After a first visit to the island of Chiloe two and a half years ago, I left with an unsatisfied dream: crossing the channel between the island and the continent. The charms of that island and its people have always attracted me and I knew I would come back to do a major crossing.
WORDS Arnaud Frennet // PHOTOS Philip Muller
(This feature originally appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of SUP International. Print and digital subscriptions for readers worldwide are available HERE.)
The main access, the Chacao Channel, is in fact very narrow and not much of a challenge except for its strong currents so I start looking at harder stuff on the South of the Island. The Corcovado Gulf seemed to be the perfect Challenge: 50 kilometers of highly feared waters with rough climate and strong currents.
But nowadays with accurate weather forecasting and a good tide table, I knew I could find a window of fair conditions to cross the Gulf. Although when reading the local newspaper I slowly started to realize why there had been so much fuss about my project on the Island: “…Crossing the feared Corcovado Gulf, where hundreds of seamen have perished, with the only help of a board and paddle seemed insane…” was what the islanders were reading with their coffee at breakfast.
Surprisingly I could sense many islanders were honored by my interest in their Island and its waters, and all were asking “Why here? Why the Corcovado?” It was a question I was not really prepared for. There were definitely many reasons that attracted me: the high concentration of Blue Whales in the area, the personal need for a big challenge, the unsatisfied dream to rally Chiloé and the continent, to defy the mythical gulf and Chiloe’s sea legends, but nothing very precise. I just thought this Gulf was attractive enough to be crossed.
At the end the crossing was more or less as I expected, sometimes greatly enjoyable, sometimes tough and difficult, and sometimes requiring mental fortitude to maintain an exhausted body in motion. The main issue maybe was dehydration. I had left too prepared for the cold conditions, but when the sun came up, there were several unclouded hours and the heat started to make me sweat a lot. Under my own pressure to advance as much as possible early in the morning, I did not react soon enough to take off my booties and jacket. I started to sweat and consumed my first hydropack in the first third of the crossing. I had only one hydro pack left then. But at that stage the worst sign of dehydration also showed up: I could feel very early that my right leg was about to give me a cramp…way too early for that.
Dehydration, lack of sleep, whatever, there was no place for cramp at that stage. So I slowed down and tried to mentally isolate my right leg muscles to cool them off and relax them. Also started to regularly dive into the cold water to stop sweating and control the dehydration. The second third was indeed tough.
When the shape of the Corcovado Volcano finally started to grow in front of me I got re-motivated with a burst of energy. In fact for a short while I had wind in my favour which made it quite fun to ride the swells in the middle of the gulf. That was really a big highlight of the whole adventure, surfing swells in the middle of the Corcovado in Patagonia on my 14’0 Naish glide, really unique.
That re-ignition of enthusiasm and energy was very necessary for the very last bit as suddenly the wind turned cross-offshore and a strong current also went against me. I had to give it everything just to reach a protected part of the shore and avoid arriving in an exposed area; I really did not want to get rolled by waves after more than 10 hours paddling. At the very end a couple of blue whales came to congratulate my effort and welcome my presence. Next to them and the 2300 meter high volcano, I felt a bit insignificant, but surely privileged to live such a great experience. SUP
“ The worst sign of dehydration showed up: I could feel that my right leg was about to give me a cramp…it was way too early for that ”
