life
ON THE WATER
Photo: Guy Salter (left) standing next to brother Jules as they round the legendary Cape Horn
Salter brothers face cold and
dangerous waters
Our two intrepid sailors, Jules and Guy Salter
from Gurnard, have rounded the legendary
Cape Horn after 32 days at sea in leg five
of the Volvo Ocean Race. This is second
time round for both Guy and Jules, but the
achievement does not diminish over time.
Their boat, Ericsson 4, is still in pole
position in the event overall, but they were
pipped to the Horn by their team mates
onboard Ericsson 3, who made a brave
tactical call, which paid huge dividends more
than three weeks before.
Cape Horn marks the divide between the
harsh wastelands of the Southern Ocean,
a place populated only by whales and
albatross, and the South Atlantic, which
for the crews is nearer to civilization as well
as the rescue services should anything go
drastically wrong.
Unlike his brother Jules, who is the
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Article by Lizzy Ward
boat’s navigator, Guy Salter, although a
professional sailor in his own right, is not
allowed to take part in actual sailing of the
boat. His job this time is to capture the
story of Ericsson 4’s race around the world
through the lens and by pen. He is, in effect,
the embedded onboard reporter and he
gives us this insight into his voyage so far:
“It was nice to round the Horn again
- although my camera and computer
equipment didn’t enjoy the Southern Ocean.
We had an unusual passage through the
Southern Ocean, very unlike last time for
me. There were no icebergs, no deep south
and not massive amounts of downwind
sailing in big waves, but it was good all the
same, or, at least, getting out of there was!
“As a lad growing up on the Island and
watching the Whitbread boats start and
finish in the Solent, I never thought that
I would ever get the chance to compete
myself - let alone twice. It has almost has
made those afternoons that I left school
early to watch the yachts finish seem
worthwhile, although I did have to put the
extra time in to get to university!
“We didn’t see the Horn this time
unfortunately, as the conditions were ideal
for us and we were running downwind at
over 25 knots at time and didn’t really have
the chance to think about it.
“The best thing was being on the same
boat as Jules - so we had our picture taken
together before I produced some cigars and
a bottle of port for the lads, which went
down very well. After all, rounding Cape
Horn is a yachting milestone and one of the
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