After encountering strong winds off Argentina, they had to take shelter for a few days to repair the mainsail and wait for more favorable conditions.

They then tacked upwind for 36 hours to the famous cape.

In the third episode of their logbook for AFP, they recount the efforts and the emotion, aware that they are only at the beginning of their journey.

Leaving on the trimaran Use it again, they are barely 3 days ahead of the time taken by Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, who set the last record (122 days) single-handed and on a monohull in 2004.

Romain Pilliard: "We set off overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday towards Cape Horn. Upwind, with 35 knots of established wind and squalls up to 47 knots, we rounded our backs trying to preserve the the equipment and the men as possible. We slept on the pouf, in soaked raincoats, with the survival blanket. Conditions a little animal. After a freezing night and a lot of tacks, we were there (Thursday at the beginning of afternoon): Cape Horn... I was very moved, I cried! Lots of emotions, joy, relief... and wonder, I was like a kid!"

French navigator Romain Pilliard, aboard the multihull "Use it again", rounds Cape Horn with his Spanish teammate Alex Pella, on February 4, 2022, during their upside-down round the world record attempt Handout Alex Pella/AFP

"So Much Harder"

Alex Pella: "It's a relief. It's my 4th Cape Horn and it's still going strong. It must be the same even if you pass it 1,000 times, I think. And upside down, it's so harder. For the anecdote, I contacted the man who is in the lighthouse on Cape Horn Island. I had contacted him on the other round the world trip (the Jules Verne Trophy with Francis Joyon in 2017 ), in the other direction. I explained to him and he remembered that I was the same person and that I was going to the other side this time. The passage itself is much harder because there There's a lot of current, the sea is very short, we've done a lot of tacks. Whereas in the other direction, it's going straight. And above all, in the other direction, you've already done the Atlantic, the Indian and the Pacific,then you are relieved to see Cape Horn. Here it is different. We're a bit relieved but there's still a long way to go."

Spanish navigator Alex Pella, accompanied by his French teammate Romain Pilliard, watches his "Use it again" trimaran, on January 14, 2022, during their upside-down Handout round the world record attempt Alex Pella / AFP / Archives

Romain Pilliard: "The passage of the Horn marks the passage into a new ocean, it is also the southernmost cape, and therefore potentially the hardest. But what follows is even more complicated. A large depression is developing unfavorably in the Pacific, it is urgent to wait. We have sailed a bit up along the Chilean coast, still upwind, but now it is urgent to wait. We are on stand-by at the entrance to the Beagle Channel. This will allow us to go around the boat to check everything".

The "Use it again" trimaran, helmed by French sailors Romain Pilliard and Spanish Alex Pella, rounds Cape Horn on February 4, 2022, during the 2 skippers' attempt to break the Handout round the world record. Alex Pella/AFP

Interview by Fanny CARRIER

© 2022 AFP