The Global Solo Challenge, a new concept of solo around the world race which sees skippers depart on different days according to the relative speeds of their yachts, has 14 skippers chasing each other around the world, with four to start.
The first to depart, Welshman Dafydd Hughes in his S&S 34, reached the Southern Ocean in early October and passed Cape Leeuwin, south of Australia, on 22 November. However, it’s the fourth boat to start – Philippe Delamare’s Actual 46 Mowgli – that is currently lying 2nd and theoretically forecast to take the lead. The course is a traditional westabout, via the three Great Capes, and the winner will be the boat that finishes ‘first past the post’.
At the time of going to press, 10 boats were in the South Atlantic, a clutch of seven skippers having started from La Coruña in late October in yachts ranging from Class 40s to a self-built ULDB 65. The skippers taking part are equally diverse, with professional racers sailing against doctors and even a retired Marine. Among them is 29-year-old Cole Brauer, who is bidding to become the first American woman to sail around the world solo and non-stop on her Class40 First Light.
Italian skipper Pavlin Nadvorni also started in October, single-handing a converted Farr 45 (usually sailed by 10-12 crew when racing inshore): “We have been beam reaching now for four days in 12-17 knots of true wind, give and take a few hours,” he blogged on 15 November. “And the lack of a purposely made sail for that is something that really bugs me. Hence, the impor
