Day 1, Passage to Puerto Montt

2000Z 22SEP19, Day 1, Easter Island to Puerto Montt, Chile. We departed from our spot at anchor in Hanga Roa around 3pm local Saturday the 21st. Jon and Daxton went into town in the morning to get some last minute provisions (empanadas, bread and pastries!) and checked us out. They were back on the boat around noon. We ate lunch, deflated and stored the dinghy, completed some other pre-departure chores, and got underway. The wind had already started shifting to the north so it was definitely looking like time to get going as the anchorage was becoming more and more exposed.

We motored down the west coast of Easter Island and put up sails about an hour after getting underway. We were comfortably sailing close hauled and fell off to a close reach as we got out of the lee of the island with 10-15kts of wind. Overnight the wind died to 5-10kts, we moved slowly and bounced around a bit - not unlike that rolly anchorage just louder with the main flopping about. Eventually we gave that up and motored for awhile. Then the winds came back, the engine was secured and we set up on a nice broad reach. Over the course of the day the wind has continued to fill in.

Current Position: 28 15S 107 29W
24 hour progress: 128nm, 5.3kts avg SOG with about 5hrs of engine time since getting ready to depart, approximately 1835nm to the entrance canal to get to Puerto Montt. The weather yesterday afternoon was lovely with a beautiful sunset next to Rapa Nui. Today has been more gray with a bit of light rain. The night was clear and the stars were brilliant. The moon is about half and up for the last half of the night. We are currently on a broad reach, with one reef in the main. Winds are 20-25kts true and the seas are comfortably following.

We expect the weather to be rather up and down for this passage. It wasn't a great weather window with converging highs and shifting systems, but it was better than staying on the exposed Easter Island so we are prepared to sail, drift and motor as needed.

The crew is well and we're settling into our routines. One of the bright sides of a rolly anchorage is that everyone is feeling good. Even Poseidon is well - he isn't drooling or sick like he typically gets at the start of a passage. The boys are fully engaged in a lego robotics challenge. They are building and programming together as the parents throw out suggestions of what we would like to see.

Fishing line has been out with the cedar plug in hopes of a tuna that seemed so prevalent in the restaurants of Rapa Nui. No bites for us yet though.