Cape Horn Birthday documents the extraordinary non-stop round-the-world journey of a lone sailor and his thirty-two-foot sloop. GPS did not exist when Peter Freeman set sail from Victoria, British Columbia, in 1984. Peter navigated the old-fashioned way, with a compass, a sextant, books of tables, and his wits. Along the way, he had to rebuild the self-steering rudder, repair torn sails, and fix broken gear.
Peter encountered a severe lightning storm, snow, and hailstorms as he sailed as close to the Antarctic ice as he dared. Near île Kerguélen in the South Indian Ocean, Laiviņa almost rolled over in a violent storm. While the little sloop was inverted, Peter was underwater, helplessly tied to the pushpit rails holding his breath as he waited for the sturdy little craft to right herself.
Along the New Zealand coastline, Peter joined in a race and took line honors for the Overseas Entry Class before crossing the Pacific back to Victoria, British Columbia. Upon arrival, Peter was greeted with the news that he had broken the existing world record.
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Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Preparations
Departure
Setbacks
Making for Land
Repairs
Second Departure
Through the Tropics
Enter the Southern Ocean
Approach to Cape Horn
Rounding Cape Horn
To the Falkland Islands
Port Stanley
Lonely Southern Ocean
Île Kerguélen Storm
Île Kerguélen
Île Kerguélen to Australia
Tasmanian Coast
Hobart
Tasman Sea
Laiviņa’s Homecoming
Race
Chase the Trades
Towards Northern Waters
California Dreaming
Nearing Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara
Last Leg
Familiar Waters
Home
Epilogue
World Record
Calculations
Maximum Hull Speed of Displacement Vessels
Speed in Light Winds
Wind Chill
Invisible Mountain Problem
Repairs
Bolts
Grommets
Sealing a breach
Major Mast Repair
Self-Steering
Planning
Sails and Rigging
Barometer Record
Winds
Afterword
เกี่ยวกับผู้แต่ง
Peter Freeman grew up in Noosa Heads, on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia. In his youth, he was an avid surfer and sailor. Peter crewed on the sloop Sunshine from Hobart, Tasmania across the Tasman Sea to Opua in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. He then spent five years living in Dunedin, New Zealand, where he and his wife built the thirty-two-foot sloop Laiviņa. The couple first sailed Laiviņa to Australia where Peter designed and built a self-steering system, and in 1982, sailed to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Two years later, Peter left Victoria for his record-breaking non-stop solo sailing circumnavigation.
Peter became involved in Masters Athletics, competing in sprint and middle distance races in Canada, South Africa, Australia, Puerto Rico, Italy, and USA. In 2003, at the age of fifty-one, Peter was ranked 10th in the world for his time of 55.10 seconds in the 400 metre sprint. Peter has bicycled twice across Canada and at the age of sixty-one, he bicycled unsupported 15, 400 kilometers around the perimeter of Australia in 79 days.
Peter now lives on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada where he writes novels, poetry, short stories, children’s books, and stage and screenplays. Peter is in the process of completing the story of his Australian cycling adventure, and he is also working on a fictional novel of adventure. Peter’s work has been published in magazines and newspapers. Cape Horn Birthday will be his first published book.