Trough the Roaring Forties

The island of Chiloe and more precisely Puerto Quellon, our port of landing after 2000 miles across the South Pacific, is located at 43 ° 07 'S and 73 ° 37'W, 300 miles south of the imaginary border of the Roaring Forties,

This is the story of our journey towards the fateful Forties, as extracted from our logbook.

WP (WAY PONIT) BOCA DEL GUAFO 43°27’S/74°27’W.

DTW (DISTANCE TO WAY POINT) 1.954 NM.

ROTTA 118°

Legend:

* Our journey begins at 11:00 am on 27 Frebbraio, so the first day of sailing will end at 11:00 of February 28 and so for the days to follow.

** After hours annotation note, I report a negative number steadily increasing. They are the nautical miles separating us from Boca del Guafo, a close in the far south of the island of Chiloe through which you access the Gulf of Corcovado and from there to Puerto Quellon. While it is not our final destination, it is important for me to constantly monitor the distance and estimated time of arrival. Boca Guafo is crossed by strong currents due to the tide which, in certain days, reaches up to 8 meters over six hours. For this reason it is essential to carefully plan the transition, so that the wind and tide going in the same direction, otherwise you run the risk of encountering pretty dangerous conditions.

*** Our route in Degrees Compass

**** Our average speed in knots (1 knot = 1 nautical mile = 1,852 meters)

***** Every 24 hours from the time of our departure, I log the miles traveled in the last 24 hours. These are not the miles ran above the water neither on the ground, but those ran toward our destination. When we are forced to tack because the wind does not allow us a direct route, the miles done both on the water and on the bottom are always more than those made towards the goal.

27 February

11:00h. -1.954**. 160°***. 6kn***. I'm leaving Hanga Roa with a strange feeling.It is like those moments when the taxi which will take you to the airport leaves while you are waving to a dear friend who lives far away which you visit after many years and in your heart you know you probably will not see him again. Maybe we should have stayed longer, but autumn is pressing and is waiting for us: Iorana Rapa Nui.

A breeze from NW around 10 knots, accompanies us while we pass over Matu Kao Kao, the small island where, in the rite of Tangata Manu (man bird), was conquered the first egg laid by Gaviotin.

15:15h -1.931. 118°. 4kn. The wind has left us (as expected) and will not return for the next 48 hours, so full trottle on our engne.

28 February

11:00h. -1.837. 125°. 4kn. 117/24h*****. Only 117 miles in the first 24 hours. We are not used to these averages, but with only one engine and just 1,800 rpm, you can not do better.

22:50h. -1.770. 118°. 4kn. Wonderful day, warm with a clear sky and a sea of ​​deep blue. I prepared a Focaccia Pugliese with potatoes, black olives and baked onion, spectacular. We continue to motor.

01 March Added one hours of the boat watch to get closer to the time of continental Chile (+ 2h compared to Rapa Nui)

12:00h. -1.712. 118°. 4kn. 125/24h. A few more miles in the last 24h, but still very far from our usual avarage. Patagonia seems really far away today.

15:30h. -1.695. 140°. 6kn. Finally a bit of wind (13 knots of real-NW). Off the engine. Full mainsail and Gennacher.

19:00h. -1.682. 157°. 6.5kn. Wind backed to E / SE, 11 knots real. Mainsail and full genoa, rudder to 45 ° to the wind.

02 March

09:10h. -1611. 164°. 7.5kn. The wind freshens to 18 knots true, we gave one reef in the mainsail and reduced the Genoa to 110%.

09:45h. 164°. 7.5kn. The wind freshens to 20 knots real from SE. Let's take a second reef in the mainsail.

12:00h. -1595. 164°. 6kn. 117/24h. Still very little miles sailed towards our goal, but we could not follow our ideal course.

18:40h. -1.561. 165°. 7.5kn. Wind drops to 16 knots of real, we fly again full mainsail.

03 March

07:40. -1.508. 122°. 4kn. Wind collapses again and turn on the engine.

11:00. -1.494. 110° 4kn. Finally engine off. The wind rose to 5 knots real and with an angle of 45 ° to the wind we have can reach the same speed sailing. Moreover, we have to start thinking about the fuel consumption. We have already consumed 1.5 tanks of 4 available and we have to leave a safety margin for the enginesì as well as think about the daily consumption of thr generator and, possibly, heating.

12:00h. -1.488. 122°. 4kn. 107/24h. Still too few miles.

17:50h. -1.455. 110°. 7kn. Finally some breeze. 10 knots of real wind and we develop 7kn of speed, not bad.

23:30h. -1.421. 110°. 6kn. Spectacular day, light wind, but steady, long wave and lots of sun. Proper conditions for some maintenance. We fixed some of the seams in the cockpit awning, replace the seals of all the hatches. Now it's raining and it is pitch black. For tomorrow we expect a reinforcement of the wind up to force 6/7. There are still 6 degrees latitude (600 miles) to the Roaring Forties, but the temperature has already fallen.

04 March

11:00h. -1.399. 122°. 8kn. Wind freshened to 28 knots real. We proceed on a reach with two reefs in the mainsail and genoa 80%. Leaden sky and sea that starts to get big!

12:00h. -1.340. 122° 7.5kn. 167/24h. A little better, the daily average, I start feeling I can make the grossing in 15 days. According to the Armada de Chile in Easter Island (the Chilean Navy), the average sailing time up to Chiloe for a sailboat is 21 days. Surely an ambitious goal.

14:20h. -1.322. 95°. 7kn. The wind dropped to 15 knots real and turned south. We proceed to windward at 45 ° with full Genoa and one reef in the mainsail.

Continuous rain squalls follow, each generating instability in the wind. Before the front arrives the wind strengthens and normally rotates clockwise, then with the arrival of the rain the wind drops significantly, then return to the previous conditions of strength and direction. The more we go south, the closer we get to the 40th and more the colors of bad weather at sea are different from those that I have experienced so far. Here gray is the dominant and sea and sky are the same shade, merging on the horizon.

05 March

00:00h. -1290. 85°. 7kn. No progress towards our destination. The wind is refreshed but, with the help of a current of about 2 knots from S/SE we are throwed back. In the last five hours we have progressed towards Boca del Guafo only eight miles while we have sailed over 30 !!

01:30h. -1283. 60°. 6kn. Wind refreshed at 25 knots real. For a more relaxant night I decide to take twoo reefings to the mainsail and to reduce the Genoa to 100%. But in the last 10 hours we have lost 7 'latitude, ie instead of advancing towards our goal we lost almost 7 miles!

04:40h. -1278. 124°. 4. I veered out of desperation, at least now we advance towards south, but forced to a close-hauled 35° thus developing little speed.

07:30h. -1269. 123°. 3.5kn. 97/24h. The wind finally collapsed leaving us with a big sea which slows us down even with the engine running. Perfect closing of a day in which we recorded one of the worst averages in the history of The Lifetime Cruise. Only 97 miles in 24 hours toward our destination (136 on the water).

19:25h. -1298. 85° 5.5kn. Wind from south 10 knots real. We proceed with full mainsail and genoa. The squalls continue.

12:00h. -1.260. 122°. 8kn. 80/24h. Our worst performance ever. We sailed for more than 140 miles in the last 24 hours but only half are useful to toward Boca del Guafo. Sigh!

15:30h. -1241. 123°. 5.5kn. Waiting for the wind. This day turned out to be warm and quiet, perfect conditions for some other maintenance. Still some minor surgery to our bimini top (we treated with silicone all seams made a few days ago which had shown little resistance to water during the squalls of the last hours) and we disassembled, cleaned and stowed all sun covers. I also found the time to prepare three pizzas with tuna, onion and capers. We expect a reinforcement to F4 in the evening, up to F7/8 for the night, but coming from the 1st / 4th quadrant leaves me pretty quiet.

19:10h. -1.212. 123°. 7KN. The wind has finally arrived. We have 17/18 knots true wind from NW that allows us to stay on course. The only problem is that having the wind practically at 180°, finding the right tuning of sails is not easy. Eventually, after several tests, the solution was mainsail on starboard tack and Gennacher with tangoon spinnaker pole on the left, the classic "butterfly". We are not fast, it would probably be more effective a closer angle to the wind so to increase the apparent wind and therefore the speed. This would, however, take us away from our ideal course and I'm psychologically tired to sail miles and not have decreasing the magic number that indicates the distance from our next WP. It 's like when you have to bet whether to take a speedway, that promises you faster but longer run, or a standard highway, slower but shorter. You choose choose the speedway and then you find yourself in an endless queue bottled that wrecks the hourly average on which you had wagered. Well today I choose the "highway"

23:00h. -1.194. 123°. 8kn. Barometer is falling. -3mb In 4 hours and - 7mb in the last 14. The wind freshened to 22/25 knots real, always NW. For the moment we maintain full mainsail but we have the Genoa instead of the Gennacher, always with tangoon. Hopefully no further reinforcements because , for the time being we are fastand in absolute comfort.

06 March

02:00h. -1.171. 122°. 9kn. Wind refreshes again and burst under us now to over 28 knots. I had already given a first reefing to the mainsail and I just gave the second and also reduced the genoa to 100% always with tangoon. Angelique II has shown a tendency to go towords the wind, so I decided to reduce sail aft and to leave power in the bow. In general, however, the comfort on board is very good. Only the vibrations and the roar of the wind remind us, we are sailing with peaks in excess of 11 knots. The new cover that closes the cockpit, made in Guatemala on my design is proving to be the most useful tools of this first voyage to the South. Protected here in the cockpit I have full 360 ° visibility and are totally sheltered from the wind and sea which, in these situations, really makes the difference.

06:30h. -1.138. 122°. 8kn. The wind has made a jump of more than 90 ° in less than a minute. Fortunately the pilot was set to the wind and the alarm woke me up. We had thegenoa with a tangoon!! Over 1/2 hour of work to disarm it and put it on its stand to at the mast step. The rest of the Crew is sleeping and I did not want to wake them up. We travel to the beam with about 25/27 knots of wind, three reefs in the mainsail and genoa to 60% and we peaks 10 knots. What a boat!

10:30h. -1.111. 122°. 8kn. The wind has dropped and turned to W. One reef in the mainsail and genoa 100%.

11:00h. When we gave the first reefing to the Main Sail, Ray did not realize that the back snatch at the mast step was not in his natural position, so the reefing line was working on the face of the snatch instead on the appropriate roll. So, in the end, the reefing line was cut !! We gave the second reefing, but we'll have to think about how to replace it.

12:00h-1.103. 122°. 8kn. 157/24h. Given the history of this crossing I'm very happy with the yesterday average. We hope to continue like this.

15:30. -1.079. 121°. 6kn. Contrary to expectations the wind reinforced and turned to NW. Again Main sail on starboard tack and Genoa with spinnaker pole on the left.

21:05h. -1.042. 121° 7kn. For the night two reefs in the mainsail and genoa 110% same walls. We hope to rest.

ore 10:30. -1.111. 122°. 8kn. The wind has dropped and turned to W. One reef in the mainsail and genoa 100%.

07 March

7:30h. -968, 120°. 7.5kn. Quiet night. The radar woke me up only 2 times for the usual, harmless, squalls.

10:15h. -949. 120°. 8.5kn. Today I want to run serious miles. We are going to fly all sails we have.

12:00h. -941. 120°. 8.5kn. 162/24h. Even today good performance. Our goal gets closer.

ore 13:45. -919. 120° 8kn. Excellent speed over the groud, with an average of 9 knots, While I pamper my crew with a tasteful Focaccia Pugliese with onion.

15:30h. -909. 100°. 4.5kn. The wind, as expected collapsed. We put ashore the Gennacher instead of Genoa but with an angle to the wind of 60/70 ° performances are the same. Until tomorrow it will rwmain like this.

22:45h. -875. 160°. 3.5kn. We proceed with 6 knots of apparent wind, pretty much what we develop. We can not start the engines. We have to be careful with our Diesel consumption.

08 March A second hour added to our boat clock. Now we're on the same time zone of Chile Continental.

11:50h. -816. 118°. 8.5kn. Finally, the wind is back. Now we will try to make as much road as possible because in the evening we expect force 8/9

12:05h: The Warrior after post watch nap.

13:00h—808. 118°. 8.5kn. 133/24h. Given that for 3/4 of the day we wandered the South Pacific to the average of 4 nodes in search of the wind, the result is still acceptable. But the race against myself gets more and more difficult.

15:00h. -795. 118°. 8kn. Wind raise and barometer falls. Wind gusts of 40 knots. We proceed to the large slack, two reefs in the mainsail and genoa 100%

16:45h. -783, 118° 7kn. We gave the third reefs to the main sail, sacrificing speed to safety. I am always surprised by my ability to never be satisfied. I decided to reduce the sail for a greater margin of safety and now I complain for having lost 1 knot of speed. What a fool. On the other hand even with force 7, comfort on board remains high as testified by the freshly baked "pane alle olive nere"!!

20:05h. -758. 117. 7kn. The wind is now constantly over 40 knots. We keep an angle of around 120 degrees to the wind. The waves begin to shatter and to gain respect. I reduced the genoa to 60%, while the mainsail is still on with its 3 reefs. The autopilot behaves very well, undoubtly the best crew member. It is constantly at work, does not complain and consumes very little. The comfort on board is still surprisingly high. We watch a documentary on Marilyn Monroe.

09 March

02:05h. -722. 130°. 8.5kn. New Eve style night, all awake. The wind continues about 40 knots, but the waves are now 5/6 meters and begins to shatter. Sailing abeam, occasionally, fringes on the side of the boat and the Holy awning avoids unwanted showers. We are in the cockpit really away from everything and the storm out there seems less threatening. I decided leave sea and wind to our aft for a more comfortable and above all safe run. With Ray we went to tie the Lazy Bag (canvas that collects the sail when lowered) that was disintegrating under the whipping wind. Once fixed the lazy bag I remain few minutes at the mast step, enchanted by the immense spectacle that was on stage in front of our bows. The full moon shone in daylight crashing giant waves of a metallic gray, foaming crossing our bows. All this did not generate any sense of apprehension or fear, on the contrary joy perhaps, with a hint of childish irresponsibility, the prelude of a dream that lasted a lifetime.

03:30h. -714. 155°. 6kn. In the last 10 minutes the wind has remained consistently above 50 knots and gusting much higher with a bit of 65,7kn !! Too much for our reefed mainsail. The boat under burst broach dangerously exposing the sides to the breaking waves which are now really high and completely engulfs the moon. We pulled down the mainsail completely and to tie it to the boom we hade to turn in trapeze and jugglers. Now with a small sail (the genoa to 30%), we have reduced the speed to just over 6 knots, the boat does not broach anymore and navigation is once again absolutely comfortable. The storm should pass but do not know exactly when.We download forecasts with an interval of 12 hours (I could also have them with an interval of 3 hours, but the file would weigh more greatly and data traffic costs almost as much as gold), so I just know that for 15 hours: 00 today we should have a F5. We'll see.

07:49h. This is the dawn, but the sun and the horizon were swallowed up by the mountain of water that lies ahead

13:00h. -660. 115°. 7kn. 148/24h. The miles traveled are not many, but considering what we experienced in the last 24h we are really satisfied. In these moments I also put aside the silly challenge against myself. The night passed with winds between 45 and 50 knots and a huge sea. I'm happy because the boat performed excellently, always safe and with a level of comfort on board that I never imagined in these conditions. Observing the crew seems more intrigued by the new experience that worried. Viva Angelique II.

15:05h. -639. 114°. 7kn.The wind is still about 40 knots and we still proceed with the genoa only 40% but again on course. We still have to wait. I have to rest sometime. This night the watch shift should be on Vale, but even if it was up to Ray, with these conditions I would not feel comfortable to go to sleep. I 'll try to take a nap in the lounge.

20:35h. -607. 120°. 7kn. The wind has finally dropped to 25 knots of real NW. We proceed with the mainsail reefed with two hands and the genoa 100%. The sea is still very big, but the wave has stopped breaking. In return, still a fabulous sunset. The colors of the Roaring 40 are extremes as its winds and the sea.

23:45h. -584. 118°, 6.5kn. We just passed the 40 ° south latitude, we are in the Roaring Forties. We celebrate with a chocolate cake and a nice cup of tea. In return Eolo rewards us with a wind down to 18 knots which we face with full Main sail and Genoa to 110%. As expected I'll say on watch instead Vale, but I really hope to sleep few hours.

10 Marzo

04:50h. -556. 114°. 5kn. The wind dropped to only 11 knots real which with our course 120 ° to the wind turn into just 8 knots of apparent wind. I replaced the genoa with the gennacher . It's cold outside, I go to sleep.

ore 13:00. -515. 118°. 5kn. 145/24h. Still a good average in the last 24h.

ore 14:00. -505. 122°. 5kn. Clear sky and a sun that warms us from the cold and humidity of the last 48 hours. Dawn was uncertain, but then someone decided to send an extraordinary day. We proceed with butterfly sail, I still choose the "countryside" highway. I want to do less miles possible. At lunch I prepare a delicious "pasta che Saddi" (pasta with sardines) to the delight of myself and my crew.

ore 18:15. -484. 115°. 7.5kn. To conclude this wonderful day, Neptune sends us a nice tuna of about 15 kg. He obviously was aware that our diet was low in protein in the last days.

ore 20:55. -471. 130°. 3.5kn. The wind has dropped to just 8 knots real which with our course become 5 apparent. The mainsail covers the gennacher which tends to jibe, while the wave yet formed swings the boom causing strokes tugging on all the equipment. So I decided to take down the mainsail and use the spiunnaker poleon the gennacher. We lost one knot but we do not stress the rigging and, above all, my nervous system! In return another joint gift from Aeolus and Neptune: a fairytale sunset spotted by a vertical rainbow. Angelique II and his crew thank.

ore 08:00. -420. 110°.7kn. Quiet night, Ray was on guard and managed to get me some sleep without interruption, the first since we left Rapa Nui. The night went surfing downwind with only the gennacher on spinnaker pole, pushed by a gentle breeze around 12 knots real. Before sending Ray in the cot for a well deserved rest, we hoisted the mainsail. The wind has shifted to N a few degrees allowing a closer angle to the wind.

ore 10:20. -404. 110°.8kn. I had just sent Ray to rest and I was going to prepare a hearty breakfast with coffee and a cup of oatmeal with raisins and milk. Ijust filled the cup with oats and raisins when I heard a loud "BANG". The U bolt to which the leeward sheet of the mainsail is attached was gone because of the continuous tear suffered by the boom in the last hours due to the low pressure of the wind and to the long ocean wave. I secured the the boom directly to the stern davits with a piece of spare rope and start thinkig bout a solution. With a 8mm Dynema rope I realized two ties of 60 cm each, with spliced ​​and sewn eyelets at both ends. Then, each tie was passed inside a rubber hose. So I made two bands (I safely also replaced the attack of the second sheet) wich went around the stern davits and to whch the two sheets blocks were attached.

Viable solution in 45 minutes of work.

Then I returned to my cup of oats with raisins waiting to be filled with milk. The coffee was cold so I to add it to the oats instead of having it in the traditional Italian small cofee cup.I opened the refrigerator to get the milk carton, when "BANG2" (this time less noisy). The upwind running back stay was wildly oscillating, bouncing between the bimini top and the cabin roof.

I found that the shackle ensuring the stay to its sheet inn mechanism was loosene. I made up a new shackle, secured the running back stay to its block, and firmly tensioned the entire rigging. I need to check all the rigging. I did it, as usual, before leaving Rapa Nui, but here in the Roaring Forties I guess it's up to do it every day.

I went back to the kitchen and I finally added the milk and coffee to my oats. I sat at the table in the living room and while I carried to the mouth the first bite of my much deserved breakfast from the window I noticed that the rope I used to secure the boom was had left on the deck of the port hull. The latter, annoyed for the outrage, was sneaking furtively towards the gunwale ready to jump into the water. So,I left the cup and full spoon on the table and I went outside to solve the issue with the rope

The spare ropes live normally stored in ort side hull frontpeak, all secured to a 6 mm steel cable. So I opened the locker and went down (the locker is 2.5 meters deep). Once reached the bottom a shock went through allover my body, running from the tip of my toes to the brain. My legs were immersed in water up to the calf! Consider that the locker in question (originally one of the two crew cabins) is 3.5 meters long and 60 cm wide on average. For which, by referring to some vague notion of geometry, 25 cm of water multiply by the volume of the locker, make about 530 liters!

My brain, fortunately survived the shock, immediately sent a message to the legs which started running towards the starboard hull fronpeak (the workshop). Meanwhile my hands fluttered in an incomprehensible rotary motion. Once in the workshop I understood that the hands were already trying to open a container with a big screw cap where I place a pump which is normally used to refuel the boat when, in the absence of gas stations in the dock, the fuel is delivered in barrels impossible to carry on board. At this point, having a clear design, I regained control of the situation. I recovered the hose we use to wash the boat, I left one end outboard end and the other was connected to the pump. It took me almost an hour to empty it completely. After draining the bilge, I found myself in front of the dismayed question: but where the hell did all this water come from?

These are the moments in which I always think the worst: a delamination of the hull; we bumped again a whale and we open a flaw; a seacocks was broken. Only to discover later that the cause of a near heart attack is simply nonsense.

In this case, the filter plug of the watermaker had slightly unscrewed and the pressure of seawater did the rest with the aggravating circumstance that the bilge pump did not work (which is still to be investigated).

So I closed the seacok valve and tightened the filter cap.

For the moment we do not need to start the water maler, we have enough drinking water.

So after about 1 hour and 15 minutes I went back in the living room. My cup of oats, raisins and milk were no longer that tasty look of 8am. I opted for two fried eggs with becon, two slices of toast with papaya jam made by the virtuous hands of my lady and a cup of steaming coffee.

Meanwhile Ray kept resting and Vale was trying to break her personal record of "most slept nights" !!

13:00h. -392. 109°. 8kn. 148/24 Not a bad average, but still many liles to go.

14:50h. -371. 109°. 9kn. Barometer again swoops, 6 millibars in 4,5 hours. We expect F7for the night, fortunately always N / NW. For now we enjoy a strong F6 with all the sails up which push us to an appreciable average of 9 knots. At lunch tuna steaks on the barbecuewith seasoned, tomato salad, green beans and red onion, all sprinkled with a good and,above all, cheap Chilean wine.

18:20h. -345. 105°. 7.5kn The barometer down 1mb more, I know it is going to be tuff. For the moment, the wind is about 20 knots real and we sail downwind with tfull sails.

23:40h. -303. 100°. 8kn. By now the wind remains F6, the reinforcement is foreseen for 3:00htomorrow. This evening we turned on for the first time the heating, only for 1 hour, just to give it a try. A system I mounted in Guatemala with the help of Ray. A Webasto 1050, which canheat the Costa Crociere. 50 meters of 1 inch rubber pipe distribute hot water to 6 radiators(one for each cabin plus two in the living room). Each radiator has a fan which is driven by athermostat located in each environment. To connect all these thermostats to the control unitof the system we had to draw 150 meters of electrical cables. One of the many huge worksdone to the interior of Angelique II, last summer. But this is another story.

12 Marzo

10:00h. -223. 109°. 7kn. With 7 hours delay but it finally arrived. Its name is F7 is, comesstraight from the NW and runs at 28 knots. We have it in downwind. I therefore decided totake down the mainsail and to leave the job to the Genoa, still averaging 8 knots. Meanwhilethe sun came altough is still cold outside. In the leving room only 17°!

13:00h. -203. 109°. 7kn. 190/24h. Our best performance since the beginning of this journey(the record is 278 miles, I did with Ray in 2012 sailing from Cagliari to Ibiza). I start to believe that these poor daily averages are due to the characteristics of marine weather at these latitudes, there is always more "sea" than wind. If you want to be fast you have to be ready to give up on the side of safety. Now we have 22 knots of apparent wind (about 28 real) on a reach leg, suitable according to my traditional standard to one reef and full genoa. With this arrangement we should maintain an average of 11/12 knots, but surfing down these huge waves we would easely reach speeds around 16/18 knots and the boat woud tend to yaw and the autopilot would have hard time to put it back on course. We better stay on the safe side.

17:45h -170. 100°. 8kn. Wind dropped to 20 knots real, we proceed with an angle of 130 ° to the wind, about 10° west to our ideal course. But tomorrow we expect light winds, under 10kn. In this way we will find ourself in a better position to have an higher apparent wind. Wespotted the first 3 Albatros,. They are gigantic birds, with a wingspan that can reach up to 3meters. They remind me World War II B52, the bombers. It look like they even do not shaketheir wings, they keep going and glide, even in ascension. They are very elegant. The petrelsthat normally keep us company, compared to them resemble the fast and furious F16, alwaysin continuous evolution.

23:30h. -136. 105°. 5kn. The Wind fell again to 14 knots. I replaced the Gennacher to the Genoa but I do not want to pull up the mainsail. It's freezing cold outside, to hell with thechallenge, a hot tea and my sliping bed are waiting for me.

13 Marzo

07:40h. -90. 105°. 5kn. A squall over 25 knots woke me up. We still had the Gennacherhoisted. 30 degrees downwind to discharge pressure from the sail and I rolled it andreplaced with the Genoa. Then the wind came back to his quiet 10 knots. Missing just 90 miles to Boca del Guafo: I'm still on game. It 's time to put hoist also the mainsail.

03:00h. -59. 117°. 5kn. 140/24h. The wind is still low and will remain so throughout the daybut my personal goal is getting closer. To the delight of my crew, we continued to alternategennacher and genoa for the entire morning. Today I chose to go the for "speedway", forwhich the pilot is set to the wind. We range between 100° and 90°, trying to privilege the speed. In this way, in spite of just 7 knots of wind, we maintain a VMG (Velocity Made Good -the speed of advance towards the Way Point) of 5 knots.

17:40h.-36. 125°. 6kn. We just spotted the first boat in 14 days and 2,000 miles of sea, a small fishing Chilean boat and while I'm writing writing Valentina screams EARTH; EARTH,is Isla Guafa that just 36 miles away, welcoming us.

20:00h. -25. 107°. 3.5kn. The wind has dropped to just 6 knots and is already a miracledevelop 3. I can not turn on the motors, Puerto Quellon, where we can fill up the dieasel tanks, is still 84 miles away and we have fuel just for 50 miles.

20:35h. -24. 107°.7kn A unexpected and welcomed thunderstorm brings enough wind toaverage 7 knots.

23:50h. 0. 94°. 4kn.

“Faro Guafo, Faro Guafo, Faro Guafo, dal Catamaran Angelique II, me recibe? Cambio.”

“Aqui Faro Guafo, a Catamaran, Canal 14”

“Faro Guafo por Catamaran”

“Faro Guafo esto es el Catamaran Angelique II, senal de llamada FOX, FOX, KILO, FOX, bandera Francesa con tres tripulantes, dos de nacionalidad Italiana e uno Australiano, en navigation da la Isla de Pascua con destino Puerto Qullon. Nuestra posición es 43° 27’.12 SUR e 074°23.35 OUESTE, cambio”

“Bienvenido Capitán, necesita algo? Cambio”

“Gracias por preguntar, todo esta bien, solo comunicar nuestra posición por las instrucciones recibida da la Armada de Chile en la Isla de Pascua, cambio”

“Gracias Capitán, cual es su ETA (ora prevista di arrivo) a Puerto Quellon? Cambio”

“ 13:00, 13:00 de la mañana, cambio”

“Recibido Capitan, vamos a informar L’Armada de Puerto Quellon. Buena navigation e volvemos en escucho sul Canal 16, cambio”

“Muchísima gracias e tenga una buena noche,vuelvo al canal 16.”

With this radio communication with the Lighthouse of Isla Guafo in 13 days, 10 hours and 50 minutes, we completed our first crossing of the South Pacific Ocean.

We are in the Roaring Forties, in Patagonia.

The Cruise to the End of the World has really began.