Vendée Globe: Fabulous Cape Horn record for Wavre

Dominique Wavre sailed into the history books at 1pm on Wednesday: The Swiss set a new record with his ninth Cape Horn passage. No sports sailor has passed the infamous Chilean landmark more often than the 57-year-old from Geneva, who managed the feat for the ninth time.

After 60 days at sea, Wavre and his "Mirabaud" are in seventh place in the Vendée Globe. Wavre still has around 7,000 nautical miles to go before he reaches the finish line off Les Sables D'Olonne. Wavre reported his thoughts from on board at the historic moment: "I think of all the sailors who have been here in the past, hands with signs of frostbite and without any technical aids... It must have been scary and difficult. This region here is a veritable ship graveyard, which you can't deny when you sail here. This place is steeped in history."

Now Wavre has made itself a memorable part of sailing history. Neither the Swede Roger Nilson and the Australian Andrew Cape (both 8 Cape Horn passages), nor Sir Peter Blake (7), who was murdered by pirates in the Amazon in 2001, nor the ocean icon Grant Dalton (both 7) had such a penchant for the Horn as Dominique Wavre.

Wavre also achieved the new record with his versatility: The skipper from Lake Geneva first rounded Cape Horn in the 1981 Whitbread and then took part in the famous crewed regatta around the world three more times. In 2000 and 2004, Wavre passed Cape Horn as a participant in the Vendée Globe. In 2007 and 2010, he saw Cape Horn as a starter in the Barcelona World Race and is now back with the Vendée fleet to greet the famous rock from afar.