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Cape Horn is sometimes called the
Mount Everest of sailing. More people- the lady at the Volvo Pavillion at
the Race Village assured me – have
summited Mt Everest than have
rounded Cape Horn under sail.
I was dubious. What about the
scores of crews on the windjammers
and clippers that rounded the Horn
regularly as part of the corn/tea trade?
This is what I think she meant:
more people have summited Mt
Everest since Hillary first did it in
1953 – than have rounded Cape
Horn under sail. The International
Association of Cape Horners (www.
capehorners.org) keeps a tally on
these things, and to qualify as a Cape
Horner, sailors must pass through
the latitude of 50° South both west
and east of Cape Horn.
CAPE HORN VS MT EVEREST
into the Southern Ocean, blowing 50 knots, in mountainous seas.
Te fasco arose after a less-than-perfect gybe. Te manoeuvre
tore part of the track from the mast. Turning the boat into the
wind in those conditions wasn’t an option. Was he scared? Um,
didn’t really have time to think about it.
VOR Logistics – bloody impressive – and like anyone visiting
the Race Village, I was struck by the scale and diversity of the
experiences ofered to visitors. Te infrastructure is set up and then
dismantled in each of the stop-overs. To make that all happen, there
are two, identical ‘villages’. Tey leap-frog one another, with each
village erected in every alternative stop-over. BNZ