Annals of Adventure–Joyon Clears Cape Horn: Francis Joyon’s incredible solo, non-stop sprint around the world is now in the home stretch. Over the weekend he sailed past Cape Horn in 45 knot winds and turned north into the Atlantic. Though Joyon still has more than 7,000 miles to go, safely rounding Cape Horn–the most notorious, dangerous Cape on the planet–is the single greatest milestone in any round the world voyage. Joyon arrived in beautiful conditions and here’s what he had to say about the mythic headland:

“The only inhabitants were the Yagan Indians, and since they were exterminated,

there is nobody any more here. While passing under the wind of the small

islands, I felt the odor of guano, I really passed very close to the

course, perhaps at a half-thousand metres.”

“It was beautiful, really very beautiful. At daybreak, what astonished me,

is that the mountains were snow-covered. and it’s summer here! The tops in

the distance were completely white, I really did not expect that. It is a

beautiful course, the extremely jagged East coast, it is an incredible

wild beauty.”

Joyon sailed from France to the Horn in just 49 days. That’s just a few days slower than the time his tri IDEC posted in 1997, sailing as Sport Elec…WITH A FULL CREW. And the current record holder–Michel Desjoyeaux, who lapped the globe in a monohull in 93 days in 2000–isn’t even close. After 49 days, Desjoyeaux was barely clear of New Zealand, some 3500 miles behind Joyon. That’s a lead of more than 13 days, so unless Joyon hits a whale or his boat falls to pieces, he’ll claim a new solo, non-stop record for circumnavigating the globe. The only question is whether he’ll do it in less than 80 days, a mark that fully crewed boats could barely aspire to one decade ago….



Just 49 Days?: “C’est Cape Horn. I swear…”