Patagonia

Some of the most remote yet achievable sailing anywhere can be found in Southern Chile. There are over a thousand miles of epic cruising, as with West Greenland, most of it possible inside the relatively sheltered waters of an offshore chain of islands. There are snow-covered volcanoes in the north and south, tall granite mountains with glaciers that run to the sea in TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK Around the corner, deep in the latitudes of the Southern Ocean are the islands and protected waters of Tierra del Fuego, jumping off ground for the Antarctic Peninsula. As with the Falkland Islands, especially for large yachts and superyachts, the Patagonian ‘canals’ are often seen by owners as only a region to transit, rather than a destination in themselves. For the crews of smaller sailboats, they have no choice but to slow down and take in the majesty of the trip, especially if they’re travelling from south to north against the prevailing winds. The Chilean and Argentinean sides of Patagonia are quite different. Argentina, to the east of the Andes is mostly flat and accessible by land. Chile’s side is a maze of fjords, high mountains, lagoons, rivers and hundreds of islands. There are no roads from north to south, the only access is by the sea or air and one result of this is that the locals are very happy to meet the resourceful ‘tourist’ travelling by boat. Yachts preparing to leave will normally start south from the bustling city of Puerto Montt, while the best jumping off place for those intrepid enough to make the journey north will be from anchor off the windiest city in the world, Punta Arenas.

Text and image source: owenclarke