Chile, Valdivia to San Diego, CA.
Published 17 years ago, updated 5 years ago
Valdivia, Chile to San Diego, CA. (departing the end of May/early June – sail). Do you have any advice? My WCR, 5th ed., only seems to show S. bound routes. Thank-you so much.
There is a good reason why there is no mention of this route in my book… it is a very difficult one that is rarely sailed by anyone. There are two ways to tackle this problem:
(1) Stay close to the South American coast and make your way north the best way you can. You will be ok as far as the equator, then you will encounter northerly winds…. and from there on you have to really play the weather as it comes.
(2) Go offshore. Again, you should have reasonable winds as far – or even – further than the equator, but at some point (probably from 5 degrees N) you may run into NE winds. From that point onwards you’ll need to take short tacks to keep as close as possible to the direct course for San Diego.
Both are feasible, but, as I said, not easy.
Please let us know how it all went.
Good luck!
Jimmy Cornell, noonsite
Related to the following Cruising Resources: Pacific Ocean East, Routing
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