We left Pinheira in the evening when it actually was dark allready, but since the entry is very straight forward this did not matter much at all. We had decided to sail out to the open sea ideally 100 miles. The reason being that the coast is very shallow quite far out which means that you can get dangerous waves and there are no shelters along this stretch of coast. There are, however, quite a number of ship wrecks. This turned out to be a very wise strategy, just for an entirely different reason.
The wind was blowing from the North, just as we wanted it. After a day of light airs we had a record braking day. It felt like racing in a wind constantly around 25kn, reaching up to 30kn in gusts. In only the first 8 hours of the day we had allready done 50miles, an average 6,3kn, reaching a top speed of 7,8kn, all over ground. We ended up doing 147nm that day, an absolute record. The following night this speed trip continued apart from one chinese gybe. It actually is rather scary when your main suddelny stands the wrong way at 25kn of wind and the boat starts heeling strongly. For a fraction of a second I had the horror vision of the line breaking that held the boom in its forward position, but it did not. With the help of the stay sail I could turn the boat round again. Later on, however, the trouble started again. Within one hour the wind changed form N to S, blowing from the exact place we wanted to go. Now it really paid back that we were so far off the coast. It meant that we only had to sail east during one night and then could actually take an on the wind course exactly towards target. But it did take a while for us to get accustomed with on he wind sailing at more than 20kn of wind. First thing we had to learn was that you have to plug your dorade vents if you do not want the sea water wash down into your boat. Unfortunately we only closed the ones going into the pantry, but not the one of the hain hold. As a result the bilge filled up right underneath the floorboards without us noticing. Since the boat was heeling up to 40° in a spuall it meant that the seawater washed into our storage. Nice learning.
We ended up having to sail on the wind for more than three days in a wind that rarely dropped below 20kn, a quite taxing experiance. At one time I was lying in my cabin and suddenly ended up airborne halfway between my bed and the roof. The waves weren´t that bad all the time, but still I moved to the pantry to sleep. It is more centered and gets less movement.
I consider myself really lucky that the stanchion had broken erlier. In these conditions it would have been a real desaster.
Between day six and seven we rather suddenly switched climate zones. Within only one day, apx. 100nm, the air temperature dropped from 23° to 16°, with the water temperature also dropping from 26° to 20°. With a cabin soaked from a leaking top hatch this feels even colder than it is anyway. Suddenly we were really happy about all the goretex clothing and the woolen socks and wellies we brought. Just to drive the point home we also saw two seals that day.
In the small hours of the 8th day when the wind dyid down completely we were allready in motoring distance of the marina of Piriapolis which we comfortably reached at 9am local time.
The dead calm was quite wellcome since it made manouvering in the marina really easy. I guess our manouvers almost looked professional.
For a wellcome surprise we were greeted by a sea lion sunbathing on the harbour wall who let himself graciously drop into the water when we arrived.
So this is it – the end of a 6.500 nm sailing trip. Here in Piriapolis I will leave Maverick until the next season, starting in October. In the meantime I will go back to Austria and relax a little from sailing and then come back to work on the boat.
Both Albert and I both thought that the trip was great and enjoyable, but we both ended up longing for a break, particularly from having to stoop all the time.
Now I am looking forward to a couple of well earned relaxing weeks here in Uruguay.
Andreas
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