Yachting

The extra stop

in Peru was

time-consuming

and expensive

Spinner dolphin feed in the rich water of the
Humboldt current, as well as countless whales

ADVENTURE

44 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MAY 2016

increased to a SW Force 6 and we were
surrounded by fast moving fog banks as we
tacked into a three-metre swell. By now the
constant beating had caused the leech of
the genoa to unravel and fray.
We were well reefed and about five miles
offshore when the wind started
to die. The 35-year-old, 20hp
Bukh engine was also starting
to feel the strain. It helped
drive us off the shore but
around midnight it stopped. There was air
in the fuel line and bleeding it in the dark
and the waves was not easy. The starter
battery was also flattened by a fuel pump.
I fitted a spare, fully-charged battery and
spent the rest of that night motorsailing
into large cross-seas. By noon the next
day the fog had lifted, only to return as we

passed between the island of Mazorca and

the islet of Pelado, both bird reserves and

home to the beautiful Inca terns.

The alternator failure, the unravelled

leech of the jib and a shortage of fuel

made a stop at Callao compulsory. I slowly

motored past the steep, sandy cliffs of the

Isla San Lorenzo into Callao. The large

number of ships anchored were shrouded

in fog. I tried to contact the Port Captain

and the local Yacht Club de Peru (YCP) on

the VHF but no one spoke English and my

poor Spanish was little help. I was relieved

to see a man on the yacht pontoon radio

the yacht club and soon a launch showed

us to the visitor’s mooring.

Our unintentional stay in Callao was

expensive and we were overwhelmed by

officials: three visits from the coastguards

who photographed everything, port

officials and four health officials

complete with hard hats and

mufflers and paperwork fit for a

cargo ship. Callao, the port for

Lima and home of the YCP, is

the only port really suitable for yachts

on Peru’s mainly inhospitable coast. The

Peruvian officials were as hostile as the

coastline to Claudio and his crew, who

were arrested and interrogated for ‘spying’.

After leaving PLYC they had tacked some

200 miles offshore but, gripped by the

Humboldt Current and running out water

and low on fuel they, like us, had been

forced to stop at Callao.

After three days my agent and the

officials were paid off, the alternator

changed, the jib leech repaired, Sand and

Foam re-provisioned and refuelled, and

we were ready for the next leg of the trip to

Arica. We left at daybreak in the familiar

fog, cold, windless air and nasty cross-

swell. Amid large rafts of seaweed it was

not long before the old engine faltered,

produced clouds of white smoke and

stopped. I watched with trepidation as a

large bulk carrier approach from astern.

I turned the propeller shaft by hand to

remove the seaweed tangle. With the

engine running, but now smoking badly, I

was able to manoeuvre away from the ship.

The sailing improved. In fine weather

we closed Point Atico with its very steep

cliffs and long, sun-baked sand dunes.

There was less fog and more sun and even

a counter current, which allowed us to sail

at over five knots for the fist time. We were

getting closer to Chile but a day out from

‘Lines of plankton phosphorescence

glowed in the breaking waves’

The miles of sailing to windward took their toll, demanding running repairs to the genoa leech