Cape Horn and Bad weather

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Cape Horn
Southern tip of Cape Horn
Cape Horn Location of the Cape Horn in continental Chile
Country	Chile

Cape Horn has been named after the city of Hoorn in the Netherlands, and it is the southernmost headland of the southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramirez Islands), Cape Horn marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage and marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. For decades it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried trade around the world. The waters around Cape Horn are particularly hazardous, owing to strong winds, large waves, strong currents and icebergs; these dangers have made it notorious as a sailors' graveyard.

The need for ships to round Cape Horn was greatly reduced by the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. Sailing around the Horn is widely regarded as one of the major challenges in yachting. Thus, a few recreational sailors continue to sail this route, sometimes as part of a circumnavigation of the globe, and almost all of these choosing routes through the channels to the north of the Cape. (Many take a detour through the islands and anchor to wait for fair weather to visit Horn Island, or sail around it to replicate a rounding of this historic point). Speed records for round-the-world sailing are recognized for following this route. There have been a number of small boats rounding of the Horn but one in particular stands out: Howard Rice sailed and paddled a 15-foot (4.6 m) wood canvas folding canoe doubling the Horn. 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 sea going kayaks which could link together with two sails mountable in any four of the sailing positions between the two kayaks...

                                                       Bad weather in Cape Horn