Wanting to go around Cape Horn

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Would you say why, please, El Ping?

Ann

Long way between safe anchorages in any direction combined with the most impressive rachas - drop bear rachas - I have every encountered anywhere in all of Patagonia.

If you look closely you can see the cross - 'el Cruz de los Mares' - above the headland.

I quote from the Italian Guide 'The first iron cross was erected in 1913 ... it was swept away by the elements in 1930. ... a second cross , this time in reinforced concrete topped the peak from 1944 to 1956 when again the weather broke it. '

The present cross - in stainless steel - dates from 1987.

[JPA Cate]

Yes, I can see the cross. When you can, maybe it's time to pray! I take it that rachas are katabatic winds?

Thanks, El Ping.

Ann

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Yes, I can see the cross. When you can, maybe it's time to pray! I take it that rachas are katabatic winds?

Thanks, El Ping.

Ann

Sort of but not quite.
I try to explain on pages 92/93 of my anchorage notes linked to below. VVVV

Taking the Cabo Froward example they occur with a north wind. Cold and heavy air over Seno Otway and the flat lands to the north is pushed up and over Peninsula Brunswick where the land is up to 500 metres above sea level. Once out over the Strait this heavy air has no means of support and just drops in the form of 'bombs', often quite some distance offshore. This happens day or night and you don't want to have sail up when one lands on or near you.

[nhschneider]

My wife and I were invited to sail around Cape Horn aboard our friend’s Fraser 41 in 2016. We flew to Buenos Aires and then took a bus (48 hours of nonstop driving) to Ushuaia, where our friends met us. The provisioning was better in Ushuaia than in Puerto Williams, on Isla Navarino, which is Chilean. (Side note: Very interesting story about how Argentina lost control of the islands immediately south of the Beagle Channel to Chile.). Puerto Williams is a small military outpost at El Fin del Mundo, or, The End of the Earth and has about 600 inhabitants. You have to secure a zarpe or clearance from the military and they required a significant amount of documentation before they would consider allowing a boat to make an attempt at sailing around Isla Hornos.. Also, the weather has to be perfectly calm or permission is denied. We had to wait about 2 weeks for an acceptable weather forecast after we had secured a zarpe. Furthermore, the military will specify the route you have to take to get there.

When we were given the green light by the military, we first sailed to Puerto Toro, a very small village with maybe a dozen people living there, however, they did have a robust dock which we were allowed to tie up to. But the military in Puerto Toro insisted that they go over all the paperwork again and denied our permission to go any further. The owner of the boat we were on (who spoke fluent Spanish) very calmly spoke with those in charge and after several visits to their offices, was able to once again get permission to head to the Horn9.

It was January, the middle of their summer, but the temperature was in the mid-40s F. The scenery was drop-dead gorgeous and very remote. It gave ‘sparsely populated’ a whole new meaning. Extremely low incidents of crime. We sailed counter-clockwise around the island (which was named after a Dutch ship, The Hoorn, which was named after a city in Holland. It’s ironic that the island’s current name Hornos means ‘oven’ in Spanish). There is one bay where it’s tempting to drop an anchor but the bottom is foul and since the weather can deteriorate in a few minutes, it’s best to be ready to leave quickly if required. Our friend took my wife and me ashore where we met the lighthouse keeper and his wife, got our passports stamped and admired a beautiful sculpture of an albatross made of stainless steel. Then our friend swapped places with us, my wife and I slowly motoring in circles while our friend and his girlfriend went ashore. The weather remained calm during our entire visit. My wife and I remain grateful to this day to have had that experience. After our return to Puerto Williams, we reprovisioned and cruised the Patagonian fjords for another 6 weeks.

The photos that I’ve attached: screenshot of one of our friend’s navigation software that shows our route around Isla Hornos; my wife and me with Cape Horn in the background and my wife and me in the lighthouse on Isla Hornos.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[Messing About]

Nhschneider, that’s a great story and pics. Thank you.

[GeoffBoyardee]

Originally Posted by pmclachlan

How much sailing experience do you have and where?

Pretty much just racing and near coastal. East and west coast of US. I’ve been offshore once returning a boat from HI to CA, but had to turn around 5 days in due to equipment failure. Currently living in the SF Bay Area and learning my boat.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by GeoffBoyardee

Pretty much just racing and near coastal. East and west coast of US. I’ve been offshore once returning a boat from HI to CA, but had to turn around 5 days in due to equipment failure. Currently living in the SF Bay Area and learning my boat.

Sounds like a good CV to me.
I'd never been offshore until I went offshore

[wsmurdoch]

My wife and I took a very nice 18 day Viking Cruise Lines trip from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires via Cape Horn and the Falklands in January and February (summer) of this year. Friends went with us; and the food, booze, entertainment, and accommodations were all excellent. At the Cape it was 40 kts steady and 4-6 meter seas. but clear and dry. They closed the lower deck outside walkway due to spray and water, and it was almost impossible to stand exposed on the upper deck when motoring into the wind at 15 kts. In the bar the glasses and snacks sat quietly on the tables.

At 72 years old and with a 34' boat, it was the only way to go.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by GeoffBoyardee

Hello, I am extremely interested in going around Cape Horn. I have not delved deep into the subject, but just wanted to ask if anyone has any advice on how to go about doing this. Can I only do this on my own boat, or are there other avenues to go around the Horn? Appreciate any and all advice. Thank you.

I’d say start by getting 5yr sailing experience with at least 3 passages of 1,500nm.

Cape Horn, even going the easy direction (W-E), is a passage very experienced sailors approach with a lot of respect.

Get a beefy boat for the passage (Westsail, Alajuela, BCC, Cape George,…). Yeah, you probably could get away with a Bavaria, but it’s like driving up to Alaska on the AlCan highway, you could probably get away with it in a Toyota Corolla, but your odds are significantly better in a 4WD (Subaru Forester), preferably with significant ground clearance (Jeep or a lifted Van).

Outfit using simple systems you can repair yourself. Windvane selfsteering, drip feed diesel heater, slab reefing main, hanked on foresail, windlass with a manual option, multiple storm anchors, water tanks sufficient for twice your longest passage, foot or manual pump galley water.

I’m not saying don’t have an autopilot or water maker, but start with a boat that can get by without them.

Cutter rig. Molded in ballast.

Learn to sew so you can repair your sails in the middle of nowhere.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

25,000 people died building the Panama Canal... there are many good reasons you should honor their memory and use it.

I don’t see how 25,000 dying would be an endorsement for using the Canal.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Adelie

I’d say start by getting 5yr sailing experience with at least 3 passages of 1,500nm.

Cape Horn, even going the easy direction (W-E), is a passage very experienced sailors approach with a lot of respect.

Get a beefy boat for the passage (Westsail, Alajuela, BCC, Cape George,…). Yeah, you probably could get away with a Bavaria, but it’s like driving up to Alaska on the AlCan highway, you could probably get away with it in a Toyota Corolla, but your odds are significantly better in a 4WD (Subaru Forester), preferably with significant ground clearance (Jeep or a lifted Van).

Outfit using simple systems you can repair yourself. Windvane selfsteering, drip feed diesel heater, slab reefing main, hanked on foresail, windlass with a manual option, multiple storm anchors, water tanks sufficient for twice your longest passage, foot or manual pump galley water.

I’m not saying don’t have an autopilot or water maker, but start with a boat that can get by without them.

Cutter rig. Molded in ballast.

Learn to sew so you can repair your sails in the middle of nowhere.

The OP hasn't spelt out his plans yet. Big difference in what you need depending what you plan to do. A bit counter intuitive but French Polynesia directo to the Horn is a far harder passage than New Zealand to Puerto Montt. Windvane steering can fail in an unfixable manner. In the channels you really do want an autopilot - unless you enjoy standing behind the wheel while motoring into hail and sleet.
I do think cutter rig is a must - I go with roller furling on the forestay and hanked on storm jibs on the inner.

Molded in ballast? Dunno - I recall a boat in Natales that had smacked something nice and hard that had opened up the keel. They had to fly someone down from Montt to fix it.

Lots of skill levels , lots of different styles of boat down there. The boat below was a 38 foot Jenny (with a second hand Hanse mainsail) that a few miles west of where the photo was taken headed out of Canal Cockburn into the Pacific and sailed the whole way up to Montt on the outside.
The next photo is a 30 ft Dufour that shortly after this pic was taken was single handed up the inside to Montt. Both pics taken late April early May so essentially winter passages.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

The OP hasn't spelt out his plans yet. Big difference in what you need depending what you plan to do. A bit counter intuitive but French Polynesia directo to the Horn is a far harder passage than New Zealand to Puerto Montt. Windvane steering can fail in an unfixable manner. In the channels you really do want an autopilot - unless you enjoy standing behind the wheel while motoring into hail and sleet.
I do think cutter rig is a must - I go with roller furling on the forestay and hanked on storm jibs on the inner.

Molded in ballast? Dunno - I recall a boat in Natales that had smacked something nice and hard that had opened up the keel. They had to fly someone down from Montt to fix it.

Lots of skill levels , lots of different styles of boat down there. The boat below was a 38 foot Jenny (with a second hand Hanse mainsail) that a few miles west of where the photo was taken headed out of Canal Cockburn into the Pacific and sailed the whole way up to Montt on the outside.
The next photo is a 30 ft Dufour that shortly after this pic was taken was single handed up the inside to Montt. Both pics taken late April early May so essentially winter passages.

Windvane selfsteering can fail in an unfixable manner. True. Less likely than autopilots failing in unfixable manners. Best would be to have both.

Roller headsail and hanked inner foresail would not be unreasonable to my way of thinking.

If you smack a rock hard, it's going to damage the boat regardless of whether the ballast is cast in or bolted on.
I would rather have the fin holed and the ballast flooded but the canoe hull remain water tight, than have the tail end of the fin punch thru into the canoe hull resulting in flooding.

In a less serious strike, gird support for a bolt on can be damaged as was the case with Cheeki Rafiki. Repairs were done with proved inadequate and the vessel was lost at a later date.

[Enfant Du Vent]

Ahoy GeoffBoyardee:
I agree a passage around Cape Horn would be "extremely interesting". Something that would be a once in a lifetime experience.

Adelie recommended a rugged boat and gave a Westsail as one example. All I can add is that I spoke to the owner of a Westsail 32 who said the previous owner took it around the Horn--west to east. They told him that at one point they were leaving a spreader wake!
Sort of brings to mind the quote attributed to Lord Chesterton: He who would go to sea for pleasure, would go to Hell as a pastime.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Windvane selfsteering can fail in an unfixable manner. True. Less likely than autopilots failing in unfixable manners. Best would be to have both.

Roller headsail and hanked inner foresail would not be unreasonable to my way of thinking.

If you smack a rock hard, it's going to damage the boat regardless of whether the ballast is cast in or bolted on.
I would rather have the fin holed and the ballast flooded but the canoe hull remain water tight, than have the tail end of the fin punch thru into the canoe hull resulting in flooding.

In a less serious strike, gird support for a bolt on can be damaged as was the case with Cheeki Rafiki. Repairs were done with proved inadequate and the vessel was lost at a later date.

I had an interesting experience with dual windvane / autopilot failure once

Cheeki Rafika was I would suggest something of a special case . High aspect ratio fin with a very dodgy keel to hull interface. A design that I would avoid at all costs but then I would avoid all high aspect ratio fins.

All 'fins' are not born equal . Mine had smacked more than a few patagonian rocks - hard enough to have shed iron from the leading edge - before I dropped and checked it 9 years ago.

[captqrunch]

Couple currently cruising the Straits in a J46:



https://www.youtube.com/@SailingSweetRuca/videos