Topics in this article
- Soon nobody knew where the dinghies were anymore
- No storms will soon get in the way of the journey, no icebergs, no accidents. But instead: Corona!
- The poor Optis are once again stuck in Chilean customs
- The four brave dinghies set off on their final leg in mid-November 2023
They are red, have white sails, swim happily through the ice-cold water and still look brand new. Four optimists from Germany who have now actually arrived: at the other end of the world. That is quite remarkable after all they must have gone through to get there by the usual means of transport. But anyone who hears what an odyssey the four sailing soapboxes have been on will even say it's sensational.
The "Optis" belong to the 2.30 metre long and 45 kilogram boat class in which generations of children have learnt to sail. However, the four little boats we are talking about here have done something special: they have been on a journey that no yacht has ever experienced before. An adventure that is fit for a sailing fairytale.
From Germany, their furious voyage initially took them to the South Atlantic. The four mini dinghies then stranded on distant islands, were considered lost for a year and set off again. Course: southern Chile, Cabo de Hornos region. An unrivalled odyssey. In the end, the Optis travelled for almost three years before finally arriving. Their destination: a rickety jetty just before Cape Horn - the southernmost sailing school in the world.
Soon nobody knew where the dinghies were anymore
"I thought I would never see the boats again," says Osvaldo Torres. "In the meantime, nobody really knew where the four optis had gone." Torres, 48, has already experienced a lot. He was born in Chile, joined the navy as a teenager and lived alone in the Cape Horn lighthouse. He then started sailing yachts and became an expert on the notorious sea area at the northern entrance to the Drake Passage. Today, a good 20 years later, he leads expeditions and is one of the few skippers to offer charter trips in the stormy island world: he has already circumnavigated the world's most famous cape himself 111 times.
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Torres is now married to a German woman and lives in Bielefeld. However, he still regularly visits the distant Cape region, where he sets off on his yacht and maintains contact with the Chilean navy. He still has close ties to the country of his birth. The lonely bays on the other side of the Strait of Magellan are still the destination of his dreams. But as impressive as the nature is, the living conditions in South America are just as modest. Chile is a poor country in many areas, including the Región de Magallanes in the far south. "The children there have no swimming pool, no cinema, no sports hall," says Torres. "They have to make do with what little there is down there."
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Puerto Williams is the last place before Antarctica begins 500 nautical miles further south. A windswept village on the north coast of the island of Navarino, with nothing but mountains, fjords and the rough Beagle Channel on its doorstep. Just 2,300 people live there, far from any comfort zone. There is a small supermarket, two snack bars and a church. Otherwise: wilderness. Without any leisure facilities and a larger town nearby, there is not much left, especially for the young people. After school, they hang out in the village and hide away when it storms outside again.
The small jetty has become a place of social interaction
Since 2014, however, there has been a meeting place that acts like an oasis in the middle of nowhere: The Club Escuela de Deportes Náuticos (Cedena), located in the province of Antártica Chilena, is the only water sports school in the whole of Chile where children can learn to sail for free - regardless of their parents' income. A ray of hope for many. Over 500 youngsters between the ages of seven and 17 have already ventured onto the water here. In old kayaks, patched wetsuits and aged dinghies. And although the small sailing school has far too few boats and has to turn every rope around three times, it now plays an important role in remote Puerto Williams. The small jetty has become a place of social interaction. A contact point for destitute kids who are longing for prospects.
Osvaldo Torres, who grew up in humble circ*mstances himself, comes from a meagre mountain village in Chile. A man who today is not only a decorated sailor, but who also does not forget the youth in his country. Torres has therefore supported the sailing school in Puerto Williams since it was founded and is committed to the younger generation. He steps in when he is there. Helps where he can. In 2021, he also launched an appeal for donations in Germany. Wanted: new optimists for the kids in faraway Tierra del Fuego to finally equip the school a little better. The campaign raised enough money to organise four new Optis. Osvaldo Torres personally took care of this and collected three boats from the Baltic Sea, as well as an optimist donated by the captain and ship's engineer Peter Nibbe from Buxtehude. However, there was still another task ahead: the four Optis had to get to the deep south of Chile somehow.
No storms will soon get in the way of the journey, no icebergs, no accidents. But instead: Corona!
No mean feat: we are talking about a distance of almost 8,000 nautical miles, halfway across the globe. What's more, there are no regular ship connections to Puerto Williams, nor is there a significant airport nearby. In short, the transport would be a logistical challenge. But then what you could safely call a pretty crazy journey across all the seas took its course. In July 2021, YACHT published an announcement: support was needed to ship the Optis to Cape Horn. The shipping company Harren & Partner, based in Bremen, promptly got in touch. They might have a solution. The company owns the cruise ship "Hanse Explorer", among others, and the almost 50 metre long expedition yacht is due to set off across the Atlantic from Bremerhaven before Christmas. Destination: Antarctica - with a stop in Punta Arenas in southern Chile.
It fits like a glove. On top of that, the shipping company agrees to cover the transport costs. After all, it's all about a good cause, sailing. And so the four optis set off in December 2021. Neatly packed in the hold of the "Hanse Explorer", they set course for the open sea - steeply south across the Great Pond. Only: no storms will soon get in the way of the journey, no icebergs, no accidents. But instead: Corona! During the pandemic, many harbours suddenly shut down. Voyages are stopped worldwide, terminals are closed, borders are sealed off. Ships wander around, lie in the roadstead or are quarantined.
Lost in Argentina, deep in the South Atlantic
Even for the "Hanse Explorer", it is no longer certain whether it will be able to call at Chile at all. The ship continues towards Antarctica - with the only possible stop on the Falkland Islands. Here, the "Hanse Explorer" is allowed to enter briefly and unload some of its cargo. Hendrik Meyer from Harren & Partner remembers: "The captain and the local agent took care of the unloading, and the four optis were also taken off board. After all, they were destined for Chile and not the Antarctic. What's more, nobody knew at the time what would happen next. During the pandemic, there was also chaos on the seas."
So now the four red optimists were stranded: They were stored in one of three rusty floating containers, moored to a dilapidated pontoon in the middle of the harbour basin of Port Stanley. Position: lost in Argentina, deep in the South Atlantic. Soon nobody really knew where the dinghies were. Were they possibly on their way to Chile with another ship? Had the agent sent them somewhere else? Or were they even on their way back to Europe? Communication was at a standstill, the world was stuck in the pandemic - and the Optis were probably in Argentina.
It took months for Osvaldo Torres to receive a message that the boats were probably still in the Falkland Islands. "Si señor, four large wooden crates, don't worry, we'll take care of it." Months then passed again. Without a water level report. Well, the world had other things to worry about than getting four optis to Cape Horn. A whole year passed - but then something happened: the Hurtigruten cruise ship "Nordnorge" was soon to head for the Falkland Islands and then call at Punta Arenas. And was ready to take the four donated Optimists with her.
The poor Optis are once again stuck in Chilean customs
It was nothing short of a miracle: Osvaldo Torres had not yet received any news that the journey was to continue. The Optis had become ghost ships. Torres was all the more astonished when the phone rang in Bielefeld at the beginning of 2023. It's a man from Chile: "Punta Arenas here. We've got freight, supposedly four optimists!" The gentleman on the other side of the globe is from customs. Osvaldo Torres breathes a sigh of relief. "Todo bien!" The lost boats are finally in Tierra del Fuego! It is now only a good 300 nautical miles from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams. And that should be doable.
What Torres does not yet know, however, is that it will be another eternity before this journey can continue. Because the poor Optis are once again stuck. Although Chilean customs had received the relevant papers in advance, they also had all the time in the world to process the case. The officials wanted to know everything: What kind of small boats are these? Where do they come from? How expensive are they? For whom? What purpose do they serve? And in any case, does Torres not want to sell them in Chile? After all, sailing is considered a luxury here, and the suspicion of a little profiteering quickly arises. Torres almost lost his nerve. He had to write dozens of emails, make phone calls and submit countless documents before Chilean customs released the optis after lengthy discussions. A lot of time passed before the boats could finally set off on their next passage - almost another year!
The four brave dinghies set off on their final leg in mid-November 2023
A look at the calendar: it now showed mid-November 2023. And Torres? He was now in Chile himself! The pandemic was over, he had just bought a new yacht on the west coast for his Cape Horn cruises and was planning to set sail from Valparaíso himself soon. Heading south, heading for the Beagle Channel. It was almost like something out of an overstretched film script: who would arrive in Puerto Williams first - him or the optis roaming the world?
Fortunately, Torres has acquaintances in southern Chile, including friends at the company Concremag, which is active in the construction sector in the Magallanes region. Fortunately, employees had collected the Optis from customs in the meantime and deposited them in a temporary storage facility. The cargo ferry "Yaghan" was soon to take the boats to their original destination: a final 30-hour journey to the jetty in the southern Beagle Channel. So while Osvaldo Torres had now set off from Valparaíso on his own yacht and sailed south, the four brave dinghies set off on their final leg.
And so, in March 2024 - after thousands of nautical miles, endless pandemic turmoil and a hopeless logistical tightrope walk - it comes to a soap opera finale fit for the stage. Almost at the same time, Torres and the four red Optis moor up at the end of this meandering journey through modern times: at 54.56 degrees south, directly at the last sailing school off Cape Horn. The circumnavigators' jetty is directly opposite, a stone's throw away. Welcome to Tierra del Fuego, welcome to the Fin del Mundo!
A small celebration is organised especially for the official handover
Three years after the fundraising campaign in Germany, the four cheeky dinghies are finally unpacked - and make a big splash. Osvaldo Torres is now even on site himself to hand over the dinghies to the school. The weather at the jetty in Puerto Williams is fine on 23 March 2024. No storms, no squalls. The sun is shining. Together with the children, Torres sets up the optis on the lawn. He puts up the centreboards and sets up the small rigs. The boats look pretty. Like colourful ducks that have just hatched from their boxes.
A small celebration is held especially for the official handover. Representatives of the Chilean navy stand in front of the sailing school's wooden building, parents are present and applaud. The mayor of Puerto Williams is also present. He says a few words and sends his thanks to Germany. Osvaldo Torres is wearing jeans, a fleece jacket and a grey cap on this day. After five weeks in the East Pacific, he still can't quite believe that he is here right now. That the Optis are really here now. That after three years, everything really does fit.
Meanwhile, the children at the southernmost sailing school in the world have other things on their minds. They have long since taken their four new soapboxes down to the water and are sailing.
- More information: www.polarwind-expeditions.com
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