Globe40: Suspenseful finish in Papeete

Papeete, Tahiti (November 10, 2022) – The GLOBE40 has once again provided a suspenseful finish to leg 4 from Auckland to Papeete. The 34 minutes separating the top two finishers in Auckland after 7000 miles and 34 days at sea had not been forgotten among the leaders of this 8-stage race for doublehanded Class40 teams.

On arrival at the famous Bora-Bora atoll last night, the scenario at this final mark of the course seemed to be well established and identical since the start, namely the leadership of the American AMHAS, which had a lead of around 40 miles.

But there were still 140 miles to go to Papeete against the wind and an unfavorable option made the leader lose all his lead in a few hours and once again the first three boats were in a dead heat. An epilogue that kept the observers on their toes all day long and ended in today with MILAI Around The World’s victory, ahead of AMHAS by 7 minutes at the end of this 2550-mile leg with a coefficient of 2.

After leaving Auckland in the inner bay in front of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the Class40s took a direct course due east upwind for a week, looking for a wind shift when they came into contact with a vast zone of high pressure.

After a week of pure speed with a few options more or less north or south of the route, then came the time to tack to take a quasi-direct route towards Bora-Bora, a mark to be skirted around before the finish. Finally, the last part of the course reserved the expected surprises, a reset of the positions of the three leaders.

The start of the next stage is November 26 in Matavai Bay, with the fifth leg as coefficient 3 to Cape Horn as another great challenge for the teams of this first edition of the GLOBE40 as they aim for the stage finish in Ushuaia, Argentina.

Race details – Entries – Tracker

Note: The scoring format gives extra value to the longer legs.

Standings (after four of eight legs):

The inaugural Globe40 is an eight leg round the world race for doublehanded Class40 teams. As all legs count toward the cumulative score, the longer distances more heavily weighted. The first leg, which took seven to eight days to complete, had a coefficient 1 while the second leg is ranked as a coefficient 3 leg. The race is expected to finish March 2023. Seven teams were ready to compete, but a Leg 1 start line collision eliminated The Globe En Solidaire with Eric and Léo Grosclaude (FRA) while the Moroccan team of Simon and Omar Bensenddik on IBN BATTOUTA retired before the Leg 2 start.

Start:
Tangier, Morocco – June 26

Stopovers:
Leg 2 start: Sao Vincente, Cape Verde Islands – July 17
Leg 3 start: Port Louis, Mauritius – September 11
Leg 4 start: Auckland, New Zealand – October 29
Leg 5 start: Papeete, French Polynesia – November 26
Leg 6 start: Ushuaia, Argentina
Leg 7 start: Recife, Brazil
Leg 8 start: St Georges, Grenada

Finish:
Lorient, France