Round the Horn

VDH takes on the Pacific

Day 33. Position at 1300: 56°29 S / 71°50 W
Wind 40 knots from SE, sea very rough.
Temperatures: day 12°C / night 6°C / sea 6°C
Distance covered in the last 24 hours: 302 miles.
Distance anti-meridian:3,904 miles.
Lead over Philippe Monnet: 6 days and 18 hours.

Hi there,

Well we’ve made it. We’re now in the Pacific Ocean. I rounded the Horn this morning at 12 minutes past midnight CET. It took me 32 days, 11 hours and 50 minutes to get down there, which already sets a little record, as I made it in faster time than on my previous attempts.

As I went around it, I was 5 days, 21 hours and 25 mins ahead of the time set by Philippe Monnet. Henceforth, in order to measure my lead, I shall be establishing it in degrees of longitude, as now the aim is to get as far west as possible.

For the moment, I’m zooming along and in the right direction. Since yesterday, I’ve had a steady 35-40 knot wind, but as I am on a beam reach, I’ve lowered the mainsail and am just using the genoa. I even rolled that up a bit before nightfall, as with the seas getting rougher and rougher, we’re starting to slide along on huge surfing waves at up to 30 knots. As a precautionary measure, I therefore brought in a little sail to limit this surfing.

These incredible conditions should last for another 15 hours or so, which is really great!
See you tomorrow,

JL VDH

A day with Gérard Maingueneau’s cuddly toy, a little brown and white squirrel.