lessons | Errantries

Author: Pete

Location: Quintero, Chile. [ 32°46′58″S 71°31′50″W ]

Stayed the night at a little B&B in the countryside outside of Quintero called Haras Casacampo. The place was built from an old pure-bred horse farm where horses and chickens roamed free and all the rooms were retrofitted stalls. Pretty cute. Gloria and Antonio were charismatic and welcoming.

The next day out on the water we motored from out mooring again, hoisted the main, unfurled the genoa, and made about dodging freighters and their pilot craft as we exited the bay under sail. The sheer mass and size of those ships is chilling.

The wind picked up as we left the lee of the Quinter Bay headlands. Out away from the ships we put a reef in the main and maneuvered around to get the feel for it. The boat sailed flatter and more comfortably than before. Then I put in another reef in the main, just for the practice, and we sailed along in the rolling swells with even more control.

We dropped the headsail and simulated a change out. Mario messed with things and watched us put them back together. We rolled around the seas for another hour or so then cruised in. In the bay we simulated a regatta, running a triangular pattern around buoys to get the feel for all points of sail. We did some more man-overboard drills under sail as well.

It was so fortunate to meet up with Mario. He did a fantastic job of mentoring and instructing us out on the sea and we are extremely grateful for his tutelage and friendship.

Afterwards we had lunch in the gritty little town. The place was a little rough around the edges, but the cazuela and fish (and beer!) were fantastic! We were so excited to get on the ocean! FINALLY!

Author: Pete

Location: Quintero, Chile. [ 32°46′58″S 71°31′50″W ]

We finally got our feet wet! Found a fantastic gentleman who had a sailboat on the coast and gave private lessons. There is an ASA equivalent here in Chile, but they are more focused on theory than practice, and are similar price as the ASA courses. Thus, Pash and I have decided to do the majority of our instruction in the states this summer.

It, however, is exceedingly frustrating to be soaking up theory from books, planning like crazy, and ducking under the looming specter of this unknown trip and not be able to do anything tangible. We’ve been itching for some time on a real boat in real waves. I do realize we’ll be inundated with these experiences very soon, but we’re impatient folk.

It was a fantastic connection to find Mario Carmona, a sailor from Santiago who kept a small house and boat in nearby Quintero, a small, industrial, port town. He happily arranged a few days of sailing with us with the aim of familiarizing us with the systems aboard and have us be able to sail by ourselves.

At the beginning of the the ‘long’ Easter weekend we met Mario at the Quintero Club de Yates and jumped aboard his 35′ Ericson. We spent the first hour or so in the calm of the bay focused on systems of a cruising sailboat, electronics, plumbing, navigation, and so on.

Motored out of our mooring between long rows of gorgeous sailboats and beat up fishing boats, a juxtaposition of reasons to be at sea. We practiced man-overboard drills, and handling the boat under power. Even with a 12,000 pound displacement she responded well to the diesel. A fat sea lion frolicked along with us, laughing at our ungraceful choreography. Bonus points if you can pick his laughing face out in the picture below.

When the wind picked up we raised the main and worked some drills under its power alone. Later we unfurled the 120 genoa and aimed out of the bay. Who’s laughing now, sea lion? As Chile imports the majority of it’s energy, La Bahia Quintero is a busy port where tankers of petroleum and natural gas are offloaded. So our first excursion to open water came after we ran the gauntlet of giants.

Making out into the open seas we worked drills on handling in large swell. We estimated they were 2.5 meters. Pretty good. Mario was a fantastic instructor. By the end of the day we were handling the boat by ourselves with ease… and only a little green from the swell.