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At the halfway point in the Volvo Ocean Race a return to Atlantic sailing is something of a morale boost. It's the way back home

During Europe's night-time on Saturday 17th March, the six VO 70s will be listening out for the sounding of the starting horn for the start of Leg 5 in the regatta. This is a leg that will connect the two ports of Auckland (New Zealand) and Itjaí (Brazil), and it has rightly become a legend in ocean-going competition sailing. Not only do the boats grapple with the southern seas, the “furious fifties” and even the “howling sixties” there is also the rounding of Cape Horn. “Telefónica” with skipper Iker Martínez is taking on this next challenge as the leader in the Volvo Ocean Race and the guys have no intention of budging from that top spot over the coming 6,700 miles they'll be covering on the upcoming leg; the longest and toughest in this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race so far.

This is the “crowning leg. You have to round Cape Horn and there's no other choice but to head South from here to catch the first squall you can and push southeast with a lot of breeze”, said Xabi Fernández. Difficult weather conditions will be the key feature on this leg, where finding the balance between risk and caution will be fundamental for a good finish, because as Iker Martínez reminds us: “When you go South not breaking anything is key. It's almost an absolute cert that we'll get strong winds and once that happens breaking something can happen easily”, with Xabi concluding: “I hope that it's not too rough, and that the boats don't suffer too much”.

Jordi Calafat was a lot more explicit as he spoke about the new leg, and according to this sailor from Mallorca: “To begin with, it's the toughest leg. It's the leg that takes us furthest South, which means squalls and showers for a long time and lots of cold, with very cold water too. This leg is made up of two components: one is the racing itself and the other is safety”. In these conditions it'll be no surprise if a speed record is broken, from one moment to the next, as Iker points out: “The regatta will be taken at a very fast pace indeed and there may be the conditions for that to happen and that's why people are more likely to push hard and they could run into trouble”.

One leg, two oceans and Cape Horn in the middle

For the experienced “Telefónica” crew the leg is a “a sprint, as we're going to make it down to Cape Horn in about ten days. It's be heavy-going, intense and short. It will be fast and we'll set off from here to the South at top speeds. After that we'll be sticking close to an exclusion zone to look for as much breeze as possible to then make our way to Cape Horn”, explained Pepe Ribes.

The racing starts in Auckland (New Zealand) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, an ocean which according to Ribes: “is always difficult, with waves coming from different places and it's difficult to handle the boat in lots of conditions because the swell doesn't come from the same place as the wind. There are also strong currents coming from a different direction to the wind and these boats are incredibly fast and it's hard to keep control of them in these conditions and sometimes you find you're totally out of control. You have to be very careful and concentrate hard. A shower can come along out of anywhere and bring 50 to 60 knots of breeze with it and you can find yourself in quite a mess”. It will come to an end some 6,500 miles later in Itjaí (Florianopolis, Brazil) with the boats in the Atlantic Ocean, which on board “Telefónica” is interpreted as the beginning of the journey home.

Between the two oceans lies the legendary Cape Horn, the southernmost point of Chile's Tierra del Fuego, which means that at this point: “we'll be moving down to a very southerly latitude, there will be a barrier so that we don't move down into the area where there are most icebergs, but that's at about 55ºSouth. It'll open up once we're 1,000 miles from Cape Horn and we'll be able to sail where we want. It's an incredibly inhospitable and tough sea. The advantage we have is that we are very experienced and we've been down there many times before and we know what to expect. The essential thing will be to know when to push hardest and when to slow down in order to avoid damage to the boat or the crew”, concluded Pepe Ribes.

Cape Horn in the horizon

Iker Martínez is taking on his fourth rounding of the Horn and despite his experience, the skipper says: “rounding Cape Horn on a round the world race from West to East is always special because you really do put behind you a lot of what's dangerous about this. Although we do this race to go to these places, there's always a respect there for them. Once you round the Cape you feel a great sense of happiness and satisfaction. I hope we get there and that we all get there in one piece, the boat too and that we can enjoy the satisfaction of being able to climb up, where there's normally lighter breeze, warmer temperatures and where you start to focus on the end of the race, you start to point northwards, towards Europe and that's always a good sign”.

Xabi Fernández will round the Cape for the fifth time and for this Basque sailor this is “an important step in the race. At that point we've passed the halfway point in the round the world race and it's also important because we go back into the Atlantic, that we had left behind a long time ago”.

There's no doubt that experience in itself is a rank, but sometimes hope and excitement mean a lot more. On this occasion Antonio Cuervas-Mons, Diego Fructuoso and Zane Gills will all be rounding Cape Horn for the very first time and according to maritime tradition, they'll be entitled to pierce an ear with a gold earring.

Pablo Arrate, whose dream came true in the last edition of the race spoke about his own experience of passing the legendary Chilean Cape for the first time: “It's an incredible experience for anyone who sails, especially if you are an offshore sailor and it's your ultimate aim. It's a peak, and you mature as a sailor when you round it. The feeling of reaching it after all you've been through, after all of the stories you've heard and seen... it's amazing! I'm really looking forward to experiencing it again. We've all told them that it's incredible, impressive and beautiful, that it's very cold, the waves are huge and it's very windy”.

Cape Horn is sailing's “Mount Everest”, says Ñeti Cuervas-Mons, who added: “I'm really excited and really looking forward to rounding it”.