Sailors Run Rounds Cape Horn
Readers — On December 11, Jeff Hartjoy set off from Callao, Peru, on a singlehanded nonstop trip around Cape Horn, bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina, aboard his Baba 40 Sailors Run. We’ll be running his reports in ‘Lectronic throughout his voyage.
After New Year’s, the wind built as I closed in on Cape Horn. Sailing conditions became dangerous, requiring I keep Sailors Run on a very broad reach under reefed staysail alone. At times like these, there’s just three things you must do: Stay on top of it, stay on top of it, stay on top of it!
One night around midnight, I awoke to a thunderous crash as what must have been a huge wave washed over Sailors Run. As I stumbled from my bunk to get a light on, I realized I was standing in water. Turns out, a couple quarts of water had been forced under the butterfly hatch. Thirty minutes later, the mess was cleaned up and precautions taken to protect against a recurrence. The same wave tore my GPS from its bracket; it wound up lodged under the dodger. Thankfully it was undamaged and gets to carry on like the rest of us "lucky suckers" on this adventure.
I had other challenges on my approach to the Horn, such as when the mizzen halyard broke the tips off the wind generator blades, forcing me to climb the mizzen to figure out a fix; or when the staysail halyard shackle let go, dumping the sail over the bow in 50 knots of wind; or when I jibed without rolling in the scrap of genoa — which I had set until I could climb the mast to retrieve the staysail halyard — resulting in about six-feet-worth of new patches.
Day 30 arrived with dying winds, and found Sailors Run just 30 miles from the Horn. At first I thought I might round it under spinnaker (how cool that would have been!) but then the winds increased and I thought I’d have to pass it 25 miles out. That’s when the winds died down to about 10 knots. The winds down here change constantly in direction and intensity, unlike the steady trades.
After 30 days and 3,582 miles, I just wanted to get there so I tried to start the engine but ended up starting an electrical fire in the wiring to the engine’s pre-heater instead. I cleared that, blew the smoke out of the boat, bled the engine, and finally got it started. After two hours, the wind filled in from the north and I had a great beam reach to Cape Horn, arriving at 2130 UTC on January 9.
I’d thought I was emotional when I left Callao, Peru, but that was nothing to the way I felt rounding the Horn. Not only was I still alive, but I’d fulfilled a dream. Suddenly all the frustration was gone and I was happy again!