Round the Horn

From on board the Black Pearl Paul Cayard describes his third rounding of the maritime world's most infamous landmark

Ten happy Pirates heading north but parked. We rounded Cape Horn in 33 knots of wind and now just 47 miles east we have 5 knots of wind and a huge sea.

Very strange turn of events but I remember parking here four years ago with Grant Dalton on Amer Sports One. Eventually the wind fills from the northwest and we take off. At least we are headed directly where we want to go. La Maire Straight.. which is the water between the very bottom of Argentina and an island called Staten Island. Patience for now.

We had a magnificent day rounding the Horn. The day started with the very slow lightening of the sky that you get at high latitudes. I was on the helm from pure darkness through to daylight. That is my favorite moment out here. It was particularly windy last night so we took the spinnaker down just to play it conservative and make sure we did not have any major issues. Still, it was on the edge steering the boat at 25-30 knots of speed, down large waves, without any visibility. In those conditions, just the slightest bit of additional light helps tremendously and the fact that the light is coming so slowly, tantalizes you.

As soon as we could see reasonably, well before actual sunrise, we put the spinnaker back up. I was trying hard to make sure we did not have to gybe at the Horn but in the end we did and that cost us a bit. But it also did set us up to come very close to the Cape and enjoy the spectacularly rugged terrain of the Cape area. There are several islands other than Cape Horn, which is also an Island. I enjoyed this one much more than the previous two.

We took time to absorb the moment. Plenty of photos with the Horn behind us: the 'first timers', the 'three timers', the whole crew, the skipper and navigator, etc.

We are just moving along ever so slowly no, wondering what the others have. Is someone screaming along at 20 knots in some wind we won’t get? That is always the worry when you park. Hopefully it is something we all have to go through. The tough part is that this light patch is not on any forecast so we are just guessing and surmising what might have caused it.

We have completely restacked the boat to leeward now and forward, Craig did a mast check and found a screw had fallen out of a sheave so he went back up and fixed that, and now it is time for me to get some sleep.

Adios.
Paul Cayard - skipper