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Lionheart Rounding Cape Horn
Painting - Oil on Board
91.5 x 61 cm
The painting depicts Lionheart skippered by
Jesse Martin rounding Cape Horn on the 3rd of March 1999 during
the solo voyage where he became the youngest person to sail solo
for 327 days, non-stop and unassisted around the world commencing
his voyage from Melbourne, Australia.
Lionheart has one reef in her sail and is
on a port tack with a favourable north east breeze during the final
stages of rounding the Horn. Self steering gear is still in operation
as Jesse peers ahead at this notorious rugged coastline which signifies
the end of a very important leg of his challenging trip
The dark cloudy powerful sky to the west depicts
the uncertain and ominous weather typical of Cape Horn. The darkened
sea to west and rolling waves are used to show the vast sea travelled
to the Horn and the infamous roaring forties conditions, with the
lightened sea to east suggesting the prospect of improved conditions
heading up the coast of South America.
Some excerpts from Jesse Martin's book Lionheart
A journey of the human spirit on the day he rounded Cape Horn:-
"As the sun came up on my second day
in sight of South America, so did the wind strength. It was down
to 5 knots but then swung very quickly back to the east and picked
up to a comfortable 10 knots. This meant I had to tack back and
forth…
So this was Cape Horn. I could not imagine
a better way to meet it. The Everest of sailing lay only a short
distance ahead of me. I stood thinking of the aura of history and
legend that surrounded this great cape, the Cape of Storms. I felt
as though I'd been transported into some fiction book that Tolkien
would write. ...
It was beautiful beyond description, and
so real and clear to me that it felt in a sense, unreal…
The wind swung around a little further
to the north-east, which allowed me to take a better direction while
I just sat and digested the thoughts racing through my mind…
I feel pretty good about rounding. I just
keep staring at it, wondering how I could capture what it was like
to show to others.
Jesse also advised that during the day, as
the wind increased, he shortened sail.
Lionheart Specifications were:-
Sparkman & Stephens 34 built in Perth by Swarbrick
Brothers
Length 33' 6"
Beam 10' 1"
Draught 6'
Displacement 12,000 lbs
Purchased in Geelong
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