Cape Horn

[Brian24jersey]

Not that I would ever dream about doing it but how hard exactly is the transit around cape horn, I saw the young lady from austrailia just did it, I was wondering what your thought are on this?

[blt2ski]

Hit it on the right day, you could sail around it in an opti, or paddle around it in a kayak or canoe. Hit it on the wrong day, and you would not want to be on the USS Enterprise! or equal LARGE ship!

Hit it in that area's summer, probably not a big deal, kinda like sailing down Washingtons west coast, hit it in the winter, you have 40-50' seas, and 60 mph wins! same with the Gulf of Alaska!

More than one has sailed around the horn with typical boats, most prefer something on the stout side of things.

[bubb2]

Real men do the Horn South to North

[Gary M]

I think you mean East to West ?? Or uphill as the case maybe.

[CharlieCobra]

Oh Joy went East to West, without me aboard but who knows what the future holds....

[CalebD]

Some great pictures of the Cape Horn area are available at Peter Smiths webstite under his Patagonia and Antarctica blogs. There are some great photos as well as an interesting log of the trip.
PeterSmith.net.nz : anchors & anchoring, “Kiwi Roa”, photo journals from Patagonia & Antarctica

[Joesaila]

Check out the film you can easily find via the National Sailing Hall of Fame called the Ghosts of Cape Horn. Its and old black and white archive movied that captures the intense meaning of sails and the Horn...get a cup of jo, tea or whatever and sit back and enjoy this...its last around a half hour but its well worth viewing.

[nolatom]

West to East is typically downwind and doable (even Reid Stowe, Mr. "1000 Days" did it on an old cement schooner) but east to west is not something I'd ever want to try, from what I've seen and read.

[Brian24jersey]

thanks for the pictures they were very interesting

[okawbow]

There's a book called "Racing The Ice to Cape Horn" by Guernsey, that tells about a 55 year old man that sailed a Gladiator 24 around the horn. It sounded like a pretty rough ride.