A Race Too Far by Chris Eakin

Author:Chris Eakin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing

7 : TURN LEFT FOR HOME

ROBIN KNOX-JOHNSTON LED the charge for the most significant and feared point in the race. He heard the radio network ‘Voice of America’ say that the Chilean navy had been asked to look out for a ‘damaged ketch’ battling towards Cape Horn. If Christmas had been a time for contemplation, New Year was a time for quite startling anger. Knox-Johnston was doing better than Chichester had estimated, but not as well as he wanted. He thought he should have arrived at Cape Horn by now but instead, 1,500 miles away, he was again battling against winds coming from the east. Once more, he was haunted by thoughts of Moitessier enjoying the normal, prevailing westerly winds not far behind. He wrote in his log book that his mood was murderous and he would turn insane: ‘What the hell is wrong with the bloody weather anyway? From the Cape of Good Hope to Aussie I had two days of easterlies. Since New Zealand I’ve had over 20 days of them … I can do absolutely nothing and that makes me furious. Why the hell don’t they mark this stretch of ocean as having variable winds instead of westerlies?’

As Knox-Johnston did at last get closer to the Horn, he began to prepare Suhaili for a potential battle, although he knew only too well that the mystique surrounding this notorious landmark was only partially deserved. True, the seas and wind could be the most chaotic on earth but, as with the rest of the Southern Ocean, the conditions depended on the fluctuating chain of eastward-moving weather depressions. It was perfectly possible for the weather to be calm. Nevertheless, the wise seaman assumes the worse. Knox-Johnston decided that the cumbersome scaffolding rig that had once housed the long-since redundant self-steering system was now weakened and had become a hazard. He cut it away with a hacksaw and dumped the whole contraption overboard, noting his position, 48° 23’S, 97° 35’E, for posterity’s sake. Suhaili, he thought, felt more comfortable in herself, rather like an old lady taking off a too-tight corset.

For all the recognition of the Horn’s varying conditions, during the final two days of Knox-Johnston’s approach the elements were conspiring to create a classic rounding. The barometer showed the pressure was dropping in a way it had not done before. Knox-Johnston admitted he felt scared. A bitingly cold wind built up to storm force ten. Then the barometer rose and the wind eased off. Then it fell again. Throughout this uncertain period, Knox-Johnston was distracted by a series of problems, one of which involved a hair-raising crawl along the bowsprit – a ramrod-style pole that extended out of the front of the boat. It was the first time he wore his safety harness in more than three months. The other issues were turning into a long list. They included a damaged jib sail, a new mainsail split down the middle, the gooseneck connection between the mast and boom broken again, and two very painful wrist burns caused by hot porridge.

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