GOR confirms the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate for Leg 3

The Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate Trophy - a replica of the albatross statue located at Cape Horn © Global Ocean Race

During Leg 3 of the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR), the fleet will round Cape Horn, Chile, as they exit the Southern Ocean and enter the South Atlantic en route to the finish line in Punta del Este, Uruguay. At the longitude of Cape Horn, the boats will pass through the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate. Named after the late Chilean yachtsman and competitor in the inaugural 2008-09 GOR, the first GOR Class40 to round Cape Horn will receive a trophy presented by Felipe’s family and the Chilean skipper’s yacht club, the Cofradía Náutica del Pacífico. The trophy is a replica of the albatross statue installed on Horn Island west of the eastern lighthouse.

Thursday 19 March 2009 was a landmark day for Chilean yachtsmen. At 00:50 UTC, two of the country’s offshore sailors, Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz, raced around Cape Horn leading the fleet in the 2008-09 Global Ocean Race on their Class40, Desafio Cabo de Hornos, during Leg 3 from Wellington, New Zealand, to Brazil. Cubillos and Muñoz sailed straight into the record books as the first Chileans to race around their country’s southernmost outpost during a circumnavigation; the first modern, 40ft yacht to race around the bottom of the globe and the first Class40 to take on the Southern Ocean and reach 56°S, gaining the duo a sporting status in Chile usually reserved for football stars.

Following the GOR 2008-09, 49 year-old Felipe Cubillos became a driving force behind Desafío Levantemos Chile (Rise up Chile) – a charity involved with the reconstruction of Chile following the tsunami and earthquake in February 2010. On Friday 2 September last year, the sailor, entrepreneur and philanthropist was part of group of 21 passengers and crew on a CASA C-212 Chilean Air Force (FACH) plane heading from Santiago to Robinson Crusoe island, 365 miles off the Chilean coast, for an official ceremony to celebrate the completion of reconstruction following the national disaster.

On its final approach, the plane disappeared off the radar. Strong winds were reported in the area and may have been the cause for the plane’s disappearance. Rescue teams including a Hercules C-130 and various Chilean Navy ships were sent to the missing plane’s last known position immediately, but as bodies were recovered by the island’s fishermen and the rescue force, it soon became clear that there would be no survivors from the flight. The Chilean President, Sebastian Pinera, described the tragedy as ‘a very hard blow for our country’ and subsequently declared two days of national mourning in Chile.

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