Marco and Hugo- Around the Horn, lying second in the race

What a day, we finally rounded Cape Horn! I think it will take me a while to fully process this fact but I’m sure it’ll live in my thoughts for the rest of my life, arriving here has been at times tremendously tough and yesterday just when the weather was finally improving we were left with a a last minute reminder of where we are, a squall came through during the night bringing another stint of 50 knots winds and lots of snow, it was quite surreal… In some respects it is an anticlimax, you wait for this moment all your life and there you are holding a sign which reads CAPE HORN, the only indication that you have made it apart of course from the GPS position. We still haven’t seen any sign of land let alone the legendary cliffs of the most famous cape in the world!

But I’m sure it will sink in slowly, day by day, until I’ll wake up one morning thinking to myself “I bloody did it, I rounded the Horn!”.

The weather has been constantly improving but it is still bitterly cold and I cant wait to be making progress towards warmer climates. We have several days of light winds ahead of us which is often the case after a big gale but this will seriously slow us down, we have no chance whatsoever of catching up Cessna as they will manage to escape to the north of the high pressure forming east of the Tierra del Fuego on our path towards the finish line in Punta del Este, some 1350 miles away. But I dont regret my choice of avoiding the worst of the storm, we’re all in one piece, no damage and happily making progress towards Uruguay.

We have already received many messages of congratulations and we really want to thank everyone that has taken the time to write to us during the storm and to celebrate the rounding of the Horn, remember you can send us a message directly to the boat via www.marconannini.com/sms.

I wish I was with my girlfriend Ella and my friends and family to celebrate this moment, I guess we’ll have to wait till we are on dry land as surely this leg deserves the biggest piss up of them all! I’d really like to thank those who have sent some virtual beers and champagne to help us celebrate via www.marconannini.com/help

Posted by: firstclass