Seeking to complete a great adventure

by Marco Nannini, Global Solo Challenge
Of the 20 entrants in the Global Solo Challenge 2023-2024, 16 crossed the start line with nine dropping out along the round the world route. Only Louis Robein remains on the course, more than seven months since his start in A Coruna and nearly five months sailing in the roaring forties. But finally, he has now sailed north of the 40th parallel into warmer weather.

Robein had postponed celebrations at Point Nemo and Cape Horn, too busy dealing with technical issues, nursing his boat through cold weather and harsh conditions. Finally, however, the rising temperatures allowed him to take off his gloves and hat, put away his heavy boots and take off several layers of clothing.

Psychologically, this must have felt like a rebirth, a moment to cherish whilst looking north towards warm weather. Time to pop that bottle of Moêt et Chandon that remained unopened through all the challenges of the previous long and difficult weeks.

The great adventure of this inaugural race is now the subject of the many talks that skippers are organizing in yacht clubs of their home countries. Congratulations to Cole Brauer (above) and Riccardo Tosetto for being named sailor of the month by Seahorse and Saily respectively. This is only the beginning of the many awards the sailors of the GSC will receive after becoming part of the small elite of solo circumnavigators.

But for Robein, the voyage is not quite over yet. The French skipper will face one last storm developing in the South Atlantic over the next few days before finally reaching the warm trade winds off the coast of Brazil.

The journey will continue towards the equator and into the North Atlantic where the advancing spring will turn into summer, hopefully meaning this will be the last worrying storm of his circumnavigation. He still has more than 5500 miles to go but he must certainly start to see a distant light at the end of the tunnel in his amazing journey.

As for those that tapped out along the route, there are other skippers seeking to close the circle on their adventure.

Edouard De Keyser had flown back to Belgium, leaving his boat Solarwind in Port Lincoln, Australia. Alessandro Tosetti is back in Turin, Italy, having left his ULDB 65’ Aspra in Auckland where his rigging will be replaced. Pavlin Nadvorni’s Espresso Martini is in Lyttelton, east coast of New Zealand. The three skippers are all planning to go back to their boats at the beginning of the Austral summer, at the end of 2024, to sail back to Europe at a more favorable time of the year.

Ronnie Simpson, after dismasting and being forced to abandon his boat, decided he had to get back sailing to shake off the disappointment of his unfortunate accident. Whilst still hoping to be able to step up to an IMOCA campaign for the 2028-29 Vendée Globe, he is not dismissing the option to return to the 2027-2028 Global Solo Challenge.

Ari Känsäkoski also suffered a dismasting, and whilst in his case he managed to save the boat and reach Durban in South Africa, the future looked really uncertain. Attempting to repair the mast locally was eventually dismissed as an option, as autumn will soon give way to winter making it unwise to sail the boat back to Europe after repairs.

Selling the boat locally did not work out either and eventually Känsäkoski came to the conclusion that he had to bring his boat back home to avoid the risk of a total write-off of this project whilst continuing to incur expenses with no practical solution in sight.

Shipping a boat via cargo is easier said than done, as racing boats need to sit on appropriate cradles or the risk of damage to the hull is too significant. Cradles with adjustable legs commonly found in boatyards are not suitable so he opted to build saddles that could accommodate the boat, built on top of a 20-foot container which is easily handled by port cranes. The saddles are shaped to distribute the weight of the boat evenly.

Last month, Känsäkoski launched a fundraiser asking for help to front the many expenses he is incurring to build the cradle in Durban and for the cost of the shipment. The response has been heartwarming and he managed to complete the construction of the supports for his boat and book a space on a ship. His boat will be loaded May 9 onto ship MACS Green Mountain and is due to be offloaded in Hambourg, Baltic Sea on June 13.

Bringing the boat back to Europe is a significant milestone as this will mean not all has been lost. In fact, Känsäkoski looks at the future ahead one step at a time, from Hamburg he needs to bring the boat back to Finland where he will be able to close the circle of the 2023-24 Global Solo Challenge and launch a new campaign to be on the start line again for the next edition in 2027.

His quiet and calm management of the accident at sea and his step-by-step approach with sorting out problems has earned him the admiration and respect of many followers of the event and I am sure I am not alone in hoping this amazing sailor and problem solver will manage to achieve his circumnavigation dream in the next edition of the GSC. If you wish to help him, click here.

As the 2023-24 Global Solo Challenge slowly fades out, work has begun for the 2027-28 edition with plenty of activity in the background and some great news that we will soon be able to make public.

We will also soon start introducing the skippers that have already formally entered, whilst many others are already actively working on finalizing their entries. For the Notice of Event, click here.

Race details – Entry list – Start times – Tracking

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 had start times between August 26 to January 6 from A Coruña, Spain, with the first boat to return deemed the winner.