Sailing Cape Horn

Overview: a must for every real sailor, a cruise around Cape Horn always delivers. Amazing landscapes, challenging winds, real sailing and, believe it or not, always great company

The top places to visit: Ushuaia, Puerto Williams, Puerto Toro, Cape Horn and Wollaston Islands.

Our rating: Wind and Sea: it goes without saying Kids friendly: no Lifestyle: 100% stamina Gourmet: well.... Mileage (approx) : 240 Cruise length: 7 days Prices: 200 euros all inclusive When to go: hanuary to march Harbours and marinas: very well organized Gourmet and restaurants: you do not fly there to eat gourmet food

Our top 3 SAILPRO anchorages

1. Puerto Maxwell 2. Caleta Martial 3. Puerto Toro

Our Sailing notes

Weather and navigation: the 'End of the Earth' is not as bad as one could imagine. Winds in Magellan Strait are usually much worse because depressions tend to pass over the land rather than passing around the Cape. In the sailing season the wind is stronger than in winter. One should usually expect around 3 depressions per week. they begin with a fontal NW, veering fast to the furious SW cold front. The Chilean Navy offers an outstanding weather service and you can rely on it. It's very professional bordering to laconic. I remember one of the last one I heard. 'Situacion: frontal a post frontal. Vientos de 70 a 80 nudos con rachas de 90 nudos. Mar: 8 metros'. Fronts are usually very fast and it's possible most of the times to do the cruise in the sheduled week with acceptable winds and comfort.

Harbours and anchorages: the three harbours along the route are Ushuaia, Puerto Williams and Puerto Toro. They all have their peculiarities, and Williams wins hands down. You moor to an old sunk navy ship that contains a World-famous bar and a fancy shower about which, being the only place during the cruise offering a little privacy, wild rumors abound.

Our itinerary

Ushuaia is in itself an interesting place to be, but the feeling is not the end of the world. A nice setting, mountains all around, the channel close by, tons of hotels and souvenir shops trying to convince you that you are indeed at the end of the world. The first 30 or so miles from Ushuaia to Puerto Williams, where entry is compulsory for paperwork, are usually either a fast downwind affair or a long power section along the shores of wonderful Beagle channel. Rarely boring anyway, considering the view, the penguins around, and the fact that there are not many other boats around. Puerto Williams is one of the two highlights of the voyage, but just a close second after Cape Horn. Admittedly you enjoy the stop here better on the way back, with the satisfaction of the 'been there done that' which is conducive to a rarely moderate amount of boozing. Southbound one must usually limite the number of éisco sour because there is really nothing more distressing than sailing to Cape horn with a hangover. The 'port' is just a sunk ship in a very sheltered bay where you make fast to. Services include the bar and the mentioned shower. Period. Excellent hikes on Navarino Island, a military base, super-welcoming natives, and that's it. Puerto Toro is the next stop unless the weather advises to push ahead. It's a fishermen harbour with a dock, nothing much, and a small village of semi-abandoned houses. A perfect spot to buy Centolla - Southern King Crab. even if the sailing season is not sopposed to be the same as the fishing legal season, you'll find enough crabs to slaughter. Proceed steaming the juicy legs and use all the tools in the boat to ravage them, then dip in lemon and melted butter. The 50 miles crossing of Bahia Nassau is the most difficult section of the trip. The SW course is right in the teeth of the cold fronts and if it's blowing there is no other choice than staying put. Even if the Wollaston archipelago shelter the sea from the ocean swell, the fetch is important and the sea can be brutal anyway. Approaching the Wollastons is amazing. It's really wild, wild, wild down there... It looks that the whole archipelago is a wild, green crested wave... Once into Caleta Martial, the legal anchorage, you can ask permission to move farther west to Caleta Maxwell, much more sheltered where you can anchor and lay out line to the.... shrubs ashore. Caleta Maxwell is an ideal spot to start the round of Cape Horn being the place west of it. So if the wind is not too mischievour you just put your nose out of the channel and you fly around the southernmost cape of the Planet. Isla Hornos is widely known. Less known is the fact that a convenient anchorage in the N side allows one to go ashore to meet the natives, consisting of a Chilean army bloke and his wife. They certainly live a full social life for their 6-month shift. Waters around the Cape are seldom quiet, with a minimum swell of around 3 metres and up. But it's doable let's say 70% of the times, even more. It's certainly a strange feeling to realize that from here all unfrozen lands are N. Caleta Martial is the place where one usually stop t pop champagne to celebrate. Flat seawise, it's a place where wind flies undisturbed, but anchors hold well in 6 metres. From Martial back to Toro and Willians it's generally easier for the winds are more favourable, although northeasterlies do exist. After this week you clearly go back to Micalvi to celebrate properly with a decent amount of Pisco sour!