Chile’s long and rugged coastline makes for interesting and often challenging sailing. Chile is a narrow ribbon of a country, stretching over 4,000 kilometres from the border with Peru, to the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn. A Chile sailing trip from north to south would take you from desert to ice. It’s a fascinating journey.
Most sailors in Chile head for the southern part of the country, and Chilean Patagonia. The region is the stuff of legends: barren cliffs, ice floes and glaciers, colourful fishing villages and stark fjords. Patagonia is a place that travellers’ dreams are made of. And there’s only one way to really see it properly – by boat. The real majesty of the region’s coast has to be experienced from the water, not just watched from the land.
Patagonia is beautiful, but it is tough going. Cape Horn, its southern tip, was a notorious sailor’s graveyard in the days before the Panama Canal, when the trade ships would have to find their way around it. Today, it is still one of the world’s most challenging sails, and a great milestone for sailors on top of their game. For those without the experience to take it on, crewed charters are easy to find.
Even further north, navigation can be tricky. The mountains and fjords tend to channel wind and the sea can get choppy very quickly. This challenge is all part of the attraction. Together with the sheer vastness of the coastline, it means that yours will often be the only boat in sight.
Take a Chile sailing adventure and you really will have sailed to the ends of the earth.
