January 4, 2013
After 55 days, 10 hours, 8 min. since starting the Virtual Vendee Globe at Les'Sables d'Olonnes (2:10 pm PST) my little red boat SLEDCAT has Cape Horn abeam, one mile to the north. The wind is WNW at 25 knots, the seas are 10-15 feet, and viz is 8-10 miles.
Now it is up the Atlantic to the finish, 7020 miles distance. I've become attached to my little boat, adjusting course and sails at odd hours, day and night. At #19,365, SLEDCAT is currrently in the top 4% of the nearly half million virtual boats racing, 99% of whom are French. With a good passage north, I could possibly pick off another couple of thousand racers, including Alex Thompson on HUGO BOSS, who is 4th place in the real Vendee Globe.
Mythical Cape Horn entered my life early. In the second grade we were marched off to the auditorium to see a movie. Lo, it was "50 South to 50 South," the film story of WANDERBIRD, the magnificent German pilot schooner, skippered by Commodore Tompkins father, Warwick Tompkins, Sr. WANDERBIRD was rounding Cape Horn, headed to San Francisco. And there was four year old Commodore playing in the rigging. It looked like the life for me.
Little did I imagine that 30 years later, Commodore and I would become shipmates on many a sailing adventure. I was lucky to learn from one of the best seamen of our generation.
In third grade, Capt. Irving Johnson came to town for one of his lecture series. My father took me, and I got to see the film of Irving Johnson's 1929 voyage round the Horn as crew on the last Cape Horn square rigger, the massive steel bark PEKING.
Irving Johnson as a young man trained for this Cape Horn voyage. His training techniques included climbing telephone poles and standing on his head on top to improve balance. For strength he practiced tearing phone books in half. Johnson wanted to experience the ultimate storm. The PEKING found it off Cape Horn. Johnson's black and white film, taken from the top of the main mast in 100 mph of wind and 80 foot seas, ranks as one of the most spectacular photo epics ever. If you have a chance to see "Around Cape Horn" by Irving Johnson, a film from Mystic Seaport, don't miss it.
In 1969, in Hyeres, France, I had the chance to shake Irving Johnson's hand and briefly tell him what his dedication to the sea meant to me. I had forgotten the massive size and strength of Johnson's hands, and he, unintentionally, nearly crushed my hand in his friendly grip.
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Originally Posted by Eyrie
