Report 26 January - Team B on board Pelagic

Tuesday 26th January 22.30pm . See below for Climate and Position Data reported daily for educational users to follow the voyage on a Chart.

We are having a whale of a time. Today we left Puerto Williams and set sail for Cape Horn. On the 29th of January 1616, Jacob Le Maire and William Schouten, (two explorers who sailed around the Cape and actually saw it 383 years before us), named it after the little town of Hoorn in Holland, which was where they made plans for their expedition.

Right now we are at anchor in a little bay on Herschill Island just behind Cape Horn. We will wait here until the weather gets better. Tomorrow, we will catch sight of the Cape. Right now a huge storm is blowing through the Drake Passage. Outside the wind howls around our little boat and it is getting dark. It is cosy inside the galley where we are working on our laptops and writing in diaries. Tomorrow it should be alright to go onto the open sea.

Today was special because we were accompanied by around fifty Dusky dolphins. They were swimming alongside the boat for hours, ,jumping around like they had gone mad. One of them - Troy called him Flopsy - kept jumping up backwards high up in the air, showing us his silky white belly. Not only the dolphins seemed to welcome us enthusiastically, there were also loads of Magellanic penguins that started jumping around the boat and even three brown seals started splashing around us. We felt so lucky getting the chance to see all these beautiful creatures so nearby. We tried to communicate with the dolphins by whistling and making other noises, but they didn't react to it, probably thinking we were the craziest animals they had ever seen. We took loads of pictures and Jeremy even climbed the mast to film from there with his camera.

All of us have been taking turns at the helm today to practice steering to the compass and the other instruments. Today was extremely sunny.

Beagle Channel in calm weather. Click for full image

Until the late afternoon the Beagle Channel looked like a millpond. All that is changing now. We made a rota for the watches we will have to do once we get on the Drake Passage. Right now we are going to sleep in this big swinging cradle called Pelagic. It feels good. Sleep well and best wishes from the beautiful south.