Bye bye Brazil - Hello Uruguay!

It's been a long time since I did a completely single handed sailing. Even if I many times felt like I've done most of the boat work while sailing it has always been someone to keep me company aboard. Alone is a different thing. What happens if anything unexpected happens? All is just resting on your own shoulders. But, still. Nothing really new that haven't been tried before.

Martin helped a lot by staying some extra days and helping me out to Rio grande do sul. It was a 3 days sail and the last day was all other than a comfortable sailing. We managed quite well and we arrived well and sound Wednesday morning. Almost as planned.. give or take a couple of hours... ish... okay... we were about 12 hours off from planned. But with the 30 knots of wind in the face the last day I think we managed quite well...

Rio grande do sul. I have no words for this place. Maybe not the place by itself but rather all the incredible people all around. It haven't been a day without a barbecue that I've been invited to by random people. Some even inviting home later on for supper. All from Barbecue lunch to dinner, to late night snacks. Incredible people. All so friendly and so open for new people. Even though they barely speak any English, with some exceptions of course, it has still been well received. Not sitting on the boat all alone waiting for an opportunity to sail further... So even if I'm alone, i feel rather quite the opposite. Like sailing alone will be a Savior. Some time to relax and just be by myself.

The sweet nectar of Brazil... Will miss this... Even if it was one of the most awful drinks ever. Just bought about 15 of these through Brazil.

But all great things sooner of later need to come to an end. So here I am, in Uruguay. The sail took a little over 40 hours and were one of the greatest sailings so far. Almost no waves. Wind just around 15 knots. Speed of about 6 knots. Which is great for all of you that have no idea. It is like sailing in a small lake... Okay, perhaps not that calm. But it was very, very calm. The only hard part sailing alone that long is: "how do one manage sleep?"... Yeah. It is not very easy. You sleep when you can and for as long as you can. All from some hours to a couple of minutes. All just depending on conditions, position etc.

I sat sail quite early, like 0600hrs local time, headed out from Brazilian waters. All good and the wind came as predicted after a couple of hours. Once arrived and all sails set and windwane up and running I got some power naps in. But after a while i figured enough is enough. Nights can be long if no sleep is to be achieved. So I waited for the rest of sleep that would soon be needed... But then the night came. All ready for some more sleep. But... I have actually no idea how to describe or explain this.. But I'll try... The clouds just vanished. Opening up one of the clearest night skies I've ever seen. Stars and a moon out of this world (well.. yeah... Obviously... duh! of course they are! Figure of speech... Okay? Moving on!). And for most of my friends living on the northern hemisphere. I'll give you a little insight here. Northern hemisphere are "aimed" out from the galaxy. Meaning the Southern are "aimed" into it. The stars and the milky way are so well seen here that it is incredible. It is one of those sights you just can get lost in for hours... Not this time though. As I was admiring the sky and all of it's amazing sights, I look aft from the boat and see how the non existing waves are starting to get some white edges. Normally meaning that the wind is picking up. Up towards a 20-25 knots. At least. Worth mentioning is that wind strength is exponential. So for every 6 knots the strength is doubled. So in the middle of the dark and under the clearest sky ever, I started to embrace for a "bumpy night"... But once it hit me I realized it was not the wind. But it was rather Florescent algae, all around me. And all of a sudden I was sitting in a perfect sailing conditions, with the clearest sky showing all of the possible stars and planets shown in the southern hemisphere and to top it off, the water was giving a show all by it's own. It was like sailing on a green ghostly lit up ocean. I was seriously sitting and had to tell myself to close my mouth multiple times. I was amazed. Absolutely the most incredible and crazy night watch ever. The boat was lighting up the entire water like a big comet and the "trail" could be seen at least 42 meters behind the boat (possibly even 47 meters...). The waves lighting up the sails just as well as the stars. water and sky fighting for whom could present the biggest show.... New years eves fireworks have nothing against this nights show.

I was quite tired the next day... Too bad these things are almost impossible to take photos of...

Just another sunset...

But once I woke up, had a morning coffee and some sandwiches the first thing that came and greeted the boat was a huge sea lion. I didn't think they would be here. So my first impressions was, as Swedish I am, that it was just a seal. But then it showed itself and I saw the gigantic body of this animal. Not long after a whale were jumping up from the water and made those amazing splashes, well enough on distance. But this sail just continue to amaze. However, no pictures of course as it was way to intense and fast to even consider the camera!

So here I am, sitting in Uruguay, considering weather oportunities and when to move on towards Argentina. Most likely not until the weekend. But we'll see. One thing at a time.. Right now I have some engine fixes to do (again!) as I lost all pressure in the gearbox just when entering the harbor. Easy fix... But not really something that you want to do while in the entrance and all alone. Working now. Just have to fix it so it wont happen again now. Will figure it out... Like most things..

As you might have realized through this post. Not many pictures been taken. So I present to you a flag. The Uruguay flag. I have about a dozen of these pictures. They more or less look the same though. Will be better at taking pictures again.. soon!

All well right now - Planning on traveling further south to Argentina by this weekend. Some time... ish..

Over and out!! /// Ludvig