News Around the World
FRANCE Another one! It is clear that new opportunities for racing around the world are becoming increasingly popular in the wake of the Vendée Globe, which starts in November. Next year will see the second edition of the Globe 40, an event for two-handed Class40s that was created by former Tour Voile organiser Manfred Rampacher’s company Sirius Evénements. The prologue is scheduled for the end of summer 2025 in Lorient where the race will finish in April 2026. British sailor (and Seahorsecontributor) Miranda Merron is the new race director. From Lorient the fleet heads to Cape Verde, Reunion Island,
Sydney, Valparaíso and Recife, before returning to Brittany. In summary: new stops and a slightly shorter format this time to allow competitors time to participate in the 2026 Route du Rhum. So far Manfred Rampacher has 10 paid-up entries representing
six nations (five are French!) and expects about 15 Class40s in total, more than double the entry in the first edition. Then at the end of June the Royal Western YC, which gave us
the mythical Ostar and TwoStar races, announced the launch of their own new WorldStar, starting and finishing in Plymouth. Setting off on 26 September 2026 this non-stop round-the-world course – Antarctic continent to be left to starboard – is open to two-handed teams and monohulls of 36-60ft with IRC scoring as well as line honours class prizes. The RWYC has set an entry limit of 40 boats… Also in September 2026, Don McIntyre presents nostalgic ocean
racing as it was practised 50 years ago, for the third edition of the Golden Globe Race. The rules remain largely unchanged but a host venue has yet to be confirmed. Yannick Moreau, mayor of Les Sables d’Olonne, host of the first two editions, told us in July that he had had no contact with McIntyre about it… Meanwhile, the same Australian, decidedly the specialist in anniversary races, does have ‘a meeting booked with another’ European port bidding to host the second edition of his Ocean Globe Race in 2027, a fully crewed world tour mirroring the historic Whitbread for monohulls manufactured before 1988. Also in 2027, but two weeks earlier, the first competing boat will start the second edition of the Global Solo Challenge, another solo
24 SEAHORSE
non-stop race around the world, but this time run as a pursuit race. This event is the creation of Italian skipper Marco Nannini. Previously based in La Coruña, it now moves a little south to Vigo. The GSC starts are staggered according to the rating (IRC/ORC) of the boats and the first to cross the finish line is the winner! To complete this story we have to add the very professional
Ocean Race to our list, a stopping course sailed for a second time on Imoca 60s. Imoca president Antoine Mermod expects this edition to start in Spain in early 2027: ‘I will not be surprised if we see a dozen Imocas racing this time because we already have much more interest than for the previous edition.’ We hope so.
J-boats like the Duo Cat-Amania Every year we write a few words about this unmissable two-handed IRC event. Sailed in June in southern Brittany, the Duo easily reaches its entry limit of 50 boats – the maximum dictated by the number of vacant places in the neighbouring ports visited every evening. This race is always a hard six-day battle on the water but the atmos- phere in the different ports each evening is always exceptional. Fred Bouvier was on his fourth edition, racing the same J/99
built in the Vendée shipyard where he works – by the way Fred’s co-skipper Didier Le Moal is also his boss! Regular podium finishers, last year the pair finished second and promised to return in 2024 and finally win… Mission accomplished: the pair sailing a very nice race to beat runner-up, an identical J/99 Whimjy. ‘This design is fast but above all she is versatile. It’s important because every leg counts,’ insists Fred. ‘And she is also a bestseller!!’ The 2024 fleet met all kinds of conditions, from almost zero wind
to some big offshore squalls during leg 4. In fourth, behind the JPK 10.80 of Alperovitch/Hamon, we find the J/120 of Philippe Girardin, several times winner of the event and, in ninth place, the J/109 Felix of Samuel Prietz, winner last year. Felix won three legs… in fact, all six legs were won by J-boats. Note that J-Boats have a new design to launch in August but today they are not saying very much!
Making the cut In July event organisers SAEM Vendée at last confirmed the 40
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