No hangover for Global Solo Challenge

For the Global Solo Challenge competitors, 2024 started a little more gently than 2023 had ended, with widespread milder conditions and a persistent high pressure zone in the area south of Cape Leeuwin as well as south east of Cape of Good Hope.

This was great news for Ari Känsäkoski who, after dismasting, is limping back to the safety of a port in Africa, most likely Durban. With the help of the fuel he was given by the Japanese fishing vessel, he has managed to motor north of the high pressure system and is now in light following winds, that will allow him to make good some of the mileage under jury rig alone as the total fuel onboard is not sufficient for the distance to be covered.

The high pressure system south of Cape Leeuwin on Australia has significantly slowed down the group of boats currently busy clearing the ice limit which rises to 45 degrees south in this region. It is notable that this limit has little to do with drifting icebergs or ice pack, but rather an unwritten agreement with Australian rescue authorities that would incur high costs, which are difficult to publicly justify to the taxpayers, should they need to venture very deep south in remote waters to rescue a sailor involved in a voluntary “leisure activity”.

At the front of the fleet, the situation is on paper unchanged as Philippe Delamare (FRA) is pushing his Actual 46 along with the reliability of an 80s Mercedes taxi, clocking mile after mile with now less than 1200 miles to go to Cape Horn, with a potential rounding sometime around the 9-10 of January.

He is dealing with a quick succession of lows, though perhaps as a result of the advent of the Austral summer, the weather models indicate he may encounter a large ridge of high pressure despite being well into the Screaming Fifties at 54 degrees South. The timing of the start of circumnavigation is timed to take sailors around Cape Horn at the height of summer when conditions may grant a safe passage to the sailors.

In second is Cole Brauer’s Class40 First Light who has shaved a further 200 miles off the gap to Delamare, and whilst in the course of last week the American was faster, she seemed to have started to lose ground in relative terms letting him consolidate his lead.

However, upon entering the gentler swell of the Pacific, renowned for its longer and somewhat easier sea state, she has started once more clawing back time on time, still leaving room for a possible renewed attack on his solid first place.

As the weeks pass, this is still a possibility but much will depend on factors such as the oncoming ridge of high pressure that Delamare will face and, most of all, the conditions that each boat will find after rounding Cape Horn.

Race details – Entry list – Start times – Tracking

Attrition List:
DNS: Peter Bourke – Class40, Imagine
DNS: Ivan Dimov – Endur37, Blue Ibis
DNS: Curt Morlock – IMOCA, 6 Lazy K
DNS: Volkan Kaan Yemlihaoğlu – Open 70, Black Betty

RTD: Juan Merediz – Class40, Sorolla
RTD: Dafydd Hughes – S&S 34, Bendigedig
RTD: Ari Känsäkoski – Class40, ZEROchallenge

The inaugural Global Solo Challenge 2023-24 seeks to be a budget-friendly solo, non-stop race around the world. Using a pursuit format for the 2023-24 race, 20 entrants from 34 to 70 feet have start times between August 26 to January 6 from A Coruña, Spain, with the first boat to return deemed the winner.

Source: GSC