There are no regular commercial routes around the Horn, and modern ships carrying cargo are rarely seen. However, a number of
cruise ships routinely round the Horn when traveling from one ocean to the other. These often stop in Ushuaia or
Punta Arenas as well as Port Stanley. Some of the small passenger vessels shuttling between Ushuaia and the
Antarctic Peninsula will pass the Horn too, time and weather permitting.
Sailing routes A number of potential sailing routes may be followed around the tip of South America. The
Strait of Magellan, between the mainland and Tierra del Fuego, is a major—although narrow—passage, which was in use for trade well before the Horn was discovered. The
Beagle Channel (named for the ship of Charles Darwin's expedition), between Tierra del Fuego and
Isla Navarino, offers a potential, though difficult route. Other passages may be taken around the Wollaston and Hermite Islands to the north of Cape Horn. All of these, however, are notorious for treacherous
williwaw winds, which can strike a vessel with little or no warning; given the narrowness of these routes, vessels have a significant risk of being driven onto the rocks. The open waters of the Drake Passage, south of Cape Horn, provide by far the widest route, at about wide; this passage offers ample sea room for maneuvering as winds change, and is the route used by most ships and sailboats, despite the possibility of extreme wave conditions.
"Rounding" vs "Doubling" the Horn Rounding Cape Horn can be done on a day trip by helicopter or more arduously by charter power boat or sailboat, or by cruise ship. "Doubling the Horn" is traditionally understood to involve sailing from a point above
50 degrees South in the Pacific around the Horn to a point above 50 degrees South in the Atlantic, and then sailing back against the prevailing westerly winds to a point above the 50th parallel south again back in the Pacific—a considerably more difficult and time-consuming endeavor having a minimum length of for each leg . The 50th parallel south on both coasts of South America represent a set of benchmark latitudes of a Horn run, and is a region of the ocean that according to
Herman Melville, "takes the conceit out of fresh-water sailors, and steeps in a still saltier brine the saltiest".
Shipping hazards Several factors combine to make the passage around Cape Horn one of the most hazardous shipping routes in the world: the fierce sailing conditions prevalent in the Southern Ocean generally; the geography of the passage south of the Horn; and the extreme southern latitude of the Horn, at
56° south (for comparison,
Cape Agulhas at the southern tip of Africa is at
35° south;
Stewart Island / Rakiura at the south end of
New Zealand is
47° south;
Edinburgh 56° north). The
prevailing winds in latitudes below 40° south can blow from west to east around the world almost uninterrupted by land, giving rise to the "
roaring forties" and the even more wild "furious fifties" and "screaming sixties". These winds are hazardous enough that ships traveling east would tend to stay in the northern part of the forties (i.e. not far below 40° south latitude); however, rounding Cape Horn requires ships to press south to 56° south latitude, well into the zone of fiercest winds. These winds are exacerbated at the Horn by the funneling effect of the
Andes and the
Antarctic Peninsula, which channel the winds into the relatively narrow Drake Passage. The strong winds of the Southern Ocean give rise to correspondingly large waves; these waves can attain great height as they roll around the Southern Ocean, free of any interruption from land. South of the Horn, however, these waves encounter an area of shallow water, which has the effect of making the waves shorter and steeper, greatly increasing the hazard to ships. If the strong eastward current through the Drake Passage encounters an opposing westerly wind, this can have the effect of further building up the waves. In addition to these "normal" waves, the area west of the Horn is particularly notorious for
rogue waves, which can attain heights of up to . The prevailing winds and currents create particular problems for vessels trying to round the Horn against them, i.e. from east to west. This was a particularly serious problem for traditional sailing ships, which could make very little headway against the wind at the best of times; modern sailing boats are significantly more efficient to windward and can more reliably make a westward passage of the Horn, as they do in the
Global Challenge race. Ice is a hazard to sailors venturing far below 40° south. Although the ice limit dips south around the horn,
icebergs are a significant hazard for vessels in the area. In the South Pacific in February (summer in Southern Hemisphere), icebergs are generally confined to below 50° south; but in August the iceberg hazard can extend north of 40° south. Even in February, the Horn is well below the latitude of the iceberg limit. These hazards have made the Horn notorious as perhaps the most dangerous ship passage in the world; many ships have been wrecked, and many sailors have died attempting to round the Cape.
Lighthouses Two
lighthouses are located near or in Cape Horn. The one located in the Chilean Navy Station is the more accessible and visited, and is commonly referred to as
the Cape Horn lighthouse . However, the Chilean Navy station, including the lighthouse (
ARLS CHI-030, ) and the memorial, are not located on Cape Horn (which is difficult to access either by land or sea), but on another land point about one mile east-northeast. On Cape Horn proper is a smaller fiberglass light tower, with a focal plane of and a range of about . This is the authentic Cape Horn lighthouse (
ARLS CHI-006, ), and as such the world's southernmost traditional lighthouse.
Joshua Slocum was the first
single-handed yachtsman to successfully pass this way (in 1895) although in the end, extreme weather forced him to use some of the inshore routes between the channels and islands and it is believed he did not actually pass outside the Horn proper. If one had to go by strict definitions, the first small boat to sail around outside Cape Horn was the Irish
yacht Saoirse, sailed by
Conor O'Brien with three friends, who rounded it during a circumnavigation of the world between 1923 and 1925. The first person to successfully circumnavigate the world single-handed via Cape Horn was Argentinian
Vito Dumas, who made the voyage in 1942 in his
ketch Lehg II; a number of other sailors have since followed him, including
Webb Chiles aboard "" who in December 1975 rounded Cape Horn single-handed. On March 31, 2010, 16-year-old
Abby Sunderland became the youngest person to single-handedly sail around Cape Horn in her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. In 1987 The British Cape Horn Expedition, headed by
Nigel H. Seymour, rounded Cape Horn in the world's first ever 'sailing kayaks', called 'Kaymaran'; two seagoing kayaks which could link together with two sails mountable in any of the four sailing positions between the two kayaks. Today, there are several major yacht races held regularly along the old clipper route via Cape Horn. The first of these was the
Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, which was a single-handed race; this inspired the present-day
Around Alone race, which circumnavigates with stops, and the
Vendée Globe, which is non-stop. Both of these are single-handed races, and are held every four years. The
Volvo Ocean Race is a crewed race with stops which sails the clipper route every four years. Its origins lie in the
Whitbread Round the World Race first competed in 1973–74. The
Jules Verne Trophy is a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht, with no restrictions on the size of the crew (no assistance, non-stop). Finally, the
Global Challenge race goes around the world the "wrong way", from east to west, which involves rounding Cape Horn against the prevailing winds and currents. The Horn remains a major hazard for recreational sailors, however. A classic case is that of
Miles and Beryl Smeeton, who attempted to round the Horn in their yacht
Tzu Hang. Hit by a rogue wave when approaching the Horn, the boat
pitchpoled (i.e. somersaulted end-over-end). They survived, and were able to make repairs in
Talcahuano, Chile, and later attempted the passage again, only to be rolled over and dismasted for a second time by another rogue wave, which again they miraculously survived. == History ==