Position: 55:49.372S 067:17.627W
Date / Time: 22 January 0230 (0530
UTC)
+++STOP PRESS+++MINA2 SURVIVES CAPE HORN STORM+++ OR HAVE
THEY?+++
At 0015 on 22 January 2012, Mina2 and her intrepid crew
rounded Cape Horn. Her skipper had spent days planning to avoid any part of the
crossing of Drake Passage involving anything more than half a gale (up to 34
knots). In the event we rounded the Horn in the only way that this iconic
landmark should be rounded – with 50+ knots of wind (that’s close to 60mph –
difficult to stand up in) and big seas.
Sadly it was at the dead of night so all we saw of this
dramatic rock was the light of the lighthouse blinking through the driven spray
every five seconds.
What he hadn’t counted on was that this was the easy part
of the evening. We’d fondly assumed that once we tucked round the back of Cape
Horn the wind would abate. Huh! It got funnelled and increased further as we
made our way the ten miles to the only anchorage anywhere near that could
provide protection for us. Getting into an anchorage in 50 + knots of wind is
one thing, but when it’s an anchorage that you’ve never seen before its another.
When its an anchorage that you’ve never seen even AFTER you’ve anchored there,
well that’s a whole different ball game. We nosed our way in using two GPS chart
plotters (which, unhelpfully, disagreed with one another) and the radar and
battling against the fierce winds dropped our anchor in hope and not a little
fear. The anchor seems to be holding at the moment but only when dawn breaks
tomorrow will we know whether we are within inches of the rocks are firmly
snugged into the middle.
Meanwhile we won’t be sleeping too well as the sound of
the wind ripping through the rigging and trying to tug our anchor out of the
ground is deafening. We all felt it was a little premature to crack open the
champagne.
