Nancy Blackett Trust member Jenny Wedick is currently in Argentina, having spent several weeks sailing there on the STS Lord Nelson, a Tall Ship owned by the Jubilee Sailing Trust. She writes:

"I am now a true Cape Horner! We sailed over 6,000 miles from Auckland, stopping at Napier and the Chatham Islands before seeing nothing but blue water until Cape Horn came into sight. We have had huge unexpected storms but none lasting longer than a day or two, with some very calm patches and lots of good winds sending us scudding on our way at about 5 or 6 knots in more or less the right direction.

We are telling friends that our rounding of the Horn was "extreme" and that we did a 360-degree turn. In reality we took eighteen hours to float round in a calm sea and had plenty of time to take pictures. We then had to head north to try to get to 50 degrees on the Atlantic side, but did not quite get there as the wind was against us and we had to get to Ushuaia on time.

The Cape Horn Society have accepted our application to become Cape Horners in spite of not quite making the stipulated 50 degrees on both sides of the Horn.

It was hard to leave the ship after so much time on board. We were five weeks under sail, which was amazing, and I was sent up to put gaskets on the topgallant yard in a Force 8 gale, which was a real challenge, so there had been lots of exciting moments.

I am now in Ushuaia for three more weeks until the Lord Nelson comes back from Antarctica and I rejoin to sail to Buenos Aires. We will sadly not be visiting the Falklands for political reasons."

Jenny Wedick at Cape Horn

Photo credits: Jubilee Sailing Trust/Jenny Wedick