Shore lines

Today we stayed at Caleta Playa Parda Chica, to recup and wait for a weather window. The weather cleared and it was a nice spring day with sunshine and blue sky. Not what we expected from the gribs but it was a good rest day for us and last night we slept much better than Caleta Uriarte. We were also visited by a curious kingfisher who posed on the lifelines.

One facet of cruising in Chile is shore lines. Cruising in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia you don't need to do this very often.

We are getting the hang of setting them and there are lots of tricks to learn. The tough part is a) finding suitable trees/rocks/shrubs to tie to, b) paddling the dingy to a when a stiff wind is blowing you away from shore and the boat. We use a kayak paddle with the dingy which is easier to handle than two oars. In the dingy is an anchor which we can lob onto the shore to secure the dingy so it does not go on walkabout. The floating shore line is in a tall laundry basket coiled inside and that is put in the dingy. I take the free end of the line, tie it to my pfd so my hands are free to scramble onto the shore. If the boat is close enough, or less than half the length of the shore line, I can just bring the line around the tree or shrub and bring both ends back to the boat. In this arrangement, when we leave, I don't have to go back on shore with the dingy, we can just let lose the line on one end and pull the line back to the boat as there is no knot to hang it on on shore. If the line is not long enough, I tie a know that is far enough from the shore so if the tide changes, I can still get to it from the dingy, untie it and we bring it back on the boat. I always carry a sailor's knife with me so I can cut the line if necessary, as I did at Caleta Uriarte where the rock refused to give up the line.

This all works well with no wind or rain, otherwise it can be problematic. Paddling against a stiff wind is tiring and frustrating. It is also scary if you think you will be blown away from the shore and the boat.

Rich and I are working on our techniques and we are by no means experts, just getting lots of practice. Rich has the hard part, controlling the boat, keeping it off the rocks, setting/resetting the anchor and helping pull the shore line in. He has also taken turns in the dingy so he can appreciate that job too.

Doing this job with a large boat and just two people can be difficult.

Time to send this off so we can get the gribs and determine a plan for tomorrow.

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