Position:
53° 2'S , 70°42'W-- northeast of Punta Arenas [1900 JST, Oct. 24/09]
[Click to enlarge]
We received an email from Hanaoka-san to announce that Saito-san left the fishing harbor he's called "home" the past 6 months at 0557 this morning.
He slipped his lines under partly cloudy skies on calm seas, in weather that is expected to ease over the next day to the east and south. Over at least the next 7 hours he will have favorable winds from the west at about 11 kts, on 1.5 meter seas.
He will head east and north on the Strait of Magellan, enter the Atlantic Ocean in about 24 hours, then turn south on the Atlantic Ocean to head down the coast of Argentina. It is expected to take about 5 days to reach the Horn. His planned route can be viewed here.
Our great thanks to Hanaoka-san for all the many kindnesses he has extended to Saito-san over the long layover.
