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Golden Globe Redux

Have you ever considered reliving the experiences of history’s most famous trailblazers? You know, crossing the plains in a covered wagon; maybe sluicing down the Colorado River on rickety boats à la John Wesley Powell; or climbing Everest alongside the ghost of George Mallory — using only the tools and skills those intrepid pioneers had available back then?

Neither have we.

But there is one such challenge that has piqued the interest of enough sailor-adventurers to fill 30 provisional entry slots: the 50th Anniversary Golden Globe Race 2018-2019, scheduled to depart Falmouth, UK, in June 2018.

If you’re old enough or interested enough, you may recall the first Golden Globe. Nine intrepid adventurers — one of whom had never sailed before — set out from Falmouth between June and October, 1968, in what was then the first-ever solo, nonstop, round-the-world sailboat ‘race’. Four entries retired while still on the outbound Atlantic leg. Nigel Tetley, an early leader, had his boat sink under him. Ex-British paratrooper Chay Blyth (the heretofore non-sailor) made it just past the Cape of Good Hope before dropping out.

Donald Crowhurst famously committed suicide from his trimaran. Bernard Moitessier, who had a shot at winning, decided not to finish. Apparently in protest of the commercialization of the event, he kept on going halfway around the world again to eventually stop in Tahiti.

There was only one finisher. Almost a year after he departed — 312 days to be exact — 30-year-old Robin Knox-Johnston sailed his 32-ft, double-ended wooden ketch Suhaili (an Atkins ‘Eric’ design) back into Falmouth Harbor. Not only did he win the Golden Globe trophy (and a cash prize that he donated to the Crowhurst family), he also became the first solo sailor to sail nonstop around the world.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Suhaili, as seen in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.

© 2016

Although the event eventually morphed into the BOC Round-The-World Race a few years later, there never was a second Golden Globe.

Until now.

Australian adventurer/sailor Donald McIntyre wants to do it again, just as they did it back then. Yachts are limited to 32-36 feet LOA, must have been designed before 1988, and must have full keels with attached rudders. The only electronics allowed on board are SSB/Ham and VHF radios — no electronic charts, GPS, weather routing, laptops, tablets, autopilots or any other newfangled folderol. Navigation will be by sextant. And how’s this for serious? CD players are not allowed, but you can take along a cassette player and cassette tapes (assuming you can find them anymore). Even digital cameras are banned. But film cameras are allowed.

(As part of a safety protocol, there will be a sealed compartment on each boat containing a satphone and GPS – the latter for tracking purposes. Breaking into it means disqualification. But at least you might live to tell about it.)

Of Knox-Johnston’s voyage, McIntyre writes: "He had only a wind-up chronometer and a barograph to face the world alone, and caught rainwater to survive, but was at one with the ocean, able to contemplate and absorb all that this epic voyage had to offer."

The race is by invitation only. So you apply and if the RC likes what they see, you are invited and given a provisional status until you complete the 2,000-mile solo qualifier and pony up the entry fees — a $2,200 (US) deposit, plus $8,200 to enter, plus another $8,200 if you have a sponsor. (The original 1968 race cost nothing to enter.) That’s on top of the price of the boat, refit and retro-gear. The low-end estimate for buying and refitting a suitable boat is about $100,000, and the sky’s the limit depending on how deep your pockets go. But it’s a lot cheaper than mounting a Vendée Globe or Velux 5 Oceans effort.

French adventurer and professional sailor Jean Luc Van Den Heede (aka VDH) is among the provisional entries, but is by no means typical of the fleet.

© 2016 Jean Luc Van Den Heede

The entries come from all walks of life; range in age from 26 to 71; and hail from 13 different countries. There is one woman so far, 26-year-old Brit, Susie Bundegaard Goodall. Perhaps the best-known name on the list is Jean Luc Van Den Heede, at 71 the ‘old man’ of the group. VDH, as he is known, is a veteran and podium finisher of four solo round-the-world races and currently holds the record for fastest solo ‘wrong way’ (westabout) circumnavigation. He will be sailing a Rustler 36.

A brochure shot of a Rustler 36. Rustler Yachts happens to be based in Falmouth, Cornwall.

© Rustler Yachts

For more on the GGR 2018-2019, check out www.mcintyreadventure.com/goldengloberace.

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