Bigger than the Vendée?
Remarkable as it sounds, that is the view of the good bergers of Les Sables d’Olonne who regard this year’s Golden Globe Race as the perfect vehicle to widen interest in the region and engage a new audience... on top of the two million or so who already visit their other little sailboat race. Rob Kothe
As anticipated, the race to the Golden Globe startline has proved almost as epic as the race itself will no doubt be. Some 38 sailors paid an initial deposit and embarked on preparations for the round- the-world non-stop race 50 years after the original Sunday Times Golden Globe in 1968/69. During the two years since about half of them have put their dreams on hold with many now looking more realistically towards the second edition in 2022. But that still leaves 19 solo skippers, of varying experience, more or less prepared
50 SEAHORSE
and looking forward to crossing the startline on 1 July. That will also be a somewhat bittersweet day for race founder Don McIntyre, whose race gathered so much early momentum that he was forced to cancel his own plans to compete in favour of taking charge of shore opera- tions (the tough Aussie will ‘bl**dy defi- nitely’ be out there in four years’ time). McIntyre says, ‘It always comes down
to two things: time and money. If you have plenty of money you can shorten the time. If you don’t have a lot of money you take longer to get there and so in the last four months we have lost four entrants because of time and money.’ A couple of skippers are still finishing
their boats – many have yet to do the jury rig test, one is yet to complete his 2,000- mile solo qualification before the fleet gathers in Falmouth in June to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox- Johnston’s departure aboard Suhaili.’ Ironically, with the race start moved to
France, at that anniversary Parade of Sail in Falmouth Bernard Moitessier’s carefully preserved Joshua, now declared a French national treasure, will be absent as the
government will not allow the boat to leave French waters. Joshua’s place along- side Suhaili will now be taken by Sir Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV, the yacht in which he became the first sailor to make a solo one-stop circumnavigation. ‘We know the race start in Les Sables
d’Olonne is going to be big,’ McIntyre continues. ‘Just how big it’s impossible to say, but I will quote the French maritime authorities. They are saying it will be much bigger than the Vendée Globe because our race is in the middle of their summer. ‘There will be full TV broadcasting of
the start, just like the Vendée Globe, from France 3 – helicopters, boats, relay planes, the whole bit. It will all be shown live in France obviously and will be offered to any international network that wants to take the feed for free. It will also stream live on the major social media platforms. ‘Sailors from 13 countries. All types of
people. All skill levels. It is going to be very interesting to watch this story unfold. Each entrant has their own reasons to be doing this, but there are three broad groups: those who want to win it, those who want to finish it and those who want simply to
PPL
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