How long does it take to sail the Cape Horn?
Consider that prevailing conditions feature 200 days of gale, waves that rise more than 20 metres and the odd iceberg and you begin to understand the pride of “Cape Horners”. Our voyage spans a minimum of six days with safe anchorages each evening.
Why should you visit Cape Horn?
Visit Cape Horn to soak up the mystique that goes with this historic place. Like an ascent of Mount Everest, sailing around Cape Horn earns you a place amongst the elite and with good reason. Often wreathed in fog and smashed by towering seas, the southern-most headland of Cape Horn Island marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans collide.
How big is the ocean floor at Cape Horn?
Southwest of Cape Horn, the ocean floor rises sharply from 4,020 meters (13,200 feet) to 100 meters (330 feet) within a few kilometers. This sharp difference, combined with the potent westerly winds that swirl around the Furious Fifties, pushes up massive waves with frightening regularity.
What did Cape Horn demand from the king?
Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute, and before night sent us a gale of wind directly in our teeth. We stood out to sea, and on the second day again made the land, when we saw on our weather-bow this notorious promontory in its proper form-veiled in a mist, and its dim outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water.
How long does it take to sail around the Cape Horn?
Minimum duration: 10 days. 14 days recommended excluding Ushuaia (Argentina).
How many miles is around Cape Horn?
Most forty-niners traveling the 15,000-mile journey around Cape Horn did not enjoy such luxuries. They paid anywhere from $100 to $1000 and spent up to 8 months on board ship, packed together into tiny rooms or in the ship's hold. In good weather, the travelers could enjoy the beauty of the sea.
Why is it so hard to sail around Cape Horn?
The waters around Cape Horn are particularly hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs. The need for boats and ships to round Cape Horn was greatly reduced by the opening of the Panama Canal in August 1914.
How long is the Cape Horn route?
Sea Route—Cape Horn Slide #7 This was a long journey of 18,000 nautical miles. It took five to eight months to reach California.
Do cruise ships go around Cape Horn?
Since being repurposed as a tourist attraction and an adventure destination, cruise ships do travel around Cape Horn to give voyagers an amazing experience. Ultramarine will embark on a much-anticipated voyage to Cape Horn in March 2022 as part of the Essential Patagonia: Chilean Fjords and Torres del Paine adventure.
How many ships have sunk at Cape Horn?
800This spot has claimed many sailing ships over the centuries. Over 800 of them have foundered and sank while trying to round the cape.
Is Cape Horn ever calm?
The best time to sail around Cape Horn is when the weather is calm, and storms are unlikely, but conditions are treacherous year-round. Cape Horn is the gateway from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. The area, which is around the southernmost point of South America, is famous for rough and unpredictable weather.
What is the best time of year to take a cruise around Cape Horn?
Cruise ships and expedition vessels do travel around Cape Horn when the weather conditions allow. During the summer months, the weather is more tame and the waves of the sea are less rambunctious around the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.
How rough is a cruise around Cape Horn?
The ocean that lies west of Cape Horn is notorious for rogue waves that can reach heights of up to 30 meters. That's half as high as some modern cruise ships! For hundreds of years ships have been traveling on a trade route from Europe past the Horn to reach the Americas, Oceania, and Asia.
Does anyone live in Cape Horn?
A Chilean family resides year-round on the island in the buildings nearby. While you can't go inside their abode, just seeing and contemplating the residence itself is quite moving, as it offers a glimpse of what it must be like to be the only human inhabitants of Cape Horn.
What is special about Cape Horn?
Cape Horn is hugely significant in human history. Its discovery opened up trade routes and broke up monopolies. While it's not South America's southernmost island, it's the southernmost point of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile.
Can you drive to Cape Horn?
You can't drive the entire route. There's a 100-mile gap through the jungle between Panama and Colombia that was never completed. You have to take a ship to get around it. The world's longest straight road – no curves of any kind – is 160 miles long through the desert of Saudi Arabia.
When is the best time to sail around Cape Horn?
The best times to sail around Cape Horn are usually from December to February. Temperatures in the area are warmer during this time, and storm activity is about average. That said, Cape Horn is hazardous year-round. Winter just happens to be the time when you're most likely to make it through without encountering icy conditions or other treacherous ...
How strong is the wind around Cape Horn?
Wind can change on a dime in the region, both in direction and wind speed. Winds around Cape Horn frequently exceed 60 knots, and high waves make sailing particularly difficult. Conditions like these make the Panama Canal look like a particularly attractive alternative.
What is Cape Horn known for?
The scenery around Cape Horn is breathtaking, and the surrounding South American countries are known for incredible culture and sailing destinations.
What is the average temperature in Cape Horn in June?
Cape Horn summer temperatures are mild to low, averaging between 39°F in June and 41.5°F in August. The weather begins to heat up in September and October when temperatures rise to between 46.2°F and 51.1°F.
Why is my Cape Horn rigging dismasting?
Dismasting has occurred around Cape Horn, and it's usually the result of a failed chain plate, shroud, or stay . New heavy-duty hardware can give you peace of mind in bad conditions.
What is a lifeline on a boat?
Lifelines. Lifelines are cables that connect you to the boat. Lifelines run from a harness on your body to a secure part of the vessel, such as a side rail. These cables prevent you from being swept away should you fall overboard, which is especially important in freezing Cape Horn waters.
Is Cape Horn safe to anchor?
The cape itself, which is part of southern Chile, has a jagged rocky coastline with no safe anchorages in most areas. Cape Horn has a long history of stormy weather that often grounds ships on the rocky coast.
What was the Cape Horn?
Cape Horn: A Mariner’s Nightmare. Before the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, Cape Horn was a place that gave mariners nightmares. The waters off this rocky point, at the southern tip of Chile’s Tierra del Fuego peninsula, pose a perfect storm of hazards.
How high is the ocean floor in Cape Horn?
Southwest of Cape Horn, the ocean floor rises sharply from 4,020 meters (13,200 feet) to 100 meters (330 feet) within a few kilometers. This sharp difference, combined with the potent westerly winds that swirl around the Furious Fifties, pushes up massive waves with frightening regularity.
What did Cape Horn demand?
Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute, and before night sent us a gale of wind directly in our teeth. We stood out to sea, and on the second day again made the land, when we saw on our weather-bow this notorious promontory in its proper form—veiled in a mist, and its dim outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water.
What satellite captured the Cape Horn?
On July 12, 2014, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of Cape Horn and the Wollaston and Hermite Islands. Hundreds of ships have gone down near Cape Horn since Dutchman Willem Schouten, a navigator for the Dutch East India Company, first charted a course around the Horn in 1616.
Overview
Modern navigation
Many modern tankers are too wide to fit through the Panama Canal, as are a few passenger ships and several aircraft carriers. But there are no regular commercial routes around the Horn, and modern ships carrying cargo are rarely seen. However, a number of cruise ships routinely round the Horn when traveling from one ocean to the other. These often stop in Ushuaia or Punta Arenas as w…
Geography and ecology
Cape Horn is located on Isla Hornos in the Hermite Islands group, at the southern end of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. It marks the north edge of the Drake Passage, the strait between South America and Antarctica. It is located in Cabo de Hornos National Park.
The cape lies within Chilean territorial waters, and the Chilean Navy maintains …
History
In 1526 the Spanish vessel the San Lesmes commanded by Francisco de Hoces, member of the Loaísa expedition, was blown south by a gale in front of the Atlantic end of Magellan Strait and reached Cape Horn, passing through 56° S where they thought to see Land's End. Since the discovery, the sea separating South America from Antarctica bears the name of its discoverer. It appears as …
Literature and culture
Cape Horn has been an icon of sailing culture for centuries; it has featured in sea shanties and in many books about sailing. One of the classic accounts of a working ship in the age of sail is Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana Jr., in which the author describes an arduous trip from Boston to California via Cape Horn:
Just before eight o'clock (then about sundown, in that latitude) the cry of "All hands ahoy!" was s…
Further reading
• Around Cape Horn: A Maritime Artist/Historian's Account of His 1892 Voyage, by Charles G. Davis and Neal Parker. Down East Books, 2004. ISBN 978-0-89272-646-2
• Cape Horn. A Maritime History, by Robin Knox-Johnston. London Hodder&Stoughton ISBN 978-0-340-41527-6
• Cape Horn: The Story of the Cape Horn Region, by Felix Riesenberg and William A. Briesemeister. Ox Bow Press, 1994. ISBN 978-1-881987-04-8
See also
• Beagle conflict – Border dispute between Chile and Argentina affecting the nearby Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands
• Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve
• Cape Horner – Captain of a sailing ship
• Cape Leeuwin – Most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian continent, the Australian landmark on the clipper route
External links
Media related to Cape Horn at Wikimedia Commons
• Guide: How to visit Cape Horn
• International Association of Cape Horners
• Chilean Brotherhood of Cape Horn Captains (Caphorniers)