South American circumnavigation

I am considering a circumnavigation of South America. Starting in Cartagena heading to Panama, through the canal and making a counter clockwise voyage and ending in Cartagena. Has anyone here made this trip?

We have friends who did it in their sailboat in a roundabout way. They left Panama to Galapagos, to Easter Island and then Chile before they headed south. They cruised six months or so on/off, leaving their boat and going back to Canada.

Here's a link to their blog. They arrived in Chile May 2011.

Curare's Adventures

Read Joshua Slocum......(first one to do it.....)

If you haven't already, you might want to post your question to Cruisers & Sailing Forums.

JJ

What kind of vessel are you contemplating for this rigorous journey?

30-something years ago I went to a CCA presentation by Miles and Beryl Smeeton about rounding Cape Horn as recounted in their book "Once is Enough". They actually attempted it twice.

You'd have to be bat-**** crazy to want to do this.


Keith

refugio said:

30-something years ago I went to a CCA presentation by Miles and Beryl Smeeton about rounding Cape Horn as recounted in their book "Once is Enough". They actually attempted it twice.

You'd have to be bat-**** crazy to want to do this.


Keith

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Understand we want to travel both sides of South America one day. We want to cross the Atlantic and Pacific. But...rounding Cape Horn-no way in hell. No Drake Passage for us. Let's see, short and very steep waves, rogue waves to 100', ice. Anything in there appealing?

Why? Just to be able to say you did it? Like the chicken to get to the other side? You do realize that 70% of the time the chicken gets run over by a car?
And what boat are you imagining yourself doing this in? I'd suggest rethinking this one.

I have been to two presentations by guys who have done the Horn in sailboats, well equipped sailboats with full crews and full instruments. One guy was quite clear that they were faced with a decision to go right or left around an iceberg. Nothing told them which way to go, so they went left. If they had gone right it would have been a death trap as there were several more bergs hidden to the right.

The second was an account of a crew on the 1987 Whitbread(?) race and the crew was exhausted as several/many/most had to be on deck at all times watching for dangers.

Best of luck, the Panama Canal was built for a reason.

plus this would be the wrong direction to do this given prevailing winds. Mind you, I am not sure there is a right way.
Having been down to the Roaring 40's on a ship several times I am pretty certain I would not want to be there in a small boat. Slokum and Shackleton not withstanding.

If it was a desirable route, there would be no Panama Canal. Went to a lot of work to be able to avoid it.

You can circumnavigate SA without going outside, going south you would come inside at Puerto Montt, Chile, and stay inside using either Magellan Strait or Beagle Channel to Ushuaia, Argentina, then out to the Atlantic. Marina's in Ushuaia have pleasure boats like ours, sailboat rentals, etc. Met a guy in Cartagena in 2005 who made the trip outside (solo) in a Whitby 42. This fellow was married to a local and probably still lives there, I'll pm you my contact information (which is not current).

Egret's logs and writings are the penultimate current tome on how it can safely be done in a small vessel. In their case an N46 with full Nordhavn backup and an experienced crew. One thing for sure, big big anchor, two of them in fact with lots of rode.

They even came across a DeFever 44 that has been cruising the waters for several years. Capt Bligh did the rounding, after he was put off the Bounty.

Forget about insurance though, it won't matter anyway if you lose your vessel you'll likely be with it.

I'd ask over at cruiserlog.com or sailnet.com as you may get more relevant feedback. The sail related forums tend to be populated with more adventurous souls, the bulk of power boaters have feet of clay.

You'll certainly be far more likely to find folks that have circumnavigated SA there.

Another source of information is the NoonSite, specifically for Chile, since it's 2600 miles long including the Cape.

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Chile

http://www.noonsite.com/

There have been many sailboat that have done this trip, currently I have a friend in Chile on his sailboat. Most sailboats when rounding counter clockwise follow the route described above of the Galapagos, Robinson Crusoe Island etc which is not the route I want to take for many reasons (distance, current, fueling up (the Galapagos are crazy $$)). But no matter how you slice it there are some long passages involved since Peru is to be avoided. I guess my main question is: is there a inside current to the Humboldt current? Is it recommended or is there a lot of fishing traffic (20% of the worlds seafood comes out of the Humboldt current.) Ports of call, parts , provisioning, access to fuel, safety, red tape, etc.

I have no intention of rounding the cape and plan to do the inside (without rushing and taking my sweet time) To be fair, the Beagle, Drakes and the straights of Magellan are all riddled with dangers of their own and present even the most seasoned of crew with challenges. Keep in mind that Chile is done in day trips and not navigated at night. These routes are full of fishing vessels that travers these waters everyday. This is no a no-mans land of boating, but it is to be treated with great planning and respect.


I think the Smeetons were an amazing couple and wrote some amazing books. They did attempt the cape west to east (the wrong way) twice with failure and on their third attempt made it setting a world record at the time for speed. Cape horn is the Everest of the sea and definitely a mountain I have no intention of rounding.

Jimmy James said:

But no matter how you slice it there are some long passages involved since Peru is to be avoided. .

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I have cruised off the Peruvian coast. Why avoid it?

sunchaser said:

I have cruised off the Peruvian coast. Why avoid it?

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Cruising off the coast appears to be safe. It's the land that's questionable today. Guerilla groups and robberies. High costs of entering and some law enforcement set ups to get more money. Shining path is active and especially attacks US citizens.


http://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Peru

Peru

I think the shining path are in the Andes on the Amazon River side. Far from the Pacific coast.

Yes my decision to skip Peru is based on noonsite. I am currently in South America and I am not squeamish about guerillas since they do not seem to be sea born groups (if we exclude Castros attack on Cuba aboard Granma), however if I were in Bogota getting into a cab I would be worried. Its not just the warnings on the opening page that has lead me to this idea, it was all the members live accounts that I read. They all seemed to have a common theme of getting the boat stripped from head to toe, dingy and motor stolen, forcefully boarded and completely shafted by the port and port agents, along with paying 800-1200 USD for entry. I have had my experiences in these sorts of places and know that I would not enjoy it. I think a better plan is to take a bus from Ecuador, see the things you want to see, stay in a hotel and return to the boat in Ecuador when finished. In the end it will be cheaper and a lot less hassle. I don't mind make the long run and skipping it.

The sail related forums tend to be populated with more adventurous souls, the bulk of power boaters have feet of clay.

Its not the skippers its the boat!

Sailboats have a far easier time being constructed to ocean scantlings than power boats.

The South Atlantic is not the place for a stock motor boat cookie , there are too many special requirements , a custom high latitude build may be a better choice.

Jimmy James said:

I think the Smeetons were an amazing couple and wrote some amazing books. They did attempt the cape west to east (the wrong way) twice with failure and on their third attempt made it setting a world record at the time for speed. Cape horn is the Everest of the sea and definitely a mountain I have no intention of rounding.

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west to east is downwind, east to west would be against wind and current

For a small motor vessel, (up to 55'), only the inside passage is recommendable.
Even so, weather forecasts are always far from being accurate.
The months between December and March are the best ones to make this inside passage.
Thank capacity is a must.
I don't know any positive feedback from those who tried to go from East to West. Specially in the inside passage. East coast of southern Argentina is not a gentle territory and there ain't many places where you can hide.

I have done this passage twice. In a 65' sailboat from Punta Arenas to Comodoro Rivadavia, as part of a crew that went to pick up a racing boat bought in Hawai. I was 20 y.o. and I remember having regret the money. The name of the boat was SAGA.
The second time was 14 years ago in a cruise ship with my wife. Trip not repeatable, because you cannot eat soup from your shoes