‘I Was Knocked Down and Dismasted in the Southern Ocean'

On the 70th day of a solo delivery from Melbourne to Plymouth for the Golden Globe Race start, Shane Freeman was 600 miles from Cape Horn when his world turned upside down

Mushka was a well-found Tradewind 35 long keeled, cutter-rigged production cruiser built in the UK in 1984.

Designed by John Rock, they are renowned for seaworthiness and mine was one of four entered in the 2018 Golden Globe Race. I had spent the previous 12 months preparing her for this 12,000-mile delivery with a stopover at Port Stanley in the Falklands. It would be a shakedown for me as much as Mushka.

With nearly 6,000 Southern Ocean miles behind me, Cape Horn was about a week or 600 miles ahead. The voyage had been largely without incident, except for damage to my Fleming wind vane steering two weeks before. The bridle securing my drogue, used to slow the boat from surfing at 15 knots-plus down Southern Ocean swells, fouled the vane’s submerged paddle during a gale. This damage was telling on me as much as Mushka. The prevailing westerlies were typically on our stern quarter - a hopeless wind direction for the boat to self-steer which forced me to spend hours hand steering each day. To sleep at night, I would head Mushka dead down wind with a small jib sheeted hard on the centreline. This proved a safe - albeit slower - way to progress eastwards with the wheel unattended.

I was in good health and spirits, except for a swollen left knee, bruised in an incident two weeks before when I was catapulted from my sea berth onto the cabin sole in rough weather.