GOLDEN GLOBE RACE

The Ultimate Test of Willpower and Seamanship

GGR is the Everest of sailing, even harder in the sense that one cannot decide to stop and turn back when things get really tough. Once you are in the Southern Ocean, there is no safe harbor, you have to summon all your strength and keep going.

It demands a strong willingness to overcome adversity, a desire to face the pure force and beauty of nature at its wildest, and also the strength to be alone for many months. It is the ultimate test of willpower and seamanship.

The Journey

The race will start from the Mecca of ocean racing, a small town dedicated to sail, Les Sables d’Olonne, where with my partner Nadire we started our six years – 60,000 nautical miles circumnavigation in 2012.

This time I will start another circumnavigation there – but all alone and on a much more difficult course, crossing the famous capes of the Southern Ocean one by one, trying to sail back to Les Sables d’Olonne. I will be alone for 8 - 10 months at sea, without stopping anywhere, on a small boat that was built half a century ago, using only the instruments that were available in the golden age of sail: the sextant, the chronometer, and paper charts.

The Challenge

• In the first race in 1986, only 1 of 9 starters arrived at the finish line.
• In the GGR 2018, from 18 starters, 5 could arrive.
• In the GGR 2022, from 16 starters, only 3 could complete the race.

I am committed to doing my best to be among the finishers in GGR 2026.