More people have stood on the summit of Everest than have sailed solo and non-stop around Cape Horn. That was Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's line to the room in Les Sables d'Olonne on 4 September, delivered two days before 16 skippers set off to chase that same stretch of water in the 2026 Golden Globe Race.
This year the Cape Horn Hall of Fame welcomed six new inductees at a ceremony hosted by the International Association of Cape Horners (IACH), with Knox-Johnston sharing the stage with Les Sables d'Olonne mayor Nicolas Chénéchaud. According to organisers, the honours board now runs past 50 names, drawn from more than a century of circumnavigation history.
The timing was deliberate. Les Sables d'Olonne is the departure port for the Golden Globe Race, and the ceremony took place during the fleet's final week of preparation before Sunday's start.
2026 Cape Horn Hall of Fame inductees
Three of the six inductees were on the board for results set in 2026. Thomas Coville skippered the trimaran Sodebo Ultim 3 to the outright Jules Verne Trophy in January, completing a 28,315-nautical-mile non-stop circumnavigation in 40 days, 10 hours and 45 minutes, beating Francis Joyon's nine-year-old record by 12 hours and 44 minutes.
Two months later, Guirec Soudée sailed the Ultim MACSF solo from east to west, the harder way, against prevailing winds and currents, in 94 days, 21 hours and 58 minutes. That smashed a record Jean-Luc van den Heede had held for 22 years by nearly a month.
Alexia Barrier led an eight strong, all female crew, including Swiss New Zealand sailor Rebecca Gmür Hornell, aboard IDEC Sport to a landmark circumnavigation of their own, finishing in 57 days, 21 hours and 20 minutes. It was the first non stop, round the world reference time set by an all female team, a distinct milestone from the outright Jules Verne time set by Coville.
Alongside 2026's record-setters, the class includes 18th-century Royal Navy Commodore George Anson, whose 1740s squadron rounded the Horn to intercept Spanish treasure ships in one of the era's most storied campaigns. British sailor Brian Thompson, holder of four non-stop circumnavigations including a 2012 Jules Verne win, joined the board too, and there is a neat link between two of this year's names: Thompson coached Barrier's crew in the lead-up to their record run. American sailor Paul Cayard, a Star class world champion and America's Cup veteran who won the 1997 to 1998 Whitbread Round the World Race as skipper of EF Language, rounds out the intake. Cayard has twice raced around Cape Horn, first while leading the Whitbread fleet from Auckland in 1998.
Days before the fleet follows their wake
The Golden Globe Race got underway from Les Sables d'Olonne at 2:30pm local time on Sunday 6 September, sending 16 skippers off on a solo, non-stop circumnavigation using only the navigation tools available in 1968: sextants, paper charts and no satellite assistance.
As Knox Johnston pointed out, fewer sailors have completed a solo, non stop circumnavigation than have climbed Everest. Cape Horn remains one of the defining passages of that journey.
