for small icebergs, or grawlers. We had already agreed that we would cease to keep watch in turns and both stay awake to look out for icebergs when we got within a hundred nautical miles of Melchior Islands. It was getting so cold now that we could feel it even in our warm gear, so we kept watch from the companionway with all hatches fastened. We benefited from the heat from the cabin and were protected by the sprayhood. We could keep watch for hours without getting cold.

  We saw no icebergs, but suddenly the wind picked up to 30–35 knots. We quickly reduced sail, set the staysail and tucked a double reef in the main. It was getting bitterly cold. When we set the staysail something snapped at the top and the staysail fell down on deck. We immediately went over to take a look at the damage, but it was hard to tell what had happened. We could roll up the jib and roll out the genoa instead. It was a crash course in how dangerous these waters are. After only a few minutes on foredeck you start to freeze terribly, and your fingers feel frostbitten. In these conditions you ought not to be on deck at all.