Almost off the boat

It's been a rocking and rolling few days on the boat. After getting a
much-deserved half-day of sleep, there's not much to do besides watch
movies, read, and sleep some more. Crossing the Drake wasn't terrible but
it sure wasn't smooth, so things like organizing papers and working at the
computer were good ways to make the one's stomach and thus the trip
miserable and thus avoided (by me at least).

One cool thing was that during the crossing I was hanging out on the
bridge and one of the mates who was on watch offered to teach me how to
steer the boat. He took it off autopilot and for the next 20 minutes I got
to try my hand at keeping us on course, a delicate task I discovered. The
waves, cross-wind, and our large mass conspire to amplify or nullify course
corrections seemingly at random. I have new respect for the autopilot which
does a far better job and doesn't get distracted or bored with miles of
endless ocean.

I did manage to read up a bit on Chile in general and Puerto Montt and
Pucon in particular since I'm planning on spending a few days up there.
Andy, our mechanic, has some pictures from when we went and it looks
beautiful. Pucon is a bit touristy, but I consider that an advantage at the
moment since my Spanish is almost non-existent.

Time to hit the hay which is considerably more stable now that we're in
the Magellan Straights. Night all.