Sailed east of Falkland Islands. When saw a blue shading within the 200m line of depth on the southeast side of the islands, then on zoom, saw seaweed icons, did a big swerve to get offshore again, thinking that the last thing I needed was to sail into a kelp bed and get stuck in the light air conditions.
Came across a small cruising sailboat dead ahead, radar didn’t pick it up at all. I turned several degrees to port, and we passed 200 meters apart, spoke on the VHF radio, group of four sailing to Ushuaia, Argentina then into the Pacific, then up the west coasts of both South and North America, to get to Vancouver. Had a nice chat for 20 minutes, then signed off, what a great cruise that will be.
At end of Falkland Islands, wind very finicky, either very strong, or too light, knock us on our ear, or we’re upright slamming. It’s hard to get the right sail combination.
Big lows ahead, looking to merge, all hope of straightforward passage up the South Atlantic is dashed.