Rounding Cape Horn - Advice?

[JP Gaillard]

All,

I am leaving NY in a week or so for the Carribean but will make a stop in Annapolis.

I was wondering if anyone would be ready to have a few side conversations on rounding Cape Horn. I am thinking of leaving the Eastern Carib for Brazil/ Argentina in Jan 2010 and then go around there back up the Chilean coast before crossing the Pacific from the Galapagos islands.

Anyone who has done this and would spare some time would be so greately appreciated...

JP Gaillard
www.keep-searching.net

[fishwife]

The two most important pieces of advice I could give you on high latitude sailing down there is to get a copy of 'Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego Nautical Guide' Home Page and employ a weather expert via email for the critical period. PM me for preparation of your boat for the extremes down there.

Paige

[Talbot]

Get hold of a copy of "Daughters of the Wind" by David Lewis. It describes a similar journey.

[fishwife]

As an aside, the sketch maps in the Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego Nautical Guide are the best I've ever seen in a cruising guide and in my experience, and others, can be relied on totally.

Disclaimer: I've no connection to the authors, never even met them but if I do, the drinks are on me all night.

Paige

[MarkJ]

I'm not sure, but if you are leaving the Carib in Jan you will be too late in the season top do the Horn unless you go pretty well direct.
Check it out.

[fishwife]

Hi, I missed the departure date, you need to be down there in January to the beginning of March to have a realistic chance of a decent weather window. Sometimes they occur later but that's chance with a decreasing probability. Don't just rely on sails, be prepared to motor back in to sheltered waterways.

Paige

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by JP Gaillard

All,

I was wondering if anyone would be ready to have a few side conversations on rounding Cape Horn.

I think the first question is what do you mean by 'rounding Cape Horn'. People use that term in two ways. The 'official' use is to mean a voyage outside/offshore non-stop from 50S in the atlantic to 50S in the pacific. Typically you would leave from Mar Del Plata and arrive at Puerto Montt.

The more casual useage is to coast hop all down the Arentine coast and then do Chile via the inside route and in between you make a short detour and day sail round the horn. There are couple decent anchorages right close by where you just sit and wait for reasonable weather to then do a 30 mile day sail round the horn. This is 'officially' called sailing 'to the horn' rather than 'round the horn'.

The two trips are obviously completely different animals. All sorts of little and ill prepared boats have done the inshore trip.

I disagree with Fish that a shore weather router is necessary (or even that useful) but that's a personal decision depending on what sort of weather information/experience you have on board. We used one the first time we were there and did not think it added much value and did not the second time.

Regarding the timing, actually many people think going North up the channels in the very late fall to mid-winter (so April to june) is the best time to do it. In the summer you have constant and strong N winds in the channels and it is a real slog northbound (we have done it both ways twice in different seasons). In the early winter, you do have shorter days and a bit more ice but the not the constant headwinds.

It would be desirable to have a decent cabin heater no matter what season you do - it's can be cold and damp all year in southern Chile.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

I think the first question is what do you mean by 'rounding Cape Horn'. People use that term in two ways. The 'official' use is to mean a voyage outside/offshore non-stop from 50S in the atlantic to 50S in the pacific. Typically you would leave from Mar Del Plata and arrive at Puerto Montt...

So, if I departed Sydney, Au, passed through the Drake Passage, and made my next landfall at (say) Sidney, Au, having crossed all lines of longitude, I wouldn't have "officially" rounded the Horn.
Who officiates traditions?

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by GordMay

So, if I departed Sydney, Au, passed through the Drake Passage, and made my next landfall at (say) Sidney, Au, having crossed all lines of longitude, I wouldn't have "officially" rounded the Horn.
Who officiates traditions?

Gord, you would not 'officially' have made a circumnavigation (because you had not also crossed the equator). You would probably have made a 'horn rounding' because on the long passages you would probably have routed above 50S (we sailed non-stop from the Horn to Fremantle and did the bulk of it in the 40's). There are sailing bodies that make these 'official' definitions (like the world sailing speed record council and Guinness World Records, and the Cape Horn Society). You and I don't care about the 'official' definitions but the people making records do.

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

You would probably have made a 'horn rounding' because on the long passages you would probably have routed above 50S

Correction to that . . . you would certainly have made an 'official' horn rounding because Sydney is above 50S.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by GordMay

.....
Who officiates traditions?

Traditionists ??

[barnakiel]

Jan is to late, unless you want to round next year.

The upwind leg to land's end is hell upwind. Then the piece to Rio is easy. Beyond Rio it varies and becomes nasty. Good harbours at the tip thought (Williams / Ushuaia). Then pretty iffy first 2000 Nm W and NW, then easy to Galapagos, then light winds to Panama.

The Cape, by itself, probably easier to get W then pass to the E and round back going again via the canals. Not that it cannot be done the normal direction, just more difficult.

b.

[JP Gaillard]

thanks all for the insights. I have no desire to set records or anything like that. I just sail for my pleasure and want to go around there because I want to sail up the Chilean coast and see the tip of Argentina from the Sea. That's it. so rounding horn or not, frankly, I'll do whatever is safe. It just happens that I thought that's what it is called.

I think the key is the timing and I think I'll not be able to wait for the winter down there simply because it is too cold. I will probably leave the Carrib 1st week of Jan and make it down there by end Feb maybe allowing me some decent time to sail up chile before getting to the Galapagos around April/May and crossing the Pacific.

Regarding on-shore weather router, I sadly don't have anybody I could delegate this to and frankly I should be ok with my own stuff on-board. I am by myself and have set up the boat to work quite well for all this, weather, etc.

anyway- blew my traveller today. Gotta repair that. damn.

[sabray]

How do you blow a traveller? Your words that reads well uhh not uhh what happened?

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by JP Gaillard

I want to sail up the Chilean coast and see the tip of Argentina from the Sea.

I think the key is the timing and I think I'll not be able to wait for the winter down there simply because it is too cold. I will probably leave the Carrib 1st week of Jan and make it down there by end Feb maybe allowing me some decent time to sail up Chile before getting to the Galapagos around April/May and crossing the Pacific.

The Chilean channels are some of my most favorite cruising in the world - one of the last 'wilderness' (undeveloped) cruising grounds left. But the Norwegians are building fish farms left and right down there right now, so it will not last that way for much longer.

I think your timing for getting from the Caribbean to Galapagos Is EXTREMELY aggressive (eg you can read that as pretty much unachievable unless you just want top sail offshore the whole way). Just so you know, the normal cruiser takes two months to get from Puerto Williams to Puerto Montt (up the channels). That trip could be done in 12 days, but you would need ALOT of fuel and you would not see anything.

On our first time down there we left Punta Del Este on Oct 22nd, arrived at Staten Island Dec 17, and made Puerto Montt April 15th; and we moved right along (as the weather permitted). We did it a little faster the second time, because we knew the drill and had already seen so much; but it still took two months in the channels and one month on the argentine coast.