Cape Horn Fury! Pen Duick VI Surfs 28 Knots in 60-Knot Storm – Marie Tabarly’s Grit & Glory OGR2023

"You feel so small at the top of a 10-meter wave..."
Pen Duick VI, led by the fearless Marie Tabarly, battles a brutal 60-knot storm as she rounds Cape Horn during the Ocean Globe Race 2023 – the sister race to the legendary Golden Globe Race (GGR). In this gripping moment of raw ocean power, the boat surfs at an incredible 28.3 knots, riding towering swells and navigating intense lows with bravery and precision.

🔥 Watch the surf. Feel the fear. Celebrate the victory.
This is offshore sailing at its wildest.

🌍 Follow the race: https://oceangloberace.com/
📌 Entrant Profile: https://oceangloberace.com/entrants/p...

🎙️ Marie’s words (AI-translated):

“Speed is safety. You must keep the sail up.”

“We averaged 270 miles a day… sometimes surfing at 28.3 knots.”

“At Cape Horn, the sea calms—but before that… it’s chaos.”

“You realize the immensity of the ocean standing atop a 10-meter wave.”

⛵ Featuring:

Pen Duick VI

Skipper: Marie Tabarly

Cape Horn passage (Feb 6)

Translated 9 & Gitana close chase

Hugo’s birthday surprise 🎈

AI Translation for Marie's speech in the video: So, the Guardi passage is almost our only source of weather updates. It's done by amateur radio operators who volunteer to provide weather updates to those crossing the Pacific. It happens that today we have a serious weather alert for the passage, with winds between 40 and 60 knots.

Potentially 10 meters high waves announced.

The weather is worsening, but we also receive weather updates through maps. We try to get the maps, but they're quite rudimentary. The sea is starting to get rough, and the swell is deepening. At some point, the wind stabilized between 40 knots, 45 knots, to 50 knots, then from 50 to 60 knots before dropping back to 50. It kept rising and falling, and the waves, well, there were waves and swells, some breaking waves, and the boat started to surf. We averaged about 12 knots throughout this low pressure area, which amounts to approximately 270 nautical miles per day. We had beautiful days of consistent surfing between 20 and 23 knots. There was even a surf at 28.3 knots, which I think scared us all. We were all very frightened, but the boat on fire completely. Indeed, the sea was very rough, so the challenge was to keep the boat aligned and manage the waves coming from port or starboard, which could easily catch the stern of the boat and make us broach. In such conditions, it's crucial to keep sail up; speed is safety, so you must keep the sail up and move the boat as fast as possible to control and not be overwhelmed by the swell. Instead, know where to position yourself, maintain speed in the trough of a wave, and be ready to tackle the next wave with good speed. Steering was very challenging; those who are cold once they're at the helm usually warm up in a few seconds because of this, plus the stress of being at the helm. And yeah, there are moments when you feel quite small, especially at the top of a wave, 7 to 10 meters high, looking at the vast ocean. It's really when you're at the top of the wave that you realize the immensity of the sea. And then, we're at the Horn, not just anywhere in the world. We know we're approaching Cape Horn, and once we leave this low pressure area on February 6th at 6 AM, we pass Cape Horn. The crew passing Cape Horn isn't that difficult because when you arrive, the sea is calm, and there's no wind. The challenge is before reaching Cape Horn; passing it is the reward. We passed Cape Horn under excellent conditions with an incredible sunrise. It was the first sunrise in Patagonia, just sublime. And well, the Transled team was still there, passing Cape Horn a few hours after us. From Cape Horn, we started our ascent of the Atlantic towards Punta del Este, passing a place called the Strait of the Sea, west of the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas. Our friends from Translated9 also followed us closely in the Strait of the Sea, overtaken by Char Cordrelier and Gitana, who are also completing their circumnavigation. So, we won our bet, arriving before the Ultimes. At Cape Horn, it was nice; we got to talk a bit with Charles and will meet up in Lorient. It wouldn't be us without the craziness of our crew. We must talk about Hugo's birthday, where the animation team got involved and managed to have a water balloon fight while outside there.