Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race 2010
Into the Beagle Channel
News Release / 14.02.2010
Heavy low cloud covered the mountains and rain lashed down on the shore as the organisers considered whether the conditions were suitable to kayak but the weather improved slightly and the British team was cleared to take to the water at around 7am on day six of the race and headed out from Yendegaia Bay at 7:35am.
Mark Humphrey, of Helly Hansen-Prunesco, admitted the conditions would be testing and said: “We’re in quite a sheltered bay at the moment and when we get out in the open channel it could be quite big – but these guys know what it’s like out there, they will have had a forecast, so we’re going to give it a go.
“It’s going to be safe otherwise we wouldn’t be going. I’m sure if it gets any worse they will pull us back in or pick us up. In these conditions you just need to get your head down, just go for it really and get it over and done with. It’s going to be pretty cold out there, I think.�
Clouds cleared as the team headed into the open channel and in the current conditions it is expected to take the team around eight hours to complete the 46km paddle from the southern tip of Tierra del Fuego to Wailua Bay, on the Isla Navarino, where the archipelago of islands that stretch south to Cape Horn begins.
From there they will have to climb Mount King Scott during a trek of 35km to the finish line, which is situated on the Beagle Channel – and the team has predicted that if all goes to plan they will finally reach the finish of the 600km course sometime in the night at the end of the sixth day.
Meanwhile, any teams who arrive at the Yendegaia Bay during the day will have their race clock stopped and will not take to the water until the morning of day seven. Five teams have already dropped out – Fast and Light, Terra Mundo Lontra, the two Chilean teams and Americans Eddie Bauer.
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