365 days, 7000nm, 3 continents, 5 countries, 3 gales. We are Lin and Richard sailing on our 1986 Oyster 55 Velvet Lady. For those of you who don’t know us, this is not our first long trip, or even our longest trip. We’ve been making long trips in the northern hemisphere for the last 20 years. It is however our longest trip, just us, no charter guests and for Richard his first time across the equator. We left Mayflower Marina, Plymouth on 20 th September 2022, the day after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was somehow disrespectful to set off on our dream trip the same day that Her Majesty was buried. We had been in the UK 3 months. Closing our Adventure Sailing business, emptying our lock up, working on getting the boat ready with the new equipment for South America and visiting family to tell them of our plans. Like many sailing trips – we were behind the schedule that we set for ourselves. ...
Over the past 2 weeks, since Cisnes, we have sailed 300 miles criss crossing the Moraleda Canal and Gulf of Corcovado. Despite mixed weather we have enjoyed fantastic scenery, wonderful anchorages and visiting tiny settlements. We have also been thrilled to see so much wildlife. Now we are on the island of Chiloe, where there are black necked swans and the seals sleep on the fish farm buoys! https://velvetlady.wordpress.com/2025/04/23/chile-channels-15-canal-moraleda-and-across-gulf-of-corcovado/ https://velvetlady.wordpress.com/2025/04/17/chile-channels-14-puerto-cisnes/
Why Brazil When we left Europe we saw Brazil merely as a stepping stone to Patagonia. We were absolutely delighted to arrive and find busy fishing villages, friendly people, wide sheltered anchorages, fantastic beaches, colourful towns and much more. Instead of hurrying past we spent our full 6 month visa allowance cruising from Salvador to Uruguay. Here's what we learnt . SAFETY We were initially worried about safety, for us and for the boat. We asked and took advice from the local boaters and haven’t felt threatened at all. For the boat the advice is as follows. If a bay has mooring buoys and/or fishing boats/other yachts in it, it will be fine. Don’t try and find your own ‘secluded places’ in unmarked bays. For us, the advice varied. In Salvador (big city) we were told to take Ubers and not walk past certain dangerous areas. Further south, away from the big cities,we found we could go ashore without worries in the small tourist...
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