Those of you interested in heavy weather should check out www.therace.org over the next few days. The second maxi-cat, Innovation Explorer, is getting ready for a severe blow in the vicinity of Cape Horn. An excerpt from this morning’s press release follows. Note: the “Explorer parking technique” mentioned here is covered in detail in the Cam Lewis interview in Surviving the Storm: Coastal & Offshore Tactics (page 525).

For Innovation Explorer’s rounding of the Horn, the Chilean weather services are forecasting 60 knots, with gusts of 80. Bruno Peyron confirms it: “The wind is already rising to 45 knots, gusting to 50/55; bad news; I’m in contact with Innovation Explorer by Standard C. It would appear that they’re all set, just in case: drogue anchors, ballasts and the “Explorer parking technique”, let’s hope it will all be for nothing”. The Explorer parking technique is what Bruno and his crew experimented with when they had to face up to a huge storm during their Jules Verne Trophy in 93, in these very same waters: furl all sails, stop the boat beam on to the wind, and side slip down the waves. It’s a risky maneuver in itself, “a last chance maneuver” said Elena, “when all other methods of slowing the boat have failed, like sailing under bare poles and trailing ropes and chains”. On board, each one is also thinking about what this mythical rounding represents for them and each one recalls his own experiences: for Roger, 4 times round the Horn, only the safety of the boat counts and never mind if you have to round the rock way off shore to avoid the huge seaway whipped up by the rising seabed. But what frustration for those like Xavier or Mouette who consider this isolated piece of land as their Grail… Their stories, all different and yet so similar…