first round the world yacht race

Play it again Sam! Goodchild on the rise again as Sébastien Simon takes the lead

Armel tripon: "salvation will come from the west", le cam without a storm.

• Virtual Regatta: There's still time to register
• retirement for Maxime Sorel, skipper of the IMOCA V and B - Monbana - Mayenne
• Weöres will bypass Madeira and go to Canaries
• This week's video recap is out!

Vendée Live : Join us at 1h30 PM (UTC) on the news and media page, Youtube or Facebook to follow Vendée Live

New europe safely moored in las palmas and still in the race, damage on board the imoca bureau vallée (updated), burton is repairing and fighting on, sam goodchild leads again.

Sam Goodchild

• Speed 12.71 kts
• 24h average speed 13.36 kts
• Distance to finish 22448.28 nm
• Distance to leader 0.00 nm

Sébastien Simon

• Speed 20.25 kts
• 24h average speed 10.61 kts
• Distance to finish 22455.06 nm
• Distance to leader 6.79 nm

Jean Le Cam

• Speed 2.71 kts
• 24h average speed 5.73 kts
• Distance to finish 22477.97 nm
• Distance to leader 29.69 nm

Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil), the French skipper who grew up in Les Sables d’Olonne with the Vendée Globe as the backdrop to his life, is Sunday’s new leader of the solo non-stop round the world race. The 34 year-old, who had to withdraw into Cape Town from his first Vendée Globe challenge…

SUNDAY RACE ANALYSIS. Armel Tripon who finished 11th on the last edition of the Vendée Globe was guest on the Vendée LIVE! on Saturday. Of course he is keeping a keen eye on the race. He joins us to decipher the current situation, in particular welcoming the decision of the skippers who chose the…

As one week on since the start of the Vendée Globe passes at 1302hrs today, Sunday, it is still Jean Le Cam who is leading the race on Tout commence en Finistère- Armor lux but, whilst his continues to sail more directly south closer to the African coast, he has been making relatively slow speeds…

One globe, one ocean

The Vendée Globe aims to use the media impact of the event to raise public awareness of ocean conservation throughout the round-the-world race. By sailing around the world, the Vendée Globe sailors are highlighting the fragility of our oceans faced with global warming. They are direct witnesses to the changes underway, particularly around Antarctica, a region that is under particular threat.

Soft mobility

The Vendée Globe adventure doesn't start in Les Sables d'Olonne! It starts from home, by using a low-carbon mode of transport to get to the race village. The organisers have set up a mobility committee to bring together all the public and private players involved and propose soft mobility solutions for getting to the village.

40 skippers

Fabrice Amedeo

Romain Attanasio

Éric Bellion

Yannick Bestaven

Jérémie Beyou

Arnaud Boissières

Louis Burton

Conrad Colman

Antoine Cornic

Manuel Cousin

Clarisse Crémer

Charlie Dalin

Samantha Davies

Violette Dorange

Benjamin Dutreux

Benjamin Ferré

Oliver Heer

Boris Herrmann

Isabelle Joschke

Tanguy Le Turquais

Nicolas Lunven

Sébastien Marsset

Paul Meilhat

Justine Mettraux

Giancarlo Pedote

Yoann Richomme

Thomas Ruyant

Damien Seguin

Kojiro Shiraishi

Maxime Sorel

Guirec Soudée

Denis Van Weynbergh

Szabolcs Weöres

What is the Vendée Globe?

The Vendée Globe is a single-handed, non-stop, non-assisted round-the-world sailing race that takes place every four years. It is contested on IMOCA monohulls, which are 18 metres long. The skippers set off from Les Sables-d'Olonne in Vendée and sail around 45,000 kilometres around the globe, rounding the three legendary capes (Good Hope, Leeuwin and finally Cape Horn) before returning to Les Sables d'Olonne. The race has acquired an international reputation, attracting skippers from all over the world. Beyond the competition, it is above all an incredible human adventure.

Official app

Find all the info, everywhere, all the time on your phone or tablet. Plans, schedules, content...

Stay tuned #VG2024

* Champs obligatoires

Conformément au règlement (UE) n° 2016/679, dit règlement général sur la protection des données (RGPD), nous vous rappelons que vous bénéficiez d'un droit d'accès, de rectification, d'opposition, de suppression, de portabilité, de limitation des traitements et de définition de directives post mortem des informations vous concernant. Vous pouvez exercer ces droits, à tout moment, par voie électronique ou postale, aux coordonnées suivantes : SAEM Vendée - 38 Rue du Maréchal Foch - 85923 LA ROCHE SUR YON Cedex 9 - [email protected] . Vous trouverez toutes les informations détaillées sur l'utilisation de vos données personnelles et l’exercice des droits que vous avez au sujet des informations vous concernant en cliquant sur ce lien : Politique de confidentialité . Si vous estimez, après nous avoir contactés, que vos droits sur vos données ne sont pas respectés, vous disposez également du droit à déposer une réclamation ou une plainte auprès de la CNIL, autorité de contrôle compétente dans le domaine de la protection des données à caractère personnel : https://www.cnil.fr/fr

Our partners

Title partner, major partner, premium partner, official partners.

Official Suppliers

UN Partners

Ocean partners.

Media Partners

Technical suppliers.

• Privacy Policy
• Copyright and DMCA Notice

Donald Crowhurst and his Fatal Race Round the World

In 1968, British newspaper The Sunday Times sponsored the first ever round-the-world yacht race. Guaranteed excellent publicity from the paper, nine contestants enlisted, drawn by the glamor of winning such a race, as well as the £5,000 prize for the fastest time (as much as $120,000 today).

The race was well organized but there were several safety concerns. Yachts were to be manned by a single person only as the race was a solo one, and the race would be non-stop. Competitors could not be vetted thoroughly on the safety of their boats and their abilities as sailors , and there were no entry requirements.

Competitors could start the race at any point between 1 June and 31 October 1968. One such competitor, who set off on the very last day, was Donald Crowhurst.

An Ambitious Man

Donald Crowhurst was not a professional sailor but had some knowledge and experience about sailing. He was an inventor and electronics engineer, and hoped to use this to his advantage during the race.

To aid in his navigation, he created a radio-direction finder that he named “Navicator” and he would make the attempt in a very unusual boat design, a trimaran called the Teignmouth Electron . Trimarans could theoretically travel much faster than monohull boats, but had not been tested on such a grueling expedition.

Crowhurst hoped to stabilize his business with the publicity and money that he would get by winning this race, but the upfront costs were steep. To take part, he raised financing from some businessmen and mortgaged his home as well.

This allowed him to finish work on the Teignmouth Electron which he had constructed specially for the voyage. The boat-builder promised Crowhurst that the boat would be speedy but warned about stability issues in heavy seas.

But on the first sea trial of the boat, a few noticeable problems came up. The deadline was rapidly approaching and it wasn’t possible for Crowhurst to equip new parts and repair the vessel properly to make it ready for the race.

• The Sarah Joe Mystery: Disappearance in the Pacific
• SS Baychimo: Ghost Ship of the Arctic

He only had two ways and was faced with a dire choice: either sail and take part in the race with a doubtful boat, or give up to face bankruptcy and humiliation. Crowhurst, fatefully, took the first option, setting sail in a boat untested in either design or practice.

The Race Begins!

Just like the boat wasn’t ready, the weather wasn’t favorable for the race as well. Clare, Crowhurst’s wife, suggested to him not to take part in it, as there was a great risk. But as she saw Crowhurst sobbing with the thought of humiliation, she and their four kids tried to make Crowhurst believe he could do anything. They didn’t want him to regret the thought of giving up.

On 31st October 1968, the weather miraculously calmed and gave Crowhurst his opportunity to start the voyage. Crowhurst kissed the forehead of each of his children and asked the elder ones to take care of their mother, and launched the Teignmouth Electron .

Soon after the race began, Crowhurst observed that the boat was already leaking like a sieve. And he realized right at that moment that this boat wouldn’t be able to take the blow from 30 or 40-foot (9 – 12 m) waves in the Southern Ocean , writing in the logs that the ship would probably sink once it entered heavy seas.

Trapped and with no options left, Crowhurst started to come up with a plan! He didn’t want to give up and live with humiliation forever, he would rather cheat than lose.

The Crooked Plan of Donald Crowhurst

GPS didn’t exist back then, and so the only way of checking the position of the boats after the race was through a review of the logbooks and the charts carried on each boat. Donald Crowhurst intended to use this to his advantage, saving his boat and completing the race.

Therefore, he started sending radio messages to the organizers giving false positions. He charted a false course down into the south Atlantic, and then, fearing his transmissions might give him away, he then disconnected the radio contact completely off the coast of Brazil .

Even these waters were too much for the T eignmouth Electron . His boat was so damaged at one point that he had to stop at a fishing port in Argentina to make some necessary repairs.

Crowhurst’s plan was to maintain two logbooks, one for his real journey and one for his fictitious race experience. The pressure of keeping two logbooks would have been extreme, and was made worse when he realized that his fictitious log wouldn’t be justifiable at close scrutiny if he won the race.

• Taken by the Ice: What Became of the Franklin Expedition Crew?
• Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight – Mystery at Sea

The logbooks would need to contain weather conditions during the course of his voyage. Crowhurst had no idea what the weather was like where he was supposed to be, and the fictitious log reflects some of this in its hazy descriptions.

Claiming to be making good time, Crowhurst wandered in the Atlantic until, finally, his made-up voyage started to catch up to his actual position. At this point the race leader was Nigel Tetley, who was making excellent time. Crowhurst intended to let Tetley win, with himself coming second to avoid much of the log-book scrutiny.

In May 1969, Donald finally turned back for home. But again he had miscalculated, as his apparent pace panicked Tetley. Forced to race at breakneck speed to keep up with Crowhurst’s apparent pace, Tetley’s boat failed and he capsized .

This meant Crowhurst was now far in the lead and on course to get the £5,000 prize for being the fastest competitor. With this victory he felt sure his cheating would be exposed.

After 243 days at sea, Crowhurst made his last entry in his logbook on 1st July 1969. He wrote, “It is finished, It is finished. It is the mercy.” And that was the last anyone heard of Donald Crowhurst.

Lost at Sea

12 days after his last logbook entry, the Teignmouth Electron  was found drifting in the ocean . There was no sign of Donald Crowhurst. It was believed that he had jumped off the boat with his fictitious logbook, leaving behind the actual one on the deck by way of confessing his sins.

Crowhurst’s wife maintained that he would never commit suicide, but the evidence of the logbook was telling. He had hoped to become a British folk hero who conquered the seas, but in the end his sin was that of pride.

And so his life ended, trapped by his lies. Here was a man who believed he could sail across the world but couldn’t even make it past the Atlantic, and who believed he could fool the world, but ultimately left nothing behind but his confessional logbook.

Top Image: Donald Crowhurst never made it home. Source: hikolaj2 / Adobe Stock.

By Bipin Dimri

They Went To Sea In A Sieve, They Did. Available at: https://www.sportsnet.ca/more/big-read-donald-crowhursts-heartbreaking-round-world-hoax/

The Mysterious Voyage of Donald Crowhurst. Available at: https://howtheyplay.com/misc/The-Mysterious-Voyage-of-Donald-Crowhurst

The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst. Available at: https://jollycontrarian.com/index.php?title=The_Strange_Last_Voyage_of_Donald_Crowhurst

Bipin Dimri

Bipin Dimri is a writer from India with an educational background in Management Studies. He has written for 8 years in a variety of fields including history, health and politics. Read More

Related Posts

Giant rock, a pilgrimage spot for alien enthusiasts..., secrets of the coral castle, florida: an engineering..., saved, by st george who or what were..., forgotten technology: ten secrets we have lost, the portlock sasquatch: a man-eating bigfoot, the twa flight 800 tragedy.

History, Facts & Figures | Historical Facts

The Whitbread Round the World race first started from Portsmouth, UK on September 8 1973.

17 boats carrying 167 crew set sail on Leg 1 to Cape Town in 1973. 167 boats and 2030 sailors have taken part in 12 editions of the event.

43 different nationalities are represented by the crew who have sailed in the race since 1973.  

467 crew from the UK have taken part in the race.  The highest number from any nation. 

5 sailors have lost their lives at sea during the race: 

- Paul Waterhouse/Tauranga/Leg 2 1973-74

- Dominique Guillet/33 Export/Leg 2 1973-74

- Bernie Hosking/Great Britain II/Leg 3 1973-74

-Tony Philips/Creighton's Naturally/Leg 2 1989-90

- Hans Horrovoets/ABN AMRO TWO/Leg 7 2005-06

In 1973-74, before GPS technology, navigation was by dead reckoning and sextant and the racetrack followed the route of the old square riggers of the 19th century.

In the earlier days of the race, the boats were much more comfortable: fridges were packed with fresh meat and many teams included a full-time cook. With the years, the traditional commodities have evolved into shared bunks, desalination units, GPS, freeze dried food and protein bars.

29 boats took part in the 1981-82 race, the largest fleet ever. 

The oldest skipper to win the race was Cornelis Van Rietschoten NED, who was 55 when he skippered Flyer to a win in 1982-82.

Three sailors have sailed in the race seven times:  

- Stuart Bannatyne NZL, who has been on a winning boat three times.

- Bouwe Bekking NED and Roger Nilson SWE, who have both also been a skipper on three occasions. 

Three sailors, coincidentally all from New Zealand,  have sailed on a winning boat three times: Stuart Bannatyne, Mark Christensen and Brad Jackson.

Mark Christensen NZL is still the only sailor in the history of the race to have won three editions in a row.

Pierre Fehlmann SUI is the only sailor to skipper a boat five times in a row, from 1977-78 upto and including 1993-94.

Roger Nilson says he has sailed 200,000nm in his life - the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

The Onboard Reporter, known nowadays as the OBR, was first introduced in 2008-09 to satisfy the demands of the  multimedia coverage of life onboard.

Farr Yacht Design, designers of the Volvo Ocean 65, has been responsible for designing five winning entries in the first 11 editions of the race.

1989-90: Tracy Edwards GBR (skipper) and her crew of Maiden, became the first all female team to compete in the race.  

1989-90 Maiden (Tracy Edwards GBR)

1993-94 US Women's Challenge (Nance Frank USA)/Heineken (Dawn Riley USA)

1997-98 EF Education (Christine Guillou FRA)

2001-02 Amer Sports Too (Lisa McDonald - nee Charles GBR)

2014-15 Team SCA (Sam Davies GBR)

Team SCA is the first all-female team to win a leg of the race since Tracy Edwards and her crew of Maiden won the two southern ocean legs in their division, back in 1989-90.

39,270 nautical miles - the longest racecourse so far, in 2011-12. 

12,300 nm, the longest leg in race history: Leg 5 Quingdao, China to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  It took the fleet over 40 days to complete. 

You are using a very outdated website browser. Upgrade your browser or install Google Chrome to better experience this site.

Latest News: 2023 McIntyre Ocean Globe Prize giving!

days hrs mins secs

MAIDEN WINS McINTYRE OCEAN GLOBE

Maiden Triumphant Taking IRC Gold in McIntyre Ocean Globe Race Maiden ’s Win is official!

• Maiden UK (03) has won the McIntyre Ocean Globe Race taking first in IRC rankings and the first ever all-women crew to win an around the world yacht race!
• The international all-female crew crossed the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes finish line at 10:52 UTC, 16th April having sailed 6599 nm from Punta del Este on leg 4 of the OGR. 
• Their closest rival for IRC Overall title Triana FR (66) needed to finish by the morning of the 22nd  – but is now facing headwinds 150 nm from Cowes with an ETA of 17:00 Tuesday 23rd. Maiden ’s win is now official!

Maiden UK (03) has won the McIntyre Ocean Globe Race taking first in IRC handicap rankings against a 14 strong fleet of very experienced and committed sailors. They have also been written into the history books as the first ever all-women crew to win an around the world yacht race.

The former Whitbread yacht, sailed by an all-female international crew has taken the coveted title after 153d 2h 16m 53s of racing around the world. Virtually none of the crew had previously faced such an epic challenge and only one had sailed in the Southern Ocean before. 

They crossed the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes finish line at 10:52 UTC, 16th April, in a haze of excitement having sailed 6599 nm from Punta del Este on leg 4 of the OGR, making it look easy, when all knew it was not. 

It has been a tense wait for the girls over the past few days to watch if second placed entrant on IRC, French yacht Triana , could reach the finish line early enough to beat them on handicap, but that is now impossible. 

The crew has won fans worldwide and have impressed with their dedication to spreading their message of education for all women, their consistent work ethic and their unquestionable skills on the water. They’ve faced squalls, broken watermakers forcing them to collect rainwater, blown spinnakers and unraveling Abba cassette tapes. They’ve crossed the equator twice, taking in the three Great Capes including Cape Horn . Maiden now returns to her Southampton home waters ready for retirement in as good a shape as the day she left 218 previously. All this was done in the spirit of the McIntyre OGR, sailing like it’s 1973. 

Skipper Heather Thomas , the youngest skipper in the fleet, spoke of her pride in taking first place. 

It’s very exciting to be the first all-female crew to win an around the world race. It’s a historic moment. The girls have worked really hard for it and we’re very proud of our achievement. We have the best crew and the best boat so what can I say! To those we raced against it’s been a pleasure to get to know them and we’re going to miss them. It’s been an incredible first OGR and I hope the ones that follow are as good. Maiden won’t do the next one, but I will.  Heather Thomas, skipper of Maiden.

Heather has said from race start they were “in it to win it” , something they achieved while consistently ranking in the top half of the fleet. In Leg 1 they came in third in line honours and IRC. In Leg 2, fourth in both line honours and IRC and Leg 3, Auckland to Punta del Este , second in line honours and 4th in IRC. 

She speaks very highly of her talented crew, hailing from the UK, Antigua, USA, South Africa, France and Afghanistan. Heather describes being a tight-knit team, with first mate Rachel Burgess , as one of Maiden ’s main strengths.

We work together so well. Everyone brings something to the team, without this we wouldn’t achieve what we do.    Heather Thomas, skipper of Maiden.

Don McIntyre , OGR Founder, speaks about his delight at the Maiden success. 

Every one of the 220 sailors who have sailed, or who are still sailing today in this OGR has a story and did it for special reasons. Now their lives will be changed forever, none more so than the crew of Maiden with this beautiful and historic win against some very serious teams. This OCEAN GLOBE RACE is a story about humans recreating the early Whitbread races and for the first time in 30 years, giving ordinary sailors a chance to race around the world in classic yachts. To see Maiden recreate their glorious Whitbread history and WIN the OGR is and will always be an inspiration to many. BRAVO indeed!!    What an absolutely stunning victory for skipper Heather and this eclectic mix of international girls and skills onboard Maiden . Wow!  They have embraced this OGR adventure at every level, performing on the water, facing completely unknown Southern Ocean challenges with courage and determination and representing their cause like real champions – In ports they were the perfect ambassadors for life, embracing every day and every minute with true passion. We loved them!  Don McIntyre, OGR Founder

It’s fitting that Maiden should take the McIntyre Ocean Globe-winning title with her poignant Whitbread history. Designed by Bruce Farr , the 58-foot aluminum hulled yacht came fourth in the 1981-82 Whitbread, known then as Disque D’Or 3 . She was then renamed Stabilo Boss for the 1986-87 BOC single-handed challenge coming seventh. In 1987 she was bought by Tracy Edwards MBE , who made headlines in the 1989 Whitbread skippering the iconic yacht around the world with an all-female crew. 

The final prize giving and presentation of the McIntyre Ocean Globe Race winners trophy, hosted by Translated 9 , will be in Rome Italy on the 21st June 2024 . There are currently seven McIntyre OGR entrants still racing toward the finish line.    

Don McIntyre OGR Chairman and Founder

Don McIntyre is the founder and underwriter of the goldengloberace.com the oceangloberace.com and the minigloberace.com . Follow him at mcintyreadventure.com .

• ← Prev Post
• Next Post →

O°G°R Latest News

Crew Stories

Join our mailing list

Get all the latest McIntyre Adventure news delivered to your email.

Technical Partners

Official suppliers.

Associations

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

With An All-Female Crew, 'Maiden' Sailed Around The World And Into History

Dave Davies

"We weren't surprised that there was resistance to an all-female crew in the race ..." says Tracy Edwards, who assembled the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race. "But I was shocked at the level of anger there was that we wanted to do this, because why is this making you angry?" Courtesy of Tracy Edwards and Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

"We weren't surprised that there was resistance to an all-female crew in the race ..." says Tracy Edwards, who assembled the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race. "But I was shocked at the level of anger there was that we wanted to do this, because why is this making you angry?"

In the 1980s, Tracy Edwards dreamed of racing a sailboat around the world. But at the time, open ocean sailboat racing was a male-dominated sport. She was only able to sign on as a cook for an all-male team in the 1985-86 Whitbread Round the World Race, a grueling 33,000 mile endeavor.

Afterward, when she still wasn't able to crew, she decided to take matters into her own hands: "My mom always told me, 'If you don't like the way the world looks, change it,'" she says. "So I thought, OK, I will."

In 1989, Edwards, then 26-years-old, assembled an all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race. The idea was unthinkable to many of the men in the world of yacht-racing, and backlash was intense.

"We had so much obstruction and criticism and anger," she says. "Guys used to say to us, with absolute certainty, 'You're going to die.'"

But Edwards didn't back down: "We all became very aware, as a crew, as a team, that we were fighting for all women, and actually anyone who's been told they can't do anything," she says.

Edwards and her 12-woman crew restored an old racing yacht, which they christened Maiden, and finished the nine-month race second in their class. Now, a new documentary, Maiden , retraces their voyage.

Interview Highlights

On restoring an old racing yacht while the male crews had new boats

We found an old, secondhand racing yacht with a pedigree. ... She was in a terrible state, and we put her on a ship and we brought her back to the U.K. and then I gave the girls sledgehammers and I said, "Right, take her apart," and we did. We stripped the inside of the boat. We stripped the deck. We took the mast out. We took everything apart. ...

This was also a bit of a first, because people didn't usually see women in shipyards. So that was an interesting situation. ... All these other guys had a shore team. They had brand new boats. So they didn't really need to do any work on them. And so they'd sit in a cafe and watch us as we were putting this boat together. ...

Although, as I say, there was a very nice part of that sort of, being part of this big Whitbread family, is that if you did go and ask for help, 99.9 percent of the time you would get it. You know, you might get a bit of a snide, "Ugh, you know if you need help ...," kind of thing, but you know, beggars can't be choosers.

But the great thing about doing what we did the way we did it was we learned everything we needed to know about the boat. We put every single item into that boat, onto that boat. We painted her. We put the rig in. We did the rigging. We did the electronics, the plumbing, the [navigation] station. ... So when we put Maiden in the water, I would say that we, as a crew, knew our boat better than any other team in the race.

"We were always chatting, always talking," Edwards (left, with crewmate Mikaela Von Koskull) says of the Maiden's voyage. "I don't think there's one subject that we didn't cover in depth inside, outside and backwards." Courtesy of Tracy Edwards and Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

"We were always chatting, always talking," Edwards (left, with crewmate Mikaela Von Koskull) says of the Maiden's voyage. "I don't think there's one subject that we didn't cover in depth inside, outside and backwards."

On the media's reaction to an all-female crew

We weren't surprised that there was resistance to an all-female crew in the race. Sailing is one of the last bastions of patriarchy. ... It is so entrenched. We're a maritime nation. It's entrenched in our history, in our warfare, in our culture, and it is extremely male-dominated. ... So I wasn't surprised there was resistance, but I was shocked at the level of anger there was that we wanted to do this, because why is this making you angry? We're only going out there and doing what we want to do.

On how at the time she didn't think of herself as a feminist — and said so in an interview — and why she changed her mind

In the '80s, "feminist" was an accusation. It wasn't a nice title. It had all sorts of horrible connotations, and really, it had been made into a word that women should be ashamed of — I think with deliberate reason. ... I was very young. I was 23, 24 ... [and] I didn't want people not to like me. You care very much, at that age, that people like you. ...

But I do remember [after that interview] my mum said to me, "I am so surprised that you don't think you're a feminist, and I'm not going to tell you what you should say, but I think you need to have a bit of a think about that one."

And then when we got to New Zealand and we won that leg [of the race] and we were getting the same stupid, crass, banal questions that we had on every other leg, I just thought, you know what? I think this is bigger than us, and bigger than Maiden, and bigger than anything we've been tackling. This is about equality. And I think I am a huge, fat feminist. I think I absolutely am! And I stood up for the first time in my life and I said something that might hurt me and might make me not likable, and I took pride in it, and it was an extraordinary experience.

On how her experience with a male crew was different than the female crew

[Male-run boats are] very smelly. It's very messy. There's a lot of swearing and then there are days when guys don't talk to each other. What is that? So that was very weird. A lot of tension, testosterone, egos. I mean, it was an interesting experience, that nine months, [the] first time and last time I'd ever been with 17 men and sort of watching them in their environments, if you like, their natural habitat. ...

Then, doing an all-female crew, then I noticed, wow, there's a huge difference between a group of women and a group of men. ... I prefer sailing around the world with an all-female crew. I prefer sailing with women anyway — much cleaner. We do tend to wash, even if it was in cold, salt water. More use of deodorant as well, I have noticed. But we were always chatting, always talking. ... We did talk the whole way 'round the world. I don't think there's one subject that we didn't cover in depth inside, outside and backwards.

Women are kinder to each other, and in a much more obvious way. We're actually more nurturing and caring, I think. And if you saw someone scared or worried or anxious or a bit down, there'd always be someone that would put their arm around your shoulder and say, "Cuppa tea?"

On the conditions on the Southern Ocean near the South Pole

Your body starts to deteriorate as soon as you cross the start line. Pain and cold are the quickest ways to lose weight. You can get frostbite in your fingers and toes. It's minus 20, minus 30 degrees below freezing. You are constantly damp because salt water doesn't dry. So the girls up on deck would be miserable — cold, wet, miserable. Freezing fingers and toes. Tons of clothing on so you can barely move. The food's revolting. So you just shovel it down your throat as quickly as possible and and try and get as much sleep as possible with this four [hour]-on/four-off watch system. It's also a sensory deprivation. There's no sun. There's no blue sky, it's gray, and the boat's gray, and everything's gray.

On Maiden's second-place finish in the Whitbread Round the World Race

Thousands of boaters cheered Maiden's crew as they finished the round the world race. Courtesy of Andrew Sassoli-Walker and Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

Thousands of boaters cheered Maiden's crew as they finished the round the world race.

We came second in our class overall, which is the best result for British boat since 1977, and actually hasn't been beaten yet, but that didn't mean much to us at the time. When you finish a race like, that you go through a mixture of emotions. Obviously if you're winning it's all happiness and wonderful and fantastic. We hadn't won; we've come second, and it took me a long time to come to terms with that, because second is nowhere in racing. But as Claire [Warren, the ship doctor] says in the film — and she's very right — there was a bigger picture, and the bigger picture was what we had achieved.

On the reception when Maiden arrived in England

It was sunrise. There wasn't really that much wind, and we were so close to ... [the] final stretch, and as we were going up Southampton Water, hundreds of boats came out to meet us and they would come towards us, turn round, and start sailing with us. So the final two hours of the boat was two hours I will never forget as long as I live, surrounded by thousands of people on hundreds of boats throwing flowers and cheering. It was absolutely amazing. And crossing the finishing line we knew, OK, we hadn't won, but we had sailed into the history books, and we are first, and you can't beat being first to do something.

Lauren Krenzel and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the Web.

You are using a very outdated website browser. Upgrade your browser or install Google Chrome to better experience this site.

Latest News: 2026 Golden Globe Race – Two years to go!

days hrs mins secs

GGR winner Kirsten Neuschäfer named female 2023 Rolex World Sailor of the Year

The Race Returns.

6 september 2026, sailing like it's 1968, follow the race.

Featured Video

Partner With Us

The Golden Globe Race remains totally unique in the world of sailing and stands alone as the longest, loneliest, slowest, most daring challenge for an individual in any sport.

2026 Skippers

Pat Lawless

• Nationality: Irish
• Country of Entry: IRELAND
• Boat: Saltram Saga 36

• Nationality: Australian / South African
• Country of Entry: AUSTRALIA
• Boat: Atkins Eric 32 Suhaili Replica

Matthew Wright

• Nationality: Australian
• Boat: Rustler 36 Masthead Sloop

Guido Cantini

• Nationality: Italian
• Country of Entry: ITALY
• Boat: Vancouver 34 Classic

Edward Walentynowicz

• Nationality: Canadian
• Country of Entry: CANADA

Stephen Wraith

• Nationality:
• Country of Entry: USA
• Boat: Cape George 36 (Proposed)

Alan Lillywhite

• Nationality: British
• Country of Entry: UNITED KINGDOM
• Boat: Biscay 36 Sloop

• Boat: Endurance 35

• Country of Entry: TURKEY
• Boat: Biscay 36

Javier Lapresa

• Country of Entry: SPAIN
• Boat: Endurance 35 (proposed)

Andrew Ritchie

• Boat: OE 32

Matt Woodside

• Boat: Cape George 36

Andrea Lodolo

• Boat: Rustler 36

Olivia Wyatt

• Boat: Ta Shing Panda 34

Daniel Alfredsson

• Nationality: Swedish
• Country of Entry: NORWAY

Joel Harkimo

• Nationality: Finnish
• Country of Entry: FINLAND

Henry Wootton

• Boat: Cutter-rigged Cape George 36

Gunnar Christensen

• Nationality: USA
• Boat: Hans Christian 34

Oleg Schmidt

• Nationality: Russian
• Country of Entry: GERMANY

Louis Kerdelhué

• Nationality: French
• Country of Entry: FRANCE
• Boat: Biscay 36 Masthead Ketch

Mathys Delmere

• Nationality: Swiss
• Boat: Elizabethan 35

Colm Walker

Larry Schmid

• Nationality: American
• Boat: Union 36 Cutter

Helga Marie (Mara) Løvenskiold Kveseth

• Nationality: Norwegian
• Boat: Biscay 36 or Rustler 36

Special Invitation Entry

• Country of Entry: SWITZERLAND

Confidential Entry

The race in numbers.

"When I first heard about the 2018 GGR I thought it was a great idea, why not do it, reach out to people who have the ambition to do something special with their lives." Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Patron of the Golden Globe Race

Title Partner

Major partners, premium partners, technical partners, les sables-d'olonne host port partners.

Associations

G°G°R Newsletter

Get all the latest McIntyre Adventure news delivered to your email.