I will join the 2026 Golden Globe Race (3)

I spent early Saturday June 24th at the marina in Les Sables d’Olonne, trying to see as many of the vessels as possible. The enthusiastic fans were pacing the docks. Regardless of their performance in the race, the skippers looked content on their respective vessels enjoying the public attention. I could sense their relief as if a big weight were lifted off their shoulders, now that they could each have their lives back.

Crowds were trickling in to see the skippers on their boats, Kirsten’s first placing Cape George 36 cutter MINNEHAHA had a wall of her fans stacked two deep trying to hear her respond to questions from every direction. I smiled and looked for other skippers without a mob pestering them. Pat Lawless was holding court in the cockpit of his Saltram Saga 36 cutter GREEN REBEL. Michael Guggenberger was chipper having made the podium in third place, enjoying every moment of the attention that his beautiful Biscay-36 ketch NURI was receiving.

Skipper Pat Lawless was enjoying the company of friends in his cockpit.

Skipper Michael Guggenheimer took third place. Out of 17 skippers that started, only three finished nonstop.

Skipper Ertan Beşkardeş was busy signing posters for the GGR fans.

When I had asked earlier, Ertan Beşkardeş told me that he already sold his Rustler-36 cutter LAZY OTTER. Buying a race proven yacht with a complete kit made more sense, I did not like the implied risks otherwise. To refit a yacht for the race, I would first have to find a standard vessel built before 1988 out of a dozen approved models. Beside all the headache of finding and preparing such a vessel, prices were inflated for the few suitable vessels due to the increasing popularity of Golden Globe Race.

Assuming that I found one in good enough condition worthy of my time and effort, I would need to refit and reinforce that vessel to meet the race requirements. Depending on its location and whether I could readily sail that aged vessel, my costs could add up. Kirsten for example found MINNEHAHA on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada where she worked with local talent in a heated shed to prepare the vessel before sailing away.

Skipper Simon Curwen was happy to answer all my questions about CLARA. He took line honors in the race despite being demoted to Chichester Class after one stop at Puerto Montt in Chile to receive a replacement part for his Hydrovane. Two out 17 skippers finished as such.

Simon Curwen whose race performance I admired, was kind and approachable. I was not shy to ask him whether he was selling CLARA. He told me that he did put CLARA online for sale and had already reduced the price by 15,000 British pounds. I toured CLARA, asked my questions then told him that I would need to talk to Nancy before I could commit.

Simon started dinghy sailing from an early age. He moved to keel boats in the 1990s. He later found dinghy-type performance in boats with keels in the Classe Mini, campaigning a prototype from 2000-2001 and ultimately competing in the in the 2001 Mini Transat. His lifetime of sailing experience would serve him well with CLARA in the GGR. He led the entire race arriving at the head of the fleet for each video drop at Lanzerote, Cape Town and Hobart, respectively. A knockdown by a rogue wave on the south Pacific while approaching Cape Horn broke a cast metal part in his Hydrovane, so he had to divert to Puerto Montt on the Chilean coast. It took him 10 days to receive a replacement part and to repair the damage. By the time he rounded Cape Horn, he was in fourth place. He still managed to catch the leaders and arrived first, taking line honors at Les Sables d’Olonne. Granting Simon’s sailing skills, CLARA proved to be a fast vessel.

Final positions of official nonstop finishers:
Kirsten Neuschäfer, (South Africa), Cape George 36 cutter, Minnehaha – FINISHED 1st
Abhilash Tomy, (India), Rustler 36, Bayanat – FINISHED 2nd
Michael Guggenberger, (Austria), Biscay 36, Nuri – FINISHED 3rd

Chichester Class finishers with one stop:
Simon Curwen, (UK), Biscay 36, Clara – FINISHED 1st (Chichester Class)
Jeremy Bagshaw, (South Africa), OE32, Olleanna – FINISHED 2nd (Chichester Class)

Simon Curwen received a trophy and a plaque which displayed a steel key cut from the hull plate of S/V JOSHUA, the vessel that Bernard Moitessier sailed in the original 1968 GGR.

A stage was prepared for the afternoon’s award ceremony. Under a tent behind the stage, there was a reception for the skippers and their guests. The camaraderie was obvious, everyone knew each other from even before the race started in September 2022. Race Patron Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Race Organizer Don McIntyre and staff were holding court. The mayor and town officials greeted the guests, making them feel welcome before the skippers were invited on the stage one by one. It seemed the whole town was attending, it was standing room only, shoulder to shoulder in front of the stage. The buzz in the air was palpable.

I found a spot to the side with a peek of a view of the stage and the speakers. I could feel the pride of the skippers for taking part in this event. British sailor Simon Curwen residing near Lorient in France, was the first to cross the line in the 2022 Golden Globe Race in Chichester Class, just hours ahead of the 2022 Golden Globe Race official winner Kirsten Neuschäfer from South Africa. Official second place went to Abhilash Tomy from India who arrived less than 48 hours later, followed on 12 May by official third place Michael Guggenberger from Austria. Jeremy Bagshaw from South Africa, who raced on the OE32, Olleanna, the smallest boat in the 2022 Golden Globe Race fleet, was the fifth finisher on 9 June 2023 in Chichester Class. They each received recognition for their accomplishment in reverse order.

(Read in depth interviews with all of the five finishers in the 2022 Golden Globe Race in the Summer 2023 issue of Yachting Monthly)

Kirsten waiting backstage, then on stage receiving the cheers of “les Sablais” after being officially recognized for her achievement becoming the first woman ever to win a nonstop solo sailing race around Antarctica and back. It was shoulder to shoulder in the audience, it seemed the whole town was there.

Then a band took over the stage once the ceremonies were concluded. Afterall the crowd was there to party! The skippers moved on to an adjacent venue on the beach and I followed along. It was early evening by then; I took some time to pace on the fine beach sand while I called Nancy. It was morning in Gig Harbor as I sought her blessings for buying CLARA.

We had a bit of savings to move around. Given the tight market for suitable GGR boats, I figured an aspiring entrant would walk up to me after the 2026 GGR, just like I had asked Simon, to ask me whether I was selling. I only had to make sure to not break or sink CLARA during my race. If for some reason I could not make the starting line on 6 Sept 2026, odds were good that another one of the 2026 skippers would be happy to buy from me this race tested yacht with a complete sail inventory. Nancy agreed that GGR was a worthwhile challenge to pursue hence I could proceed. I confirmed with Simon that I would purchase CLARA from him, we shook hands and agreed to carry on by email once back home.

On Sunday, the day after the GGR closing ceremonies, I left Les Sables to check into a hotel near the Nantes airport where Philippe Courrouyan came to visit.

I had kept in touch with Philippe Courrouyan who found me at the airport hotel in Nantes on Sunday evening. I was going to fly out the next morning. It was the Ocean Rowing Society founder and long time president, the late Kenneth Crutchlow who had introduced us back in 2008. Philippe at the time was based in Jakarta as a distributor for ARGOS tracking beacons to fishing fleets in southeast Asia. Manila based Frabelle Fishing Corporation was one of his clients. When my 2007-2008 Pacific crossing from California to Australia was derailed by strong La Nina conditions and I was pressed west unable to cross the equator, Kenneth got a hold of Philippe who then put us in touch with the Frabelle management. The typhoon season had started and I was in the wrong hemisphere at the wrong time of the year.

In May 2008, after a record 312 days solo at sea, we communicated by satellite phone to arrange a rendezvous with a Frabelle survey vessel named CHAMPION-52 at about 200 nautical miles north of the port of Wewak in Papua New Guinea. They then towed me to one of Frabelle refrigerated vesssels named PRIM ROSE which was in the process of gathering the tuna catch from their purse-seiners working those waters. They used a crane to lift my rowboat from the water, set it on the deck of PRIM ROSE then altogether we cleared PNG Customs at Wewak before we sailed to the Frabelle base at General Santos City in the Philippines. Frabelle was generous to secure my rowboat in a container during the typhoon season so that I could resume my circumnavigation journey in Jan 2009 from where they had begun the tow months earlier. The rest is history…

I was now finally meeting Philippe in person who was intrumental in saving me, my rowboat and my journey as the typhoon season raged in May 2008. I look forward to taking Philippe on sailing cruises along the Atlantic coast of France as I prepare for the 2006 GGR with CLARA. We will have so many stories to rehash…