Cape Horn Hall of Fame, Class of 2024

Following a nomination request for six individual Cape Horners to be inducted into the International Association of Cape Horners (IACH) Cape Horn Hall of Fame, the Class of 2024 inductees were celebrated on October 26 in Les Sables d’Olonne, France.

First to be recognized was four-time French circumnavigator, Loïck Peyron, a former Jules Verne Challenge record holder, followed by two fellow French sailing heroes, Jean Le Cam and the current circumnavigation record holder Francis Joyon.

Also named was 10-time Australian circumnavigator Andrew Cape and 7-time circumnavigator Dr Roger Nilson of Sweden. The sixth inductee, Britain’s Mike Golding joined the ceremony via video link from the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean where he and his family had just berthed during a voyage delivering their catamaran from New Zealand back to Europe.

“It is a fantastic honor to be nominated and inducted into the Cape Horn Hall of Fame,” said Golding. “There is no finer award than one created by your peers. I can’t quite believe that my name will now sit alongside the many great names from the past and present.”

For Golding, who has made 6 roundings of Cape Horn, three westward and three eastward, his most abiding memory of this infamous Cape is the smell…”The smell of land, the smell of heather, and the smell of peat,all combined by the churning ocean. It is just the most amazing place.”

For details on the 2024 inductees, click here.

The IACH received 30 nominations for this year’s Hall of Fame from the public. This list was verified by an independent selection committee chaired by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world, and 15 names went forward to a vote by all members of the IACH.

This is the 4th year of the Cape Horn Hall of Fame awards and the names of 40 of the most famous round the world sailors now adorn the Cape Horn honors board housed in a club house in the French port of Les Sables d’Olonne, the home of solo sailing, hosting not only the Vendée Globe, but the Golden Globe Race and Mini-Transat events.

Names honored in the IACH Cape Horn Hall of Fame:
• Willem Schouten (1567-1625), Netherlands
• Jacob Le Maire (1585-1616), Belgium
• Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy (1805-1865), England
• Capt. Vern Verner Björkfelt (1900-1982), Finland
• Capt. Thomas Carter (T.C) Fearon (1813 – 1869), USA
• Capt. Adolph Hauth, Germany
• Capt. Louis Allaire (1880-1949), France
• Alan Villiers (1903-1982), Australia
• Vito Dumas (1900-1965), Argentina
• Marcel Bardiaux (1910-1958), France
• Sir Francis Chichester (1901-1972), England
• Sir Alec Rose (1908-1991), England
• Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (1939-), England
• Bernard Moitessier (1925-1994), France
• Sir Chay Blyth (1940-), Scotland
• Ramon Carlin (1923-2016), Mexico
• Éric Tabarly (1931-1998), France
• Cornelis van Rietschoten (1926-2013), Netherlands
• Dame Naomi James (1949-), New Zealand
• Kay Cottee (1954-), Australia
• Jon Sanders (1939-), Australia
• Philippe Jeantot (1952-), France
• Titouan Lamazou (1955-), France
• Sir Peter Blake (1948-2001), New Zealand
• Dilip Donde (1967-), India
• Stan Honey (1955-), America
• Dee Caffari (1973-), England
• Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (1945-), France
• Dame Ellen MacArthur (1976 -), UK
• Grant Dalton (1957 – ), New Zealand
• Skip Novak (1952 – ), USA
• Jeanne Socrates (1942 – ), UK
• Franck Cammas (1972 – ), France
• Michel Desjoyeaux ( 1965 – ), France
• Loïck Peyron (1959-), France
• Jean Le Cam (1959-), France
• Francis Joyon (1956-), France
• Andrew Cape (1962-), Australia
• Dr. Roger Nilson (1949-), Sweden
• Mike Golding (1960-), Great Britain

Front row left to right: Marco Nannini, Dr Roger Nilson, Bernard Stamm, Francis Joyon, Skip Novak, Loick Peyron, Alain Leboeuf, President of the Vendee region, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Philippe Delamare, Francois Gouin
Back row: Louis Robein, Michel Desjoyeaux, Andrew Cape, Jean Le Cam, unknown, Jean-Luc van den Heede, Archie Fairley-Chairman of the Int.Assoc. of Cape Horners, Don McIntyre, Yannick Moreau, Mayor of Les Sables d’Olonne, Riccardo Tosetto.
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Bridier/LSO

Source: IACH