One Ocean lays at anchor in Bahia Tilly on the Strait of Magellan, 226 nm northwest of Cape Horn, 6,600 nm miles southeast of her home port, Anacortes, Washington, logging 17,136 nm in 324 days to visit this beautiful and secure little bay. More than a lifetime of sailing miles for most sailors, a happy amount for the Oo crew looking forward to more. We are in this bay waiting for weather to pass us by and conditions to calm down a bit.
For comparative interest, fifteen years ago S/V Ocean Watch and crew anchored twice (on the same day) in a bay less than a mile from here on Isla Beware (aptly named)! That journey to this point totaled 18,689 in 245 days from Seattle. Our tracks are notably different for the east coast of South America but our distances are remarkably similar.
So, I hear myself saying . . . what's the point of this story? My answer, history, politics and time… similar voyages, different crews, slightly different routes and shared experiences. The shared mission and experiences are the real point. Amazing people we've met from one end of this island to the other have been nothing short of extraordinary, noted during both voyages and appreciated by both crews. This one vast blue ocean connects us all and that singular connection is rewarding and important. While the global political landscape becomes more complex and dangerous everyday we continue to be amazed at the optimism, creativity and desire to learn expressed by new friends of every age. Children, adults, retirees, officials, travellers and wanderers surround us with encouragement and offers of help at every port of call.
An unplanned visit to a very small Puerto Williams sidewalk shop for an ice cream turned into one of those encounters. The busy and smiling young woman scooping ice cream and serving coffee in this establishment brightened when she found out we were sailors returning from a Cape Horn experience. We asked her how long she had been in Puerto Williams which led to her confession of being a scientist, studying bats and bat behavior on Cape Horn and surrounding islands. An ice-cream scooping young scientist working on her dissertation while living in a bus at the End of World - as described by Puerto Williams signage, the perfect sample of the serendipitous experiences we've encountered along the way. That's the point, a perfect example of the resilience and creativity of human beings.
Sailing alone, aka singlehanding, is by definition a selfish enterprise involving lots of people. During my first circumnavigation from Seattle to Seattle I encountered an abundance of encouragement in each of my ports of call, including Puerto Williams. At that time Chile and Argentina were in the midst of a military standoff regarding ownership of small islands at the Eastern end of the Beagle Channel. Military boats from both countries escorted me in and out of the Beagle - Argentina craft on the north side of the channel, Chilean on the south. The dispute and animosity was on daily display on the Beagle and a US vessel in this channel wasn't appreciated by either party. I did feel protected and alone! Torpedoes on starboard, guns on port - US flag in between.
Days after leaving the channel I found myself sailing into the Falkland Islands looking for some help with significant mechanical issues. I arrived on Boxing Day, 1982, a few weeks after Britain and Argentina had 'paused' their war over ownership of the Falklands. Troops were on alert for a counter attack from Argentina, rumored to be planned for New Years Eve. That evening I was a guest at the Governor's residence. He hosted a party for locals, officers and a lone sailor from the US. The counter attack didn't occur but local brew and terrific mechanical help, in the form of four British navy machinists, did. I left the Island on New Year's Day, engine and hangover quite well done and escorted out of the harbor by a British launch just in case a surprise assault from a hidden Argentine craft happened. Guns on starboard, missiles on port, US flag in the middle.
Next stop for me was Cape Town. By 1982 Nelson Mandela had spent 19 years imprisoned on Robben Island, a very few miles from downtown Cape Town. At that time the US State Department didn't encourage travel by US citizens to apartheid South Africa. A South African official stamp in a US passport meant entry into Australia or New Zealand would be denied. My intended next stop was Tasmania, Australia, so Cape Town was going to be a problem. The imprisonment of Mandela for opposing apartheid had become the focal issue for pressuring the South African government to end apartheid. David Logan, friend and sailor from Seattle, arrived in Cape Town to help ready my boat for the next long leg to Tasmania. One afternoon we decided to have a closer look at Robben Island so we sailed there, expecting to be turned away or arrested - US flag flying from the transom. We were turned away by no-nonsense looking enforcement boats and crews, no conversations, just hand signals! 8 years later Nelson Mandela was released, 4 years after he was elected President. I left for Tasmania with a South African stamp on a removable piece of parchment, supplied by SA officials, done so I could enter Australia. No military escorts, just a wink and a nod for a US boat ''not officially' coming from apartheid South Africa.
The storms and hurricanes we encountered on One Ocean in the north atlantic held our attention until arriving in Bermuda where we became aware of an increased US military presence in the Caribbean. Satellite communications were interrupted as we proceeded toward Panama along with warnings from the US State Department strongly suggesting mariners should avoid several surrounding coasts and countries due to military exercises. The US was making a statement and we were flying the US flag. Guns, aircraft and warships on port and starboard as we made our way to the Panama Canal.
I've just shared a 44-year span of sailing around or through unsettled political waters. Our ocean not only connects us all, it keeps us all alive. Fish don't know who has claimed ownership of any particular section of the ocean; trash and plastics don't know political boundaries; whales, birds and seals happily transit different ocean regions without regard to political consideration. Humans, however, haven't advanced to that level. I guess that's my point. We have more work to do. Optimism is required. Education is the thread.
