The Beagle Channel that traverses Patagonia offers one of the world’s most dramatic cruising grounds. At the very tip of South America, the channel, which is named after the ship Beagle in which Charles Darwin made his famous voyage, is lined with towering peaks, glaciers, high waterfalls and many coves in which to anchor.
Author and adventurer Marina Guedes has long dreamed of cruising the channel, so it was with joy that she accepted an invitation to do so with one of Europe’s most famous voyagers. Jerome Poncet is a legend in Europe and much admired by American blue water sailors.
Poncet circumnavigated with his wife Sally 40 years ago aboard their 32-foot sloop Damian. They then took up residence on Beaver Island in the Falkland Islands where they have farmed ever since.
Yet, they did not give up high latitude sailing and Damian took them and their guests many times to Antarctica, South Georgia Island and Patagonia. In this dramatic and challenging part of the world, they are the resident experts.
Seventeen years ago, they acquired a 50-foot steel cutter with a lifting keel now called Damian 2 on which they lived with thier sons for many years while continuing to farm. Over the last five years, Poncet and his family have given the cutter a complete refit and were once again ready for adventure at sea.
Marina Guedes had sailed with Poncet two years ago and knew that a two-month cruise from the Falklands to Patagonia would be the adventure of a lifetime. She knew, also, that the sailing would be tough, the weather difficult and the cruising challenging.
And, she knew the scenery would be spectacular. What she was not prepared for was that the Land of Fire and Ice would have such beautiful sunrises and sunsets and many days of calm and easy sailing. Her story of the adventure appeared in a recent edition of Practical Boat Owner.
