I’ve returned from my voyage to Antarctica, my sailboat Phywave now safely tied up at Micalvi in Puerto Williams.  I’m pretty sure I’m the first person to both fly and sail solo to Antarctica.

The voyage south to Antarctica was relatively smooth sailing, taking about 4 days to reach Deception Island. The voyage back north across the Drake Passage was brutal. With an obvious storm system in place, I had the bad idea of sailing slow and west to get around it as it moved off to the east.   Others experienced Antarctica sailors advising me on weather also thought this would work.  Well, the system stalled and was followed by a large area of 5 to 6 meter high seas.  For a few days I tried to hang south of it but eventually had to start moving north to avoid getting caught by the next weather system moving in from the west.  The route map shows the crazy path my boat took.  The worst moment was when the furling line on my genoa headsail snapped in 30+ kt winds, causing the entire sail to roll out and send the boat ripping along at high speed, essentially out of control.  After contemplating various ways to get to sail down, I was able to climb out on the violently bouncing bow, frigid seawater splashing over me, and attach a new line to the furler and get the sail rolled back in. I think I earned my sailing stripes with that one.

Later I’ll post some photos I took during my week in Antarctica.