Cape Horn Hall of Fame, Class of 2026

The International Association of Cape Horners (IACH) Cape Horn Hall of Fame have named six people for the Class of 2026 inductees.

The Class ranges from British Commodore George Anson who led an eight-strong squadron of ships round Cape Horn in 1737 to rob Spanish galleons of their treasure, to Alexia Barrier and Thomas Coville from France who set new circumnavigation records in the Jules Verne Trophy challenge last January.

Another is Guirec Soudée, better known until now for his 5-year cruise around the world via the Northwest Passage with his pet hen Monique. Earlier this year, he broke fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc van den Heede’s 22-year record for sailing East-West around the world via Cape Horn.

Sailing the multihull MACSF, he completed the 37,000-mile circumnavigation in January 2026, taking 94 days, 21 hours, and 58 minutes. This was almost a month ahead of the previous record, setting an average 16.5 knots in his trimaran MACSF

This year’s roll-call is completed with two more famous Cape Horners – Britain’s Brian Thompson and American Paul Cayard, who have both experienced hard won victories: Thompson with Doha 2006 in the Oryx Quest round the world race, and more recently aboard the Loïck Peyron skippered maxi-multihull Banque Populaire5 to win the Jules Verne Trophy, and Cayard leading EF Language to victory in the 1997-78 Whitbread race

This is the 5th year of the Cape Horn Hall of Fame awards and the names of 52 of the most famous round the world sailors now adorn the Cape Horn honours board housed in a club house in the French port of Les Sables d’Olonne, the home of solo sailing, and host port for the Vendée Globe and Golden Globe Race events.

• Class of 2026: https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/CH-2026.pdf
• Details: https://capehorners.org/hall-of-fame/hof-inductees-grid-edit/

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
• Paul Standbridge (1958-), Great Britain
• Rick Tomlinson (1958-), Great Britain
• Charlie Dalin (1984-), France
• Samantha Davies (1974-), Great Britain
• Catherine Chabaud (1962-), France
• Isabelle Autissier (1956-), France
• Commodore George Anson Born (1697 -1762), UK
• Alexia Barrier (1979-), France
• Thomas Coville (1968-), France
• Guirec Soudée (1992-), France
• Brian Thompson (1962 -), Great Britain
• Paul Cayard  (1959-), USA