Cape Horn - One Man's Dream, One Woman's Nightmare

by Reanne Hemingway-Douglass

His Dream — a lifelong goal to round Cape Horn and circumnavigate the Southern Hemisphere in their sailboat.
Her Nightmare — coping with her obsessive husband and the frightening seas of the Great Southern Ocean.
800 miles WNW of Cape Horn, Don and Réanne Douglass encountered the Ultimate Wave which pitch-poled their sailboat and turned it into a leaking lifeboat. Working together, the couple struggled over the next 42 days to reach safety in southern Chile, while family and friends all but gave up hope. Cape Horn is a classic sea story told from a woman's point of view. It is also a gripping account of one couple's turbulent relationship, and their survival and endurance in some of the most extreme conditions imaginable.

365 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Réanne Hemingway-Douglass holds a BA degree in French from Pomona College. She attended Claremont Graduate University and the University of Grenoble, France. Sailor, writer, cyclist and language teacher, Réanne's articles have appeared in numerous outdoor magazines. Her best-selling book, Cape Horn: One Man's Dream, One Woman's Nightmare, which describes pitchpoling in the Great Southern Ocean, has been published in French and Italian and is now being translated into Spanish. She is also the author of the awarding-winning The Shelburne Escape Line - Secret Rescues of Allied Aviators by the French Underground, the British Royal Navy and London's MI-9, and the Tierra del Fuego cycling memoir, Two Women Against the Wind.

Don Douglass, who began exploring Northwest waters in 1949 as a youth, has sailed the Inside Passage on everything from a pleasure craft to a Coast Guard icebreaker. Don has a Masters in Business Economics from Claremont Graduate University and holds honorary membership in the International Association of Cape Horners. He has also been elected to the Mountain Biking Hall of Fame, as one of the founders of the sport. With his wife and business partner, Réanne, he is the co-author of the acclaimed Exploring nautical guidebook series that covers coastal waterways from San Diego to Southwest Alaska. He is also the author of Farewell to a Queen - The Mysterious Sinking of the Price of BC Ferries, and two memoirs, Beyond Cape Horn and Sailing Off the Anchor, all published by Cave Art Press.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like watching a train wreck…agonizing and terrible but one cannot look away. This the story of dysfunctional people in a dysfunctional relationship, ill-prepared and ignorant. They should have died, they should have killed one-another, they should never have been seen again. By the grace of fortune they survived and Reanne told the tale through the lens of her re-memorying. I sense her telling is honest, a fine foil for her husband's hubris. If you meet a man like Don Douglass in any capacity, intimate, business, sporting, or professional, run away. People like him get other people killed. I'd like to read his version of the voyage, I'd like to read the story through the telling of the only rational early crew members, the teens, the young men who got out when they could and saved their own lives. For Reanne who understands Spanish, if there were to be a next time, "Salsipuedes (Get out if you can)!!"

[Sknight · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a book....the couple's relationship was one that most could not have lived with...this was an adventure most would not have considered taking, most would have turned back as the crew ended up just being the two of them....these two people looked at life and the things that are important to them in a way that will seem odd to the typical Mother and Father...At times you may want to toss the book across the room just to go over, pick it up, and continue on with their hair-raising trip toward Cape Horn. You may not like this couple, may not understand their need for this adventure, but you will want to finish out the ride they are taking you on.

[Dhe · Rating 5 out of 5]

uno dei primi libri su viaggi intorno al mondo in barca a vela. piacevole e interessante nella sua veridicità.

[George Kedl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reanne Hemingway-Douglass’s Cape Horn tells a dramatic story of sailing that took place when cruising stories were dominated by men’s accounts. Her exploration of her own motivation for setting out to round Cape Horn, so different from her husband’s adrenaline-addiction, is insightful and helpful for couples who contemplate the cruising life. Even though the story is about events that happened long ago (1974) and that were more dramatic (pitch-poling off Cape Horn) than most cruisers would ever face, I don’t think that times and circumstances have changed so much that her story is not relevant today. I say this because my recent revisiting of the years of our (my wife’s and my own) cruising years that began about ten years later than Reanne’s, reflect many of the motivational differences between my wife and myself. It is unfortunate that many of my insights into these differences were gained so many years after we gave up cruising. This is an unique and valuable addition to the literary genre of survival stories. It makes Smeeton’s famous accounts of pitch-poling off Cape Horn seem smaller and one dimensional.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think of a foreign language teacher having never done more than day sail on Lake Michigan setting sail from Los Angeles on a 42ft ketch-rigged sailboat for a 23 month trip around Cape Horn with the captain , a businessman (your hot-headed husband who is very knowledgeable about seafaring) and 4 teen-age young men from 14 to 18 years of age as "crew". Before the start of the trip Jeff defected then Michael indicated he "couldn't handle the captain" and asked that he and Carl be dropped off at La Paz. Three weeks later Sean left also. And here the adventure starts. Just a Captain and First Mate.
I won't go into details of the trip. I'll just say that how they didn't end up not killing each other or didn't end up at the bottom of the sea I can't imagine.
This is a harrowing story of tenacity and the will to live that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. If you like true adventure this is a good read for you.

[Diane Engle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This long title CAPE HORN: ONE MAN'S DREAM, ONE WOMAN'S NIGHTMARE is frightening descriptive of this true story. The trip, which begins out of Los Angeles Harbor and travels through extremely treacherous waters to the tip of South America meets challenges of all sorts. Killer challenges that are so serious, I believe it would be impossible to depict on film. Adding to that, this woman's husband, was a sailing captain first and a husband second, making it even more difficult to sustain. WHEW - I was glad when I finished this one! Quite a story.

[Sphinx · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a deeply weird love story. It is strange that it hasn't made a movie, because I think it would be good material for an adaptation. The book illustrates very well why communication is so important in a relationship.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a sailor and always enjoy books about ocean sailing. Reanne really explained the perils of ocean sailing in her attempt to sail around Cape Horn. It is hard to believe how weather and the ocean can be so arduous.

[Pamela Beason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why any sane person would choose willingly to do this is a mystery to me, but this is a tell-it-like-it-was autobiographical story, and the author pretty much summed up the tale in the subtitle of this book. It's amazing they survived and are still married. This is a well-told tale of adventure, hardship, ingenuity, and survival--in short, a fascinating real-life read.

[Rebecca Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of an "around the world" reading challenge. American couple with ties to Anacortes, Wa that attempted to sail Cape Horn. Complex story with relationships exposed when facing challenges, not too technical a read for non-sailors.

[Britthansing · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that was more like a diary than a tale. You felt the fear and the triumph of a very brave woman and her journey and battle of life and death.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing adventure, truly shows the strength of the human spirit.

[Will Kastner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lacking the modern capability of self-publishing without an editor, this hilarious book would not be possible.

[Melinda]

There was too much profanity for me. I thought it odd when agnostics curse God and then pray to Him to save them.

[E Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, does this woman stick with her man and the boat. What an adventure.