Sixteen sailors – 15 men, and one woman – started from Les Sables d’Olonne today, on the 2022 Golden Globe Race, the ‘retro’ non-stop solo circumnavigation that is expected to…
Round the world
Alex Thomson backs ‘rookie’ Canada ocean racing campaign
When solo ocean racing skipper Alex Thomson announced that he was stepping aside from competitive sailing after the 2020 Vendée Globe, he didn’t give many clues as to what he…
Flying high: what Pip Hare did next
We hit a wave, the bow bouncing into the air. The roar reverberating from inside the covered cockpit intensifies and I look out of the bubble window to a wall…
Round the world race: 100ft trimarans set for solo race
The Ultim class has announced the first single-handed race round the world for giant multihulls, the Solo Ultim World Tour. This will likely be the most challenging ocean sailing race…
World’s toughest sailing record: New bid announced
An attempt on the toughest sailing record, the westabout round the world course, is being planned later this year by French sailor Romain Pilliard. The 46-year-old Figaro sailor and IMOCA…
Round the world races: 3 new budget events
A clutch of ‘budget friendly’ new round the world races for sailor-owners has tapped into renewed enthusiasm for adventure and endurance sailing. All three new events are set to take…
Jules Verne Trophy: Head-to-head foiling battle begins for round the world record
The time to beat is 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds, set in 2017 by Jules Verne Trophy holder Francis Joyon on Idec Sport. First to announce…
Mini Globe Race: 19ft boats to take on Don MacIntyre’s new round-the-world challenge
The Mini Globe Race is a multi-stage solo around the world race scheduled for 2024. The fleet is planned to leave Europe via the Canary Islands on a transatlantic leg…
AAL: The volcanic yacht aiming for a fossil-free circumnavigation
Les Sables d’Olonne is used to waving off circumnavigators – the Vendée Globe, and most recently the Golden Globe, solo skippers start and return from the French Atlantic town. But…
Donald Crowhurst: The fake round-the-world sailing story behind The Mercy
It was while I was researching my book about madness at sea in 2015 that I first heard a movie about Donald Crowhurst was in the works. Several websites published…
Maiden refit: How Tracy Edwards’ sailing legend was brought back to life
Few yachts, and fewer skippers, become truly famous – famous in the sense that the everyman on the street would recognise them by a single name. Maiden did though, as…
How this family made their two-year round the world sailing dream happen
Surreal. Not a breath of wind tonight. The sea’s surface is flat and unbroken. The sky is utterly cloudless and filled with stars. A half moon lights up the entire…
851 miles in a day – solo sailor Gabart sets incredible new sailing record in giant trimaran
An astonishing new solo 24-hour record has been set by French sailor François Gabart. The single-hander covered 851 miles in the South Atlantic in his 98ft trimaran MACIF. This equates…
How Thomas Coville set the solo round the world sailing record
‘A warrior,’ is how Samantha Davies, part of the intelligence team that guided Thomas Coville and his yacht Sodebo to victory, describes the solo skipper. Over a decade Coville returned…
Francis Joyon abandons attempt to break round the world record
French sailor Francis Joyon has abandoned his attempt to break the fully-crewed round the world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. He turned his 100ft trimaran IDEC Sport around after encountering adverse conditions in the…