Whitbread vet Brian Hancock’s piece last month celebrated the 50th anniversary of Chichester’s groundbreaking voyage, but Brian’s love affair with Chichester may have blinded him a bit. From Buenos Aires-based SA’er ‘plenamar’: Vito Dumas rounding of Cape Horn preceded Chichester by more than two decades.
RKock adds that Marcel Bardiaux in Les 4 Vents sailed westbound around Cape Horn in the early 50s.
Bill Nance sailed westbound around Cape Horn in Cardinal Vertue about 1960, on his way to Australia from England.
And “Cisco” wraps it all up: Vito’s voyage was and indeed still is little known in the anglosphere as his book wasn’t published in English until the mid/late 50’s long after the event. He was probably far better known on the other side of the Atlantic, and he made his trip in the middle of WW2 with a minimum of fuss. The reason Chichester became so well known was the mass of publicity in the popular British papers. And also…. some will say ‘but, but… Dumas did his circumnav completely in the southern hemisphere!!’
He had pre-WW2 singlehanded from France to Argentina and post war had single handed from Argentina to the US and back a few times. Even so, he was not the first single hander around the Horn…before him the Norwegian Larsen singlehanded east to west…but he didn’t live to tell the tale…having sailed from Argentina wreckage of his yacht was found on the coast of Isla Chiloe.
Got anything to add? Here.
