Alex Pella faces Cape Horn with a 900-mile lead and caution due to extreme conditions

It is likely that we will have to make a stand by in Cape Horn due to the storms from the south”

Three weeks have already passed since “Use It Again!” headed west around the world. Alex Pella and Romain Pilliard continue their descent from the Atlantic along the coast of South America and are currently at the latitude of Argentina. Although the two sailors already have their sights set on Cape Horn, which they should reach early next week, the circular economy trimaran duo have had to deal with some repairs and technical setbacks in recent days, such as traces of oil on the ship, proof, if any, of pollution in the ocean.

“We are entering the 40 South. We have lost track of time, after so many days in the water, we are absolutely marinized, these things happen, when you have been in the water for many days and you no longer know what day you are in, honestly to find out, we look at the number on the bag of the food, so I have seen that we have opened the 23rd, therefore the third-fourth week of navigation. This last week, we have been going down the entire South American coast, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. We pass through Mar del Plata and we are already attacking the final stretch towards Cape Horn, which is the southernmost point that we will have to turn. A few days ago we crossed the line of 40 South and as I say, we entered albatross territory, the temperature of the air and the water has dropped quite a bit. So far the descent has been good, we have had spectacular conditions; not too fast, but quite straight, clean and good trajectories. A couple of days ago we caught the first front, with a pampero wind, with already harsh conditions, we were 24 hours with 35 knots of wind, with 4 meters of wave and with a somewhat closed angle, a slightly open upwind; In any case, a bad angle for these boats, which suffer a lot. In conclusion, a first acid test, to be able to test the small sails and a good training for what is coming after Cape Horn. The current forecast for Cape Horn is that we have the door closed, we cannot go through because it is hit by storms from the south, we have to find a gap between two storms to sneak in, because we, with this boat, cannot keep up with those storms . We would endanger the ship and our physical integrity. It is likely that we will have to do a short stand-by in Hornos, something that I have never done, which is part of this great adventure”, says Alex Pella.

After 23 days of sailing, the team is four days ahead of the previous record’s benchmark time, more than 6,000 miles traveled with 16,000 miles to go.

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