Fleet begins inaugural Golden Globe Race

Les Sables d’Olonne, France (July 1, 2018) – The singlehanded entrants in the inaugural Golden Globe solo non-stop around the world yacht race started today for the 30,000 mile course which is expected to take 9-10 months to complete.

First to cross the line at Noon (CEST) was the fiercely competitive Frenchman Philippe Péché aboard his Rustler 36 PRB. He has ensured that she is one of the lightest in the 18-strong fleet, and carrying a huge lightweight genoa, Péché pulled out a 100 metre lead within minutes of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, winner of the first GGR 50 years before, firing the canon from the deck of his historic yacht Suhaili.

Behind him, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, who has five previous circumnavigations to his credit and at 73, is the oldest skipper in this Race, appeared to tangle with Tapio Lehtinen’s Finnish yacht Asteria, and one hour after the start were still locked in a 3-way tie with Dutchman Mark Slats (Ohpen Maverick) for third place. Their regatta style tactics allowed Russia’s Igor Zaretskiy to sail his Endurance 35 Esmeralda quietly into second place.

Another in the mix was Are Wiig’s 32ft Norwegian double-ender Olleanna along with Indian Navy pilot Abhilash Tomy sailing a wooden replica of Sir Robin’s Suhaili.

By contrast, Britain’s Susie Goodall, who raised by far the biggest send-off from the dock, kept her Rustler 36 DHL Starlight well clear of other yachts and made a good mid fleet start in line with Istvan Kopar’s American yacht Puffin, fellow British entrant Ertan Bescardes (Lazy Otter) and Antoine Cousot’s French Biscay 36 Métier Intérim.

One hour after the start: Frenchman Philippe Péché had established a clear lead in his his Rustler 36 PRB.

Trailing these boats was a third group led by Ireland’s Gregor McGuckin sailing the Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance just ahead of Frenchman Loïc Lepage (Laaland) and the two Australian entrants, Kevin Farebrother’s Tradewind 35 Sagarmatha, and Mark Sinclair’s Lello 34 Coconut.

The dark horse within the fleet appears to be Nabil Amra’s Palestinian flagged Biscay 36 Liberty II, which was one of the last boats across the line but last night was flying through the fleet at 4.6 knots as opposed to 4.2 for the leaders. Like Igor Zaretskiy, he is taking a more southerly route towards Cape Finistere while others were heading well out into the Bay of Biscay in the hope of finding stronger winds.

One skipper, Italy’s Francesco Cappelletti, remains in port preparing his Endurance 35 007. The yacht has still to pass safety inspection and Cappelletti has yet to complete 3 days of solo sailing trials. He has until Noon on July 7 to beat the deadline to join the race.

The leading yachts are expected to reach the first ‘gate’ set off Lanzarote in the Canaries around July 11 to hand across film and letters.

Today, technical partner Boatshed.com announced that they would provide a £5,000 cash prize for the fastest skipper around the world – the same amount that the Sunday Times newspaper posted for its race 50 years ago.

Event details – Entry list – Tracker – Facebook

Background:
The 2018 Golden Globe Race will start from Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday July 1, 2018. The event marks the 50th anniversary of the Sunday Times Golden Globe solo non-stop round the world Race in 1968-69 when rules then allowed competitors to start from ports in northern France or UK between June 1st and October 31st.

A notable twist to 2018 Golden Globe Race format is how entrants are restricted to using the same type of yachts and equipment that were available in that first race, with the premise being to keep the race within financial reach of every dreamer.

Source: GGR