I'm totally free right now. Free to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Nobody is depending on me for anything. I don't have any bills to pay. I don't have any job to get up for in the morning. If I want to go explore a deserted island, I can go and do it. If I dig into a good book, I can lay around and read all day. My life is entirely my own and that's an incredible feeling.
There is a stretch of water in the far south of Mexico called the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Most of Mexico is very mountainous, but the land that adjoins the "T-pec" is mostly low sand dunes. Thus, all of the trade winds that blow throughout the Caribbean and the Gulf tend to funnel through this 100 mile stretch of dunes and accelerate out into the Gulf of T-pec. The gales created by this phenomenon are called Tehuante-peckers* and are notorious for their exceptionally high winds, frequently exceeding 60 knots. These Tehuante-peckers will often blow for as long as a week or two before a weather window opens up to allow for a safe crossing of the 200 mile wide gulf.
*I didn't just make this up, people actually call them that.
About a week ago, I was looking through my pilot charts (charts that show the average wind direction, speed, currents, etc) for the voyage south. I was specifically curious about the T-pec and, after scanning a bunch of other pilot charts, I realized that it was statistically the most dangerous stretch of my voyage between Washington and Chile. I didn't expect this result and it got me thinking.
*I didn't just make this up, people actually call them that.
About a week ago, I was looking through my pilot charts (charts that show the average wind direction, speed, currents, etc) for the voyage south. I was specifically curious about the T-pec and, after scanning a bunch of other pilot charts, I realized that it was statistically the most dangerous stretch of my voyage between Washington and Chile. I didn't expect this result and it got me thinking.
Guess where the Tehuantepec is!
For the last year, I've been planning to explore Central America on my way down to Chile, with stops in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. I know that this is a beautiful stretch of coastline and I'll be able to meet up with a bunch of friends, likely spending a lot of time on the beach drinking beer and generally having fun. But there has been something nagging at me from the depths of my subconscious for the last few months as well.
I've been sailing around in Mexico since June. It has been beautiful, relaxing, and delicious, but it hasn't been challenging, new, or mentally stimulating. At the outset of this trip, I felt constantly challenged by navigation and I was learning new skills every day. During my time in Mexico, I feel like I've slowly been stagnating.
I've been sailing around in Mexico since June. It has been beautiful, relaxing, and delicious, but it hasn't been challenging, new, or mentally stimulating. At the outset of this trip, I felt constantly challenged by navigation and I was learning new skills every day. During my time in Mexico, I feel like I've slowly been stagnating.
Thus, I've made the decision to cut the Central America portion out of my trip and take a much more direct route to get to Chile. With this plan, I'll sail directly from Southern Mexico to the Galapagos (1000 miles to the south which ought to take me about two weeks). From there I'll sail directly to Easter Island (2000 mile to the south west, 3-4 weeks) and from there directly to Puerto Montt, Chile (2000 mile to the south east, 3-4 weeks). I feel fortunate to have the freedom to make such a major change like this.
This new route has a number of advantages:
1) It will save me time - instead of 7-8 months more sailing, I'll hopefully complete the rest of the voyage to Chile in 3-4 months.
2) It will save me money - I would've spent a lot of cash goofing off in Central America for months on end.
3) It will allow me to reach Chile before winter arrives in the Southern Hemisphere - I won't lie, I've been looking at pictures of people back home skiing pow and its slowly killing me. I can't wait to spend a winter in Chile.
4) It's a safer time of year to make each of these passages - there are fewer incidences of high winds and gales in the southern ocean before the winter months.
Most of the passages I've made thus far have only been a couple hundred miles, so these longer passages will be an interesting test. I'll need to manage food and provisioning for extended periods. I´ll need to keep the boat moving in the right direction for weeks on end, without help from anyone else. I'll likely run into some nasty weather along the way and there will be no port where I can stop and hide. These are all risks that I'm ready to accept and I'm confident that I have the proper skills, knowledge, and equipment to make the sail safely and in good style.
While I'm away from land, I'll have contact with my brother via sat-text for weather routing and he'll be able to update my location-tracking page as well. If you're interested, you'll be able to follow my progress day-by-day as I inch my way south towards the promised land.
Thus begins the next chapter in the Voyage of the Rascal. I'll give ya'll an update when I get to the Galapagos!
1) It will save me time - instead of 7-8 months more sailing, I'll hopefully complete the rest of the voyage to Chile in 3-4 months.
2) It will save me money - I would've spent a lot of cash goofing off in Central America for months on end.
3) It will allow me to reach Chile before winter arrives in the Southern Hemisphere - I won't lie, I've been looking at pictures of people back home skiing pow and its slowly killing me. I can't wait to spend a winter in Chile.
4) It's a safer time of year to make each of these passages - there are fewer incidences of high winds and gales in the southern ocean before the winter months.
Most of the passages I've made thus far have only been a couple hundred miles, so these longer passages will be an interesting test. I'll need to manage food and provisioning for extended periods. I´ll need to keep the boat moving in the right direction for weeks on end, without help from anyone else. I'll likely run into some nasty weather along the way and there will be no port where I can stop and hide. These are all risks that I'm ready to accept and I'm confident that I have the proper skills, knowledge, and equipment to make the sail safely and in good style.
While I'm away from land, I'll have contact with my brother via sat-text for weather routing and he'll be able to update my location-tracking page as well. If you're interested, you'll be able to follow my progress day-by-day as I inch my way south towards the promised land.
Thus begins the next chapter in the Voyage of the Rascal. I'll give ya'll an update when I get to the Galapagos!
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