Date: 3 Jan 2012 Comments:0
Freya Hoffmeister has successfully made it around Cape Horn. If you’ve been reading Sea Kayaker for the past two decades, the articles about rounding the Cape put this achievement in perspective. Howard Rice (SK Spring and Summer 1991) rounded the Cape only to face 25-knot headwinds and fading daylight. With few options for making a landing he headed into a small boulder-lined bay. A large wave broke over him and separated him from his boat. He washed ashore with his face battered, his kayak broken. On Jon Turk’s approach to the Cape (SK, October 1998) was brought to a standstill by a gale. He was capsized twice in quick succession and had to swim ashore with his kayak. When he reached the beach, a wave threw his kayak over his head and dislocated his shoulder. Marcos Olivia Day sprained his back in a surf landing shortly before reaching the Cape. He and his two partners caught a break in the weather and rounded the Cape. Hours later the winds rose to 90 knots, shaking the stone lighthouse where they’d taken refuge. Three Argentine kayakers—Pablo Basombrio, Martin Grondona and Emilio Caira— made it around the Cape in 1999 (SK, August 2004) and after landing were pinned down my 70-knot winds. The day they escaped from Isla Hornos, Emilio was so disabled by exhaustion, seasickness and dehydration that they signaled their escort boat for rescue. The seas were so rough that the rescue failed and the kayakers had to make it to shore on their own.
What makes Freya’s rounding of Cape Horn all the more remarkable is that it is not an expedition in itself; it is a small but significant part of a solo circumnavigation of a continent. She has 2400 miles behind her and is averaging nearly 30 miles per paddling day. Freya plans to finish the circumnavigation before her 50th birthday, May 4, 2014. You can follow her blog at http://qajaqunderground.com/freyas-blog/