Cape Horn tomorrow
Legend has it that over 31 days during 1788 the HMS Bounty of Captain Bligh made just 85 miles while attempting fruitlessly to round Cape Horn. If they round Cape Horn as expected on Tuesday, Barcelona World Race leaders Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam will have taken 31 days to race from the longitude of Cape of Good Hope to the most feared of all the ‘great Capes’. They passed Good Hope on 24 January at 20:20 UTC. and those who like the fearful symmetries of IMOCA round the world racing might not be too far wrong to stab at a 24 March finish into Barcelona!
Such speeds from Cheminées Pojoulat, indicate that harmony prevails and that there has not even been a mutinous whisper between the two vastly experienced co-skippers, Stamm and Le Cam. The duo, who have six racing circumnavigations between them, was just over 800 miles from the Cape this afternoon and conditions, though robust, look set for a favourable, well earned release from the clutches of the Pacific. Compared with the Indian Ocean, the Pacific has been tough, but fair to the Swiss-French pair.
