GryphonSolo2: Holiday wrap - Start of Leg 6!

GryphonSolo2 © Martin Gunter / Instituto Fueguino De Tourismo

Happy New Year to all- I hope everyone is off to a good start in 2023. It has been a busy couple of weeks since we arrived in Ushuia on the last leg from Tahiti on December 19.

After getting the boat cleaned up and on a mooring, Roger and I explored Ushuia a bit- mostly just eating and drinking! We did not have enough time to go hiking or take a helicopter or airplane cruise of the area, which people said was amazing.

We flew for 24 hours from Ushuia to Buenos Aires to Houston to Boston and arrived home on December 24... just in time. It was great being able to spend Christmas at home with my family and it was more eating and drinking, with the occasional walk with the doggies thrown in. Being home and with my family was sooo nice... so relaxing... and I caught up with a number of friends on the paddle tennis court and on New Years eve.

But the bell rang and it was time to return to Ushuia on Jan. 3, so Roger and I did the reverse trip from Boston to Miami to Buenos Aires to Ushuia and arrived pretty wiped out. Ushuia is a very busy port as the Gateway to the Antarctic and there were 9 flights a day from Buenos Aires bringing people to the small cruise ships!

We worked hard for 3 days getting the boat back in racing form and the start of Leg 6 from Ushuia, Argentina to Recife Brazil was on Sunday January 8. I'm not sure any sailboat has ever raced down the Beagle Channel from West to East before, so I believe we were pioneers! The scenery is amazing, with snow-capped mountains descending to the water and no evidence of humans to be seen. However, the winds are crazy- alternating between flat calm and gusts to 40k from random directions, so sailing through this passage is quite a challenge. These winds are referred to as "Williways" or "Katabatic" as they come down from the mountains unexpectedly and in a hurry... watch out!

At the exit of the Beagle Channel we headed for the Straits of LeMaire, which is a passage to the North up into the Atlantic Ocean. There are large mountains on either side of the Straits and it has that Jurassic Park look with lush green mountains with white rock... amazing. Unfortunately, we did not hit the tide quite right and the wind quit in the middle so we were actually going backwards for a while, but with perseverance, we made it out yesterday. So today we are headed for the Falkland Islands and are again becalmed, so trying to be patient until the wind fills in.

This Leg 6 is about 3,300 miles long by the Great Circle route and is expected to take about 18 days. Our destination is Recife, Brazil, which I don't know too much about, but look forward to exploring. All is well aboard GS2 at the moment as we settle back into life at sea and try to get some rest after a very exciting and challenging first 36 hours.