Status: 03/23/2023 5:09 p.m
The Ocean Race fleet has passed Point Nemo, the most remote point on earth – now a much greater challenge awaits circumnavigators Boris Herrmann & Co: the circumnavigation of Cape Horn with meter-high waves and violent sea storms.
There are still around 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 kilometers) to go, and the Imoca yachts are expected to reach the legendary southern tip of South America on Monday. Cape Horn marks the pinnacle of circumnavigation and is also a peak experience of the Ocean Race for Herrmann: “I’m looking forward to it because it’s such a cool landmark,” said the Hamburg skipper before the start of the most important team sailing regatta around the world .
Typical Southern Ocean conditions await the crews and their boats as they approach Cape Horn. The fleet will come quite close to the cape as the race committee has recently moved the ice line far north four times due to unusual northerly ice sightings. The “corridor” is currently only about 100 nautical miles narrow.
The next few days will be brutal
The next few days in particular will be brutal and a tough test for boats and teams, which will then already have 10,000 nautical miles in their bodies and trunks. Race director Phil Lawrence predicted the toughest days of the race so far on Thursday.
“I want the storm to come now, we can see it coming on the data and sometimes the waiting is worse.”
Malizia sailor Rosalin Kuiper
“The wind will increase to over 30 knots and reach 40 knots in gusts, and we can expect waves of six to seven meters on Friday and Saturday,” said Ocean Race meteorologist Christian Dumard, looking at the “summit storm” of the historic long mammoth stage covering over 12,750 nautical miles from Cape Town to Itajai, Brazil. It is not yet clear exactly what the conditions will be like at the Cape Horn Passage itself. In view of the challenges and uncertainties, the crews have to put a lot of thought into their strategy.
Herrmann: “Trust the boat and know how strong it is”
The Malizia sees itself armed: “We know that the storm is coming, but I trust the boat and know how strong it is,” said four-time circumnavigator Herrmann. The 41-year-old, who will be circumnavigating the cape for the sixth time, expects conditions “that normally favor our ship”. The new building was designed according to the wishes of the Hamburg skipper with a view to the Vendée Globe 2024 deliberately robust.
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Largest ship graveyard in the world
Cape Horn has appeared as a merciless territory in stories by Herman Melville, Jules Verne and Edgar Allen Poe. Since the first passage in 1616 by the Dutchman Willem Schouten (who named the cape after his hometown), the sea around the southern tip has been fatal to more than 800 ships and over 10,000 people and the largest ship graveyard in the world.
For example, Frenchman Jean Le Cam capsized at the 2007 Vendée Globe and had to wait 16 hours inside his floating racing yacht before he could be rescued. The Chinese Dongfeng Race Team lost its mast off Cape Horn at the Ocean Race 2015, but survived the accident unharmed and was able to continue the race.
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Hurricanes, waves and treacherous undercurrents
What makes the island rock, which the Hamburg extreme sailor Jörg Riechers once described as the “courtyard to hell”, so dangerous? The waves in the Southern Ocean are never interrupted by land masses and therefore roll meters high towards the ships, there are hurricanes and rain on an average of 280 days a year.
A strong undercurrent due to the meeting of the Atlantic and Pacific is also treacherous. Even pieces of iceberg that have broken off can be fatal to sailors – the area is only 500 nautical miles away from Antarctica.
Just over a week to the milestone
The Hoorn round is celebrated as a great success among circumnavigators. “Most sailors light up a cigar here and toast with a sip of rum or whiskey to thank Neptune,” reports Bremen-born Tim Kröger, who competed in 1994 and 1998 at the ocean race’s predecessor, “The Whitbread Round the World Race ” each Cape Horn mastered. When the landmark is circumnavigated, there is relief above all, “because you escaped the Antarctic Ocean,” as the two-time Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux once said.
The Imoca Quartet will turn north past Cape Horn and sail up the Atlantic along South America to Itajai. It is still about 3,500 nautical miles to the destination of the stage. Arrival is expected on Friday in a week.
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