Join me as I journey by yacht from Southern Chile to Cuba! - Part 1

Hi everyone!
So, my dad and I introduced ourselves yesterday. Thank you for the warm welcome!
Today... It's just me.
This morning I felt inspired to tell you a little bit about my sailing trip from the gates of Patagonia to Cuba. My dad mentioned this trip yesterday.
I sailed with my uncle, his wife, and 2 babies.
The "Lark" was built by my grandfather about 25 years ago in New Zealand, for us grand-kids.

Adventure, here we come!

My uncle and I finally set sail on January 7th, 2016. Waving goodbye to our family on the docks in Pto Montt, while heading towards Antofagasta, Chile. It took us 12 days.
It's one of the roughest passages in all of South America. The Humboldt Current flows from Antarctica north along the coast of Chile, Peru, and as far as Ecuador. The prevailing wind comes from the North. This makes for the perfect recipe for rough seas, wind against current. No wonder I was very sea sick the first half of the trip.

Having the wind fill our sails felt great!

I questioned why I wanted to go on this long voyage anyway. “Why?”
Of course, that was my brain trying to trick me. Now, looking back, I realize my uncle was right when he said “Right now you feel like you'd give anything to get off this boat, to make it all go away. Later you will only remember the good.”

We cruised along at 5-7 knots.

The cockpit is small but cozy. If I wasn't asleep in my bunk, I was out here.

A lot of what I had to learn felt very familiar, having heard it my whole life.
Every night I'd have to keep watch for ships, any changes in the wind or weather, make sure we kept on course, adjust the sails if necessary, plot our position on the chart, and more.
Most of the time my watch would be 4 hrs long, sick or not.
When we arrived... it was great to stand on firm ground again!

The sunsets were beautiful... and as we traveled north, they got even better.

I hope you enjoyed this! If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Till next time...

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