Another Circumnavigation Race — The McIntyre Mini Globe Race 2025
As the world builds ever-larger superyachts, there are many going in the other direction. If all goes according to plan, Don McIntyre, creator of the recently completed Ocean Globe Race and the Golden Globe Race, will fire the starting gun for the McIntyre Mini Globe Race 2025 at Antigua on February 23, 2025. It will signal the start for 19-ft one-design plywood racing boats to race around the world. Like many extreme events, it sounds insane, but there always seem to be people ready to take on a new challenge.
While the actual race is from Antigua to Antigua, the MGR will start with a qualifying leg from Lagos, Portugal, to Antigua. From there, the entrants will sail around the world westabout in four legs, heading west from Antigua to the Panama Canal and then following the traditional trade-wind route. Mass restarts will take place for each leg, the start date set for approximately two weeks after 25% of the fleet has arrived. An entrant MUST stop for at least seven days in a pit-stop port, but can stay longer with the clock restarting after seven days. An entrant can stop in any other non-scheduled port, but the clock keeps running. The 19-ft boats will be racing by Tahiti and Tonga. It could be pretty tempting for competitors to take a break and stretch their legs on a tropical island.
Race organizers predict the race will take entrants about 400 days to complete! Though they are not sailing south of the great capes in the Southern Ocean, it will be a long and challenging journey. At present there are 18 entrants listed, 16 men and two women, with one, Joshua Kali of Olympia, WA, from the US.
We’re now in what seems like a rare gap in the continuous flow of races circumnavigating the world. The McIntyre Mini Globe Race adds one more level of extreme global circumnavigation races to a growing menu of options. We look forward to seeing who makes the starting line and who’s got the stamina and drive to sail for 400 days in a 19-ft boat.
I met Serge Testa in the Tuamotu’s. He had built a 60′ steel boat in S.F. and had a crew of paying customers. His wife mentioned that he had sailed around the world before in 500 days is a 3 meter boat.
Must be a mistake, I thought. A few years and many ocean miles later, I walked into the Brisbane Museum and there sat Acrohc Australis in all her 11’10” glory. Read his book, 500 Days.
I want one of these when the race is over! Or the plans to build one. Much better than a Harbor 20
You can buy plans through the Mini Globe Race website. You can even get CNC kits if you want to speed up the construction process. There is already a thriving international fleet of these little boats, and two successful transatlantic races have been run. There are likely to be ongoing transatlantic races every two years, from Portugal to Antigua via Lanzarote, in the tradewinds all the way, a bit like the Solo Transpac. There may even be regular round-the-world races every four years, if the first event is a success. I’m part of the MGR team, working as guest race commentator. (And author of the two-volume work, Last Days of the Slocum Era.)
04/05/ 1969 Leonid Teliga „Opty” sailed around the world.