Cruising round the Horn - the Easy Way?

by Nancy Knudsen on 21 Aug 2009 We meet in the quiet of Neiafu Harbour in Tonga. In the deep protected anchorage a long way inland from the high seas outside, this seems like a normal friendly seafaring Belgian family. While the friendly part is true, they are definitely not a normal cruising family. The Holvoets, Nickey, Carole, with children Maite(15) and Loic(13), have lived on their home built steel sailing boat, Skedemongske, since May 2005.

'Welcome welcome' Nickey and Carole cry as I board their very solid looking boat. 'You'll meet our children soon – they must finish their schoolwork first in the saloon.'

What makes the Holvoets special is that, along with maybe only 20 other boats every season, they have just spent the last few months going around Cape Horn – the wrong way, against winds and currents.

'Actually' says Nickey casually, ' the part around the Horn was nothing. There, you can just wait for a weather window and go through the Beagle Channel – Glacier Alley – which was one of our finest experiences.'

'So where were the difficulties?' I ask, fascinated.

Nickey has to think. 'Mmm,' he says finally, 'If you are unlucky enough to get gales along the south east coast of South America, that's not good. We were lucky and had good weather. But we had to heave-to further north off the coast of Uruguay for three days. That was probably our worst experience.'

Nickey does not come from a sailing background. 'My father does not just think I am crazy,' he says ruefully, 'he thinks I am completely mad.'

Sailing, however, took Nickey's fancy from the age of 16, and after sailing for years with friends, he bought his first sailing boat hull when only 22 years old, and outfitted it himself. The first boat was also called Skedemongske, and he and his wife Carole took their two small children off cruising and headed for the Atlantic. On returning from the Caribbean, they cruised the Mediterranean for a season, then returned home via the canals of France.

'I had to earn some money to keep cruising then,' he smiles. 'But while we were sailing with Skedemongske I, I was planning my new perfect boat, Skedemongske II.'

After building this second 'perfect' boat – a gaff rigged steel boat whose design is inspired by the Briston Channel Pilot Cutter, the boatyard that he used to build the boat was so impressed with his skills that they offered Nickey a two year contract as a project leader in the shipyard.

'I worked for the two years, and then in May 2005, we departed for the Pacific, wanting to go via South America and Cape Horn.'

'Why?' I can't help the interruption ( to this warm water cruiser the Horn seems like the last place on earth anyone would want to sail).

'Why?' he echoes, seeming quite surprised by the question. 'Well, we had already seen the Caribbean, so we didn't want to go back there. We had also heard great things about Brazil, and once you're in Brazil, well you might as well keep going south...'

Much of the cruising was greatly enjoyable – Salvador and the Bahia todos Santos, then on to Rio and the Costa Verde with Angra dos Reis.

By now, the children have arrived into the cockpit. 'Yes,' enthuses 13 year old Loic 'it was just like tropical islands – just like the Pacific.'

They day-tripped for a while down the coast to Florianopolous, 'loving every minute of it', but then they struck their first bad weather off the coast of Uruguay. Moving further south, where the tides are very great and the anchorages not so easy, they did a 600 mile leg to arrive at Staten Island, just before Cape Horn.

'To get past Cape Horn, we had to wait for a favourable time,' Nickey continues. 'There are tidal currents that sometimes run up to 6 knots against you, and the wind is mostly on the nose. So it was just a matter of waiting. Finally, when we had about three knots of favourable current,, we left with a very high wind behind us and cruised easily into Beagle Channel, which is just north of the Horn.

'The Beagle Channel is somewhere we want to go back to – it was so beautiful,' says Carole. After visiting Puerto Williams, the most southerly town in the world, and spending New Year there, they moved on to the Patagonian waterways.

'This was delightful. The anchorages through the channel on the inside of the outer islands are secure and staggeringly beautiful, and only about 10 miles apart. Though the wind is almost always northerly, and therefore on the nose, we were able to make small gains whenever the wind was not too strong, and in the meantime we enjoyed the quiet wonderful scenery of Chile.'

Finally, they reached Puerto Mont, which is the first port for 1000 miles where you can reliably get fuel. 'And for the first 600 miles of that passage,' adds Maite, 'there was no sign of life – no village, no person. It was as natural as when Sir Francis Drake was there. When we did see our first village it was that of the Kawescar Indian tribe.'

From Puerto Mont they embarked on their longest time at sea – 43 days to the Gambier Islands, the most southerly islands of the Tuomotus.

The whole family is enthusiastic about their sailing lifestyle. 'Where would you rather be?' I ask these very articulate teenagers. 'Cruising? Or back at home going to school with friends?'

There's no question in their minds. 'We were at home for two years,' says 15 year old Maite. 'And it was nice to have friends, but it was just boring being at school for the whole day. We can learn just as much in our morning school on the boat, and then in the afternoon, Wow!' and she gestures at the beautiful scenery around us in Tonga.

For now, the family is headed westwards via a pretty normal route – the Coconut Milk Run to New Zealand then Australia, Asia, and via the Red Sea to the Mediterranean – they'll be home for school for Loic and university for Maite by just two years from now.

However, it's not the end of their cruising plans – They list Greenland, a winter in South America, Norway and Canada as ambitions for the future.

'It's too hot here in Tonga,' says Nickey, and Loic immediately agrees. 'Yes, we love the cold, and we like those places which are wild and natural.'

When they take me below to see their saloon, it is immediately clear why they don't suffer too much in the cold weather – tucked into the corner of the tiny saloon is that wonder of all wonders - a pot bellied stove. So all those cold weather cruising plans will almost certainly come true!