This past week has been one post after another providing updates on the delicate and difficult descent for Cole Brauer, on her Class40 Number 54, First Light, towards the most legendary of capes, Cape Horn.
After nearly 20,000 Nautical Miles and 3 months at sea the talented young American skipper is about to achieve a feat very few people ever accomplished. If she goes on to successfully finish the Global Solo Challenge, Cole Brauer will make the history books by becoming the first American female to ever complete a solo nonstop circumnavigation by the three Great Capes joining an elite of less than 200 humans that have achieved this – ever.
Even before reaching the end of this adventure she will join a special group of sailors that have had the honour of rounding Cape Horn by sail and will become a member of the International Association of Cape Horners. She will receive a congratulatory message from none less than Sir Robin Knox-Johnston himself, the first person to complete a solo nonstop circumnavigation in 1968-1969.
Cape Horn is often referred to as the Everest of the seas, to indicate how treacherous and difficult it is to successfully round Cape Horn by sail. In fact the number of people that have reached the summit of Mount Everest is about twice those that one way or another rounded cape horn during a circumnavigation, whether solo or with a crew, nonstop or in a journey involving stopovers. If we count just solo circumnavigators, there are 30 times more people that climbed mount everest than there are solo circumnavigators by the three great capes.
If this is still not enough to give you an idea of the scale of the achievement, there have in fact been approximately 3 times as many humans in space than solo circumnavigators by Cape Horn. At 29 years of age this trip is likely to become life changing for Cole in terms of everything that will follow.
Obviously we will have to wait till she reaches A Coruna before calling her a circumnavigator but I hope you all agree that this rounding, this milestone, is a moment she will never forget. She will also certainly feel that this badge of honour is fully earned, in the past week she’s had to weave her way through several difficult storms in an attempt to find the path of least resistance to reach the cape.
In fact, the rapid sequence of severe storms was so insidious that she had no option other than patiently time her moves in the South Pacific like a pawn on giant chess board swept by storms ready to take her out of the game, she had to skip turns by slowing down and letting some of the nasty winds blow by, then sneak forward, run downwind and all sort of tactics to keep herself in manageable conditions that would not jeopardize all the efforts to date.
This inevitably led to some precious time lost in her chase of the front runner Philippe Delamare, but she wisely accepted that she had to look at the bigger picture, and we couldn’t agree more as getting through and finishing will mean so much for her, breaking the boat and retiring would be a disastrous outcome. She has played her cards very well so far.
Philippe Delamare rounded Cape Horn on the 9th of January and whilst his approach towards Cape Horn appeared somewhat less dramatic in terms of the number and severity of storm in his path, we have to give it to Philippe that he pushed on and rounded the dreaded cape in heavy conditions, right when a cold front was sweeping by, and decided to press on without adding miles to his course. To this moment this has been the key factor to his voyage and what has made it possible for Philippe to preserve such a solid lead over his competitors. His sturdy aluminium boat is not capable of double digit surfs or speed records but has not encountered significant technical issues and has not had to deroute to avoid storms, something we have on the other hand seen as a recurring tactic used by the skippers of lighter and more delicate racing boats.
To give an example, Andrea Mura on Vento di Sardegna sailed for 2 consecutive days at record pace in the Global Solo Challenge, sailing first 313 nautical miles followed by a 322 nautical miles day run, which is equivalent to an average between 13.1 and 13.4 knots over the space of 48 hours. Cole has achieved a best 24h run of 286 miles, with a boat therefore capable of sustained double digit speeds. Philippe’s average so far stands at 7.3 knots and only in rare moments has he exceeded 8-9 knots downwind in his best days. However, Philippe retains the best ratio between miles sailed to theoretical miles having sailed hundreds and hundreds of miles less than most of his competitors, over 800 less than Cole, which, when sailing at 7.3 knots average, translates into several days of navigation saved.
The balance between speed and boat preservation has certainly been one of the most interesting aspects to consider in this event, with boats of different types we can appreciate how different boats lend to different styles of sailing. The virtual podium currently sees Philippe Delamare first on an Aluminium cruiser racer designed in the 80’s, Cole Brauer in second place on a 4800 kg lightweight 2008 Class40, and Andrea Mura on a light displacement 2000 Open 50 weighing just over 6 tons and with a canting keel. We are very pleased to see the current podium is made up of representatives from 3 styles of boats and sailing. This was even more so the case before Dafydd Hughes on Bendigedig retired from the event in Hobart, at the time he was first overall on the water (and had repeatedly occupied second and third place in the overall expected time of arrival ETA ranking), meaning we could have potentially had a final arrival leaderboard with boats ranging from the smallest and oldest boat, an S&S34, to an Open 50, which is exactly what the Global Solo Challenge aimed to achieve, give anyone with any suitable boat an opportunity to take on a solo circumnavigation and even do so competitively.
It’s probably a little too soon to talk about the final leaderboard, although the positions are starting to become increasingly defined. In third place on the water, Ronnie Simpson with Shipyard Brewing has found a difficult weather scenario to deal with and, much like Cole Brauer, had to accept a conservative boat preserving strategy which has however forced him to sail slower for a number of days at the expense of his ETA. In fifth and sixth place we have an ongoing battle between Riccardo Tosetto on Obportus and Francois Gouin on Kawan3 Unicancer. In 6th place on the water is Andrea Mura on Vento di Sardegna whose recent excellent daily runs have made him climb up the ETA rank consolidating his expected 3rd place inching closer and closer to Cole Brauer’s 2nd place, which could be at risk if she were to find slow condition after the rounding the horn and the opposite were to happen for the Italian skipper.
In seventh place we have David Linger on Koloa Maoli who we’ve recently praised for his approach to the event, with a solid and careful performance that is testimony that this event can be taken on with wisdom and patience, certainly at the expense of overall speed, but not at the expense of the extraordinary adventure these skippers are experiencing. The same should be said for William MacBrien in 8th place who has pressed on in storms or difficult weather systems always reporting to be fully enjoying his adventure.
Currently stopped in Bluff Harbour, South Island, New Zealand, Pavlin Nadvorni occupies 9th place and should be able to set off again in pursuit of William MacBrien (who left on the same day as Pavlin from A Coruna) after attending to some essential repairs to his mainsail mast track and other issues.
In 10th place on the water Louis Robein is headed for a pitstop in Hobart which he should reach at the beginning of next week. In 11th place currently stopped in Port Lincoln is Edouard De Keyser on Solarwind who was forced to divert to a safe port after breaking his starboard rudder. It is difficult to say with certainty if he’ll be able to restart before his deadline of February 2nd.
In 12th place Alessandro Tosetti on Aspra has sailed good mileage in the past weeks after a slow descent of the Atlantic and a stopover in Cape Town for technical issues. In 13th place, by the Kerguelens, is Australian Kevin Le Poidevin on Roaring Forty, occupying last position as a consequence of his late departure from A Coruna due to a back injury and some technical issues.
Of the initial 16th starters 3 are the skippers to have retired. Juan Merediz on Sorolla a week after departure due to autopilot issues, Dafydd Hughes on Bendigedig headed for Hobart due to autopilot issues and there decided to retire and not restart after repairs. Ari Kansakoski dismasted on the 21-21 December and after an epic 25 days, 1200 miles journey under jury rig he reached Durban in South Africa where he is evaluating his options including the possible repair of his mast,
The Global Solo Challenge is delivering all we were hoping for with a mix of truly fascinating stories of human resilience, ingenuity, drama, difficulties as well as achievements and exhilarating epic fast sailing. Stay tuned
