The good ship Pelagic is currently making progress down the Beagle Channel and into the glaciers. We have flat calm seasÊand the sun has just come out, idyllic, but its been rather an eventful few days.

Proving ourselves again to be the go-to boat for record-fast Cape Horn trips, we zoomed out of Puerto Williams on the 31st andÊdown to the Cape Horn Archipelago. Having anchored in 30kts, we were surprised to wake up to completely still conditionsÊand an amazing sunrise. We decided there probably wouldn't get a better opportunity to round the famous Cape and went forÊit. The weather forecasts have been incredibly varied all week so we weren't entirely sure what conditions to expect but by the time weÊgot there we were sailing round in a rather pleasant 15-20kts. A first for Dave, who has only ever rounded in all or nothingÊconditions. 5kt or 50kts, nothing in between. We also beat our big sister, Pelagic Australis, who were also down at the Horn,Êround the Cape by a full 2hours. Something about early birds and worms...They are still claiming it wasn't a race but as every good sailor knows if there are two yachts heading in the same direction it is definitely a race. And we wo n.Ê

It was really fantastic to be able to land and to be greeted like an old friend by the Lighthouse-keeper, Samuel. He suspectsÊwe will be one of the last yachts of the season to come and visit. I'm not sure when I might get another opportunity, so I dutifully bought a t-shirt from the Cape Horn gift shop. Samuel predicted that the weather would start to turnÊaround 5pm and in preparation had already taken down his flag, lest it be blown away like the last one. We made a dashÊto get back before it did. Sure enough at 5pm on the dot the wind started to build. For the first few hours in Bahia Nassau weÊenjoyed fantastic sailing conditions, beam reaching in 25-30kts. Unfortunately for us, as darkness fell the wind conditioned toÊbuild, 35kts, 45kts, 55kts and we continued to shorten sail until we were sailing along fully reefed and still reaching speeds inÊexcess of 10kts. It became a bit of a white knuckle ride. Good old Pelagic handled it like the pro that she is, and a few hour sÊlater a rather tired and bedraggled crew made it into Paso Goree, hoping for some shelter. The wind was so strong that itÊfunnelled up the channel for another 5 miles before we got much respite. Eventually we dropped the rest of the main andÊfound ourselves surfing up the channel under bare poles with the engine in tickover still doing 8kts. The further up the channel we went, the more sheltered it became, until we finallyÊreached the anchorage in Cabo Rees in 5kts of wind and flat seas. I was very relieved to feel the clunk of the chain as the anchor bit and to be able to inform the Chilean Navy we were tucked up safely, one less boat for them to worry about.Ê

The boys onboard say they are glad they experienced the conditions that Cape Horn can throw up, and having seen approximately 60kts in the Bay of Nassau, quite rightly feel they have done the Cape 'properly'. However, I'm fairly sure we are all agreed that we'd be happy for today's more 'tranquilo' conditions to continue for a few more days. Bring on the glaciers.Ê