The Tough Battle For Cape Horn

The Tough Battle For Cape Horn
The Tough Battle For Cape Horn

Video: The Tough Battle For Cape Horn

Video: The Tough Battle For Cape Horn
Video: Around Cape Horn (1929) 2024, March
Anonim
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Brian Thompson at the helm, an iceberg in the background

For weeks it looked like a new fable record: the blue Maxi-Tri was almost four days before the record for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of the world, but then a whole chain of high pressure areas got into the course line. With only 10.8 knots instead of the usual 25 to 30 knots, the fastest boat in the world is currently sneaking towards the southern tip of South America. Weak wind, at times also from the east, gave the team of skipper Loïck Peyron a huge damper. In the meantime, the comfortable lead from once more than 2,100 nautical miles has shrunk to just 791, and the trend is still falling. If the Tri succeeds in pushing through the low wind belt that pulls with him towards Cape Horn, things should go faster again. But how long that will take remains to be seen.

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Status of the record attempt today

On top of that, icebergs in the south block the possibility of simply sailing around the high pressure channel. "Yesterday we passed an iceberg just four nautical miles away," emailed British crew member Brian Thompson from on board. Various "growlers", as the half-submerged smaller chunks are called, swam around the iceberg, which break off from the large icebergs and drift near them. "We can't see them with the radar, and of course we're worried about them," said Thompson. However, the water temperatures have now risen to eight degrees, which reduces the likelihood of more chunks of ice.

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