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05-04-2012, 21:55
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: St. Augustine Florida
Boat: Hunter, 33.5
Posts: 19
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Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Is it possible for my Hunter 33 to make it around Cape Horn and if possible what is the best way to do this....coastal sailing, etc.
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05-04-2012, 22:20
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#2
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Moderator and Certifiable Refitter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: South of 43 S, Australia
Boat: C.L.O.D.
Posts: 21,514
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Yes it is possible for your Hunter to do it and the best way is from west to east in the southern summer staying off-shore in the southern summer; however from the scant information available, it wold be hard for any of us to comment on whether you (yourself) can do it or not. No disrespect but this is unknowable without knowing more about you although your question indicates a certain lack of experience so this needs to be factored into any advice.
__________________
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangereous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. T.E. Lawrence
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05-04-2012, 22:23
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#3
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: La Ciudad de la Misión Didacus de Alcalá en Alta California, Virreinato de Nueva España
Boat: Cal 20
Posts: 21,616
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Any thing is possible.
From looking at the boat stats it looks OK, not patently too light,
HUNTER 33 sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com
Offshore would be the way I would do it. You might work your way down somewhat close to the Horn doing coastal sailing. Keep in mind the longer your stay near land the more likely you are to go bump since there are a lot of uncharted features down there.
Research the weather patterns, learn how to read wx faxes and Gribs, and try to get a lucky on a weather window.
Going west to east is the easier way (but not easy, just easier).
__________________
Num Me Vexo?
For all of your celestial navigation questions: https://navlist.net/
A house is but a boat so poorly built and so firmly run aground no one would think to try and refloat it.
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20-04-2012, 10:53
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Palm Beach, Florida
Posts: 109
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluetequila
Is it possible for my Hunter 33 to make it around Cape Horn and if possible what is the best way to do this....coastal sailing, etc.
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"...best way to do this..."
On the deck of a freighter
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20-04-2012, 10:57
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Kansas City, MO
Boat: In the hunt again, unknown
Posts: 1,331
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Quote:
Originally Posted by sailronin
"...best way to do this..."
On the deck of a freighter
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Good one!
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20-04-2012, 10:58
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2010
Boat: Tartan 30
Posts: 1,548
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
I would think the strength of rigging, fittings, etc.. and overall 'seaworthyness' would be more important than hull form and spec numbers. You could wait for a really good weather forecast, but from my understanding, the weather can change rapidly and somewhat unexpectedly. Best to be prepared for a knockdown.
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20-04-2012, 13:55
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 105
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluetequila
Is it possible for my Hunter 33 to make it around Cape Horn and if possible what is the best way to do this....coastal sailing, etc.
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Many of the posts above are incorrect. If you want to do it coastal, which is the most common way, then you in fact want to:
(a) go down the Atlantic Argentine coast -you hop between harbours in 2-3 days hops, sailing right close to the beach, You can go down the Pacific but it is MUCH harder to do coastally (wind and current and waves against you for a 1000 miles) and typically the pacific route is done offshore (Ecuador out to Easter island and then back in to puerto Montt chile and down the Patagonian channels to the Beagle channel).
(b) you enter the beagle channel and rest and re-provision at Puerto Williams and Ushuaia. You want to arrive in the Beagle in early summer (November/December/January), if you plan to spend any time exploring down there.
(c) then you get a zarpe from Puerto williams to Puerto Williams around the horn, which you do by day sailing to Puerto Toro and then Calata Martial and then a day sail around the horn back to Calata Martial and Back to Puerto Williams. This can take 4-10 days depending on how long you need to wait for weather,
(d) then you can return up the Atlantic, or you can go up the Patagonian channels (a set of inside completely protected passages) to Puerto Montt and on up into the Pacific.
If you are at all serious about this then you want to buy "Patagonia & Tierra Del Fuego Nautical Gde 2Nd Ed" by Mariolina Rolfo & Giorgio Ardrizzi. Its the cruising bible for down there.
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20-04-2012, 14:34
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#8
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cat herder, extreme blacksheep
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: furycame alley , tropics, mexico for now
Boat: 1976 FORMOSA yankee clipper 41
Posts: 18,967
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
you COULD take it around the horn, but, then again, you COULD sail a laser around cape horn. the question is---can YOU sail around cape horn.....
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20-04-2012, 16:50
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Lakewood Ranch, FLORIDA
Boat: Alden 50, Sarasota, Florida
Posts: 3,646
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
A husband and wife team did just sail around the Horn in a stock H45. Size doesn't matter, at least in this context... The only two problems they has were a broken sail hank and trouble with a windlass. It's the capability of the crew, not the boat, that makes the difference. Internet experts might disagree with that... but most sailors don't.
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20-04-2012, 16:54
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2010
Boat: Tartan 30
Posts: 1,548
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Pretty sure that when you're boat gets knocked down in 20' seas, the capabilities of the boat come into play in a significant manner...
I'm sure some could argue that the boat should never be knocked down in the first place, but I'd have to argue that some of the most experienced skippers on the planet have been knocked down sailing the horn...
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20-04-2012, 17:08
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2010
Boat: Tartan 30
Posts: 1,548
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
I guess the southern route is different than the coastal route??
I know that when Yves Gelinas decided to take his Alberg 30 around the horn, he knew the stock mast would not survive a knockdown, so he put a new stronger mast on the boat. Then he was knocked down... He had also uprated the rigging wire and fittings, but 'forgot' to uprate the bolts that hold the chainplates. The chainplate ripped right out of the deck and the mast came down.
he later talks about the structure that chainplate was bolted was also too weak. To do it correctly, he had to significantly beef up the structure, the bolts, and the chainplate itself, along with the rest of the rigging and the mast itself....
And that was no Hunter.
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20-04-2012, 17:22
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 105
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Quote:
Originally Posted by callmecrazy
I guess the southern route is different than the coastal route??
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Dramatically different.
If you take your time with the coastal route and watch the weather you can get to and around the horn while essentially skipping any really big waves. You will still most likely encounter serious wind 30-40kts while sailing, and even more 50-60kts while anchored (bring a BIG anchor). But the coastal route allows you to do it almost all in sheltered water.
Honestly, you can, and people have, done this coastal route with relatively little experience and skill when they started. The trick is to be careful and a quick study. It's not rocket science. It's so different than tropical sailing that even 20 years cruising in the tropics does not really prepare you and even with that experience you need to be careful and a quick study. That experience might even be bad because you might go thinking you 'knew it all' and be over confident.
The offshore route, thru the drake passage is rather different in many regards. It is quicker and it is possible to be lucky with the weather and have a quite smooth passage. Many of you will know that Matt Rutherford did an offshore rounding this (southern) summer (January) in a Vega 27, and he was extremely fortunate in his weather - 15-20kts sort of weather. But equally it is possible to get some of the worst weather in the world there, with enormous and poorly shaped waves, and they lose several sailboats down there every year.
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20-04-2012, 17:37
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Brisbane, Australia.
Posts: 1,338
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
I would use the Beagel Chanel but only in the summer. But why would you summer there is still cold and wet and windy and cold.
__________________
Simon
Bavaria 50 Cruiser
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27-10-2012, 21:31
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Burlington NJ
Boat: Hunter 25 Mk 1
Posts: 38
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeehag
you COULD take it around the horn, but, then again, you COULD sail a laser around cape horn. the question is---can YOU sail around cape horn.....
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Suddenly, sailing a Laser around Cape Horn sounds fascinating. Anyone ever done it?
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27-10-2012, 23:41
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#15
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Senior Cruiser

Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Coos Bay, Oregon
Boat: Valiant 40 (1975)
Posts: 4,073
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Re: Hunter 33 sailing around Cape Horn
I have sailed a laser in some bigger winds (25 knots) and have pitch polled in the process. This thread is insane. I would not take a boat which is designed for coastal waters around cape Horn. You may get lucky but as ice stated- they loose a lot of sailboats down there...
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