50’49.6S 074’22.0W speed 7,2 knots course 331′
Over a month ago, the world of travel came to an absolute halt for the Tecla and her crew. With changing politic climates and enforcing of rules, the Tecla got detained by the Chilean Armada and Customs, and were fined for not complying with Chilean tax law. But bureaucracy made us wade through muddy waters, to find our way through this swamp. As we were not fined for the first 3 weeks, we had no idea what we could work with. We had no letter of accusation etc and were just awaiting information. Our guests for two voyages had to be completely canceled. When we finally received a letter in mainly held the amount for the fine, it was promptly paid, but again bureaucracy had us wait over Easter and even the weekend after that for more news on the payment. Finally on Thursday the 1st of May, the Tecla received a letter, feeing us and acquitting us of any further legal steps.
By this time, we were a moth past our departure date from Puerto Natales and got ging very eagerly!
And so now, here we are. Making our way North as quick as we can, as we still have some amazing voyage crew who want to sail with us to Tahiti. Although the voyage will not be anything like we intended it to be, we are now making sure we can make the miles between Puerto Montt and Tahiti as pleasant as possible!
Over the past month we have seen winter set in, the colors on the trees changed, the mountains around us got whiter with snow as we waited at anchor. But now that we are heading North we get to see so much more of the change in the scenery. The nights are dark and long, the wind is cold and sometimes we find ice in the channels that lead to a Glacier.
With only crew on board we are making the most of our situation. We set the forestaysail when there is a favorable wind and we take it away again when the wind changed against us. The mizzen stays up, our reefed mizzen is our champion in the night and during the dim daylight hours. We have a little over 500 miles to go, we are pushing it with every ounce we have.
