(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM)) Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR), the emirate's entry in the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), has safely rounded ocean racing's most treacherous landmark - Cape Horn at the southern tip of Chile.
The team is currently in second place, 12 days and 4,500 nautical miles after leaving New Zealand on Leg 5 of the round-the-world race.
'The Horn', as it is most commonly known, is located on Hornos Island, a remote and rocky outcrop in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, completely exposed to the Southern Ocean storms that rage around the bottom of the world.
Conditions were characteristically ferocious when the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority-backed yacht Azzam rounded at 14:22UTC on Monday, March 30. A Southern Ocean frontal weather system packing 25 € 30 knot winds and driving up huge waves meant a white-knuckle ride as Azzam tore across the dividing line between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans at speeds consistentlyover 25 knots, just behind Leg leaders Team Alvimedica.
According to Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker, safely passing Cape Horn without injuries or damage was paramount to the team's position at this stage of the leg.
"Cape Horn more than lived up to its reputation," Walker said. "We have been sailing on the edge for the last 500. The waves are so big you can't go around them so you have to go through them and the water down here is five degrees Celsius. It's a relief to have got around in one piece."
However significant a milestone passing Cape Horn might be, the Abu Dhabi crew must now focus on the Leg 5 finish in Itaja?, another 2,000 miles north.
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