‘End of the World’ – thrill of iconic Cape Horn muted by grief as Volvo Ocean Race crews salute Scallywag’s John Fisher
‘Rounding the horn’ is supposed to be the ultimate in round-the-world sailing but celebrations are muted as respects are paid to a lost colleague
It’s known as the “End of the World” and for hundreds of years, sailors considered the seas off the southernmost part of Chile among the most perilous waters on earth – with estimates of up to 10,000 lives lost over the past 400 years.
Given its history, the very act of rounding Cape Horn before heading north to the Americas is considered a major nautical feat and for the Volvo Ocean Race sailors, the once-in-a-life manoeuvre was to be the highlight of the 2017-18, nine-month odyssey.
However, as Team Brunel led the fleet in “rounding the horn” in leg seven, the mood was sombre. On Monday, crew member John Fisher went overboard from Hong Kong-owned boat Scallywag some 1,400 miles west of Cape Horn and is presumed lost at sea.
Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking took his boat past the Cape on Thursday night (Hong Kong time) and, rather than celebrate, it was a reflective time for the crew. Apart from the sadness of Fisher’s loss, the crew were exhausted from the sheer physical effort of hauling a 65-foot boat through 40-knot winds and waves several storeys high.
“The crew is very, very, very tired,” Bekking wrote in his blog. “Even though we are leading, there is no ‘hooray’ feeling on board … The loss of John is sitting way deeper than people like to admit: I think of him several times in an hour.”
Briton Fisher, 47, fell into the Southern Ocean after being hit by a piece of equipment while attempting to clean up a furled sail. He had momentarily unclipped his safety tether.