Night Approach to Cape Horn

In October of 2018, Randall Reeves departed for a second attempt at what he called his “Figure 8 Voyage,” a solo circumnavigation of both the North and South American and Antarctic continents in one season. He had something to prove. During his first attempt, knockdowns off Cape Horn and in the Indian Ocean had damaged his 45ft aluminum sloop, Moli, or “Mo,” forcing an abrupt retirement and return home. The subsequent attempt went more smoothly, or at least as smoothly as anything can ever go sailing the stormy waters off Cape Horn…

Hour after hour we run toward the shallows to the south of Tierra del Fuego. Hour after hour the wind blows a steady 30 knots out of the west. The barometer remains fixed at 1008 millibars as I wait for the inevitable low. I already know full well what to expect. The pressure lines will trend east-west until a steep, slanting wave arrives from the north. With it will come more powerful winds. This latest wave and its attendant winds have been due for some time.

In the dark, I reach for the flashlight and train its beam on the barometer. The needle hasn’t moved. I count to three hundred, click the light on again. No movement.

I’ve already eaten my dinner directly from the pot and donned an extra