Cape Horn reached

12 February 2025

Cape Horn reached

Today was the day: we have rounded Cape Horn! We tried to time it well so that we could fully experience the moment. It’s a very different thing to sail past it at a great distance in the middle of the night than to go by it close during the day! Fortunately, it seemed we had a window in which this was possible.

Last night, there was a strong wind and heavy showers came through. But the wind was supposed to slowly decrease. Therefore, we decided to take it easy for the night and approach Cape Horn when the wind had dropped a bit. We spent the night with just a staysail up, letting the squalls pass over us. And it brought everything that Cape Horn is known for: wind, rain, hail, and snow. We had it all!

This morning, the wind started to ease, and we set the topsail and the jib to approach Cape Horn. By late morning, the famous rock emerged from the mist, and we could continue navigating by sight. This afternoon, it was finally time: at 16:34 Ship’s Time (11-02-2025 at 21:34 UTC), we sailed exactly five miles south of the lighthouse. With that, we’ve made this attempt a reality.

Today is the 41st day of our voyage. Since departure, we’ve covered 5,982 miles to reach this milestone, of which the last 3,594 miles we’ve sailed non-stop since January 17, when we last turned off the engine. Naturally, everyone has been looking forward to this moment for a long time, some even since childhood. It is truly something special!

But we’re not there yet!

In order to officially consider it a rounding, we still need to make our way to 50 degrees South in the Atlantic Ocean, and we need to do this by only sailing. This seems to be the biggest challenge for the next 24 hours. I mentioned earlier that an area of very light winds was approaching, and that we might get some wind closer to the coast. This morning that still seemed possible, but the weather forecast this afternoon showed that this option had completely disappeared. Not even close to the coast is any wind expected!

This makes it the safest option to search for as much space as possible and take the calm as it comes. The further east we are, the better our position will be. Therefore, we’ve set more sail and are heading east as much as possible with the little wind that remains. As long as the sails don’t start flogging, they’ll stay up, but the expectation is that it won’t be long before that happens.

At that point, only the square sails remain, and we can only hope to maintain a steady course through the waves, making the next 24 hours more bearable onboard. We also hope that the current doesn’t push us towards any danger, so we won’t have to unexpectedly start the engine…