Britain’s Susie Goodall (DHL Starlight) meets two veteran competitors from the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race 50 years before. Left to right: Alex Carozzo (ITA) Susie Goodall and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston who won that race and became the first man to sail solo non-stop around the globe. Photo: Tim Bishop
French sailor Philippe Philippe Péché aboard his Rustler 36 PRB took an early lead at the start. Photo: Tim Bishop
Gregor McGuckin (IRE) on his Biscay 36 ketch Hanley Energy Endurance, leads Mark Sinclair (AUS) in his Lello 35 Coconut. Photo: Christophe Favreau
Mark Slats (NED) gives the thumbs up from his Rustler 36 Ophen Maverick. Photo: Christophe Favreau

Historic moment. Two classic yachts sailing in the same picture for only the second time in history. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s original Golden Globe Race winner Suhaili sailing with Bernard Moitessier’s equally famous yacht Joshua Photo: PPL
Abhilash Tomy sailing Thuriya, a wooden replica of Sir Robin’ Knox-Johnston’s yacht Suhaili  Photo: Christophe Favreau
 
 NEW – Revised chart of the 2018 Golden Globe Race course around the world.

   And they’re off!  Philippe Péché aboard his Rustler 36 PRB gets a head start alongside Igor Zaretskiy (RUS) and his Endurance 35 Esmeralda – ahead of Tapio Lehtinen’s Finnish yacht Asteria, Istvan Kopar’s (USA) Puffin and Are Wiig’s Norwegian yacht Olleanna.  Bernard Moitessier’s historic GGR yacht Joshua (far right) marked one end of the start line and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Suhaili, which won the first GGR 50 years ago, marked the other.

The fleet of long keel production yachts have 30,000 miles to sail over the next 9-10 months, but judging from the start today of the 2018 Golden Globe solo non-stop around the world yacht race from Les Sables d’Olonne, the leaders will be fighting over every nautical mile.

Philippe Péché the fiercely competitive Frenchman was first across the line at Noon (CEST) aboard his Rustler 36 PRB. He has ensured that she is one of the lightest in the 18-strong fleet, and, carrying a huge lightweight genoa, Péché pulled out a 100 metre lead within minutes of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, winner of the first GGR 50 years before, firing his canon from the deck of his historic yacht Suhaili.

Behind him, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, who has five previous circumnavigations to his credit and at 73, is the oldest skipper in this Race, appeared to tangle with Tapio Lehtinen’s Finnish yacht Asteria, and one hour after the start were still locked in a 3-way tie with Dutchman Mark Slats (Ohpen Maverick) for third place. Their regatta style tactics allowed Russia’s Igor Zaretskiy to sail his Endurance 35 Esmeralda quietly into second place.

Another in the mix was Are Wiig’s 32ft Norwegian double-ender Olleanna along with Indian Navy pilot Abhilash Tomy sailing a wood core replica of Sir Robin’s Suhaili.

By contrast, Britain’s Susie Goodall, who raised by far the biggest send-off from the dock, kept her Rustler 36 DHL Starlight well clear of other yachts and made a good mid fleet start in line with Istvan Kopar’s American yacht Puffin, fellow British entrant Ertan Bescardes (Lazy Otter) and Antoine Cousot’s French Biscay 36 Métier Intérim.

But yesterday only saw 17 of the 18 entrants start: Francesco Cappelletti, the 40-year old professional sailor from Pisa whas been dogged by late preparations. And this means that he has until Noon on Saturday 7th to complete his solo trials and safety checks. 

Trailing the leading boats last night was a third group led by Ireland’s Gregor McGuckin sailing the Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance just ahead of Frenchman Loïc Lepage (Laaland) and the two Australian entrants, Kevin Farebrother’s Tradewind 35 Sagarmatha, and Mark Sinclair’s Lello 34 Coconut.

The dark horse within the fleet appears to be Nabil Amra’s Palestinian flagged Biscay 36 Liberty II, which was one of the last boats across the line but last night was flying through the fleet at 4.6knots as opposed to 4.2 for the leaders. Like Igor Zaretskiy, he is taking a more southerly route towards Cape Finistere while others were heading well out into the Bay of Biscay in the hope of finding stronger winds.

One skipper, Italy’s Francesco Cappelletti, remains in port preparing his Endurance 35 007. The yacht has still to pass safety inspection and Cappelletti has yet to complete 3 days of solo sailing trials. He has until Noon next Saturday to beat the deadline to join the race.

The leading yachts are expected to reach the first ‘gate’ set off Lanzarote in the Canaries around 11th July to hand across film and letters. The Race is expected to take 9-10 months with the leaders taking between 240-250 days to complete the voyage unaided.

Yesterday morning, Neil Chapman of the Boatshed.com , a GoGoR technical partner,  announced they were putting up a £5,000 cash prize the for the fastest skipper around the world – the same amount that the Sunday Times newspaper posted for its race 50 years ago.

How to follow the race.
The yachts are being tracked by satellite. Visit goldengloberace.com/livetracker/ for latest positions.

Main Photo: Tim Bishop, Les Sables d’Olonne France: 1 July 2018

 

Below is a Susie Goodall video from June 22 from sponsors DHL of her Rustler 36 DHL Starlight