MEDIA ALERT: Istvan Kopar due to reach Les Sables d’Olonne finish at 09:00 UTC on 21st March

Dateline: 18/3/2019 Les Sables d’Olonne, France

Day 260: At 04:00 UTC today, American/Hungarian Istvan Kopar and his Tradewind 35 yacht Puffin was within 250 miles of the finish line and expected to reach Les Sables d’Olonne around 09:00 UTC on Thursday 21st March.

Kopar was making 5.1knots, having managed to cover 120 miles during the previous 24 hours – a remarkable performance given the steering problems that have plagued his solo circumnavigation almost from the start of the Golden Globe Race last July. And he is still having issues, reporting yesterday that his replacement rudder blade on his wind vane self steering is too short and being lifted out of the water as his yacht traverses the waves.

The latest weather forecast suggests that the current north westerly winds will decrease overnight slowing progress to around 100 miles during the next 24 hours. Then on Tuesday the wind is predicted to become very light, suggesting a 70 mile day before building again on Wednesday but turning north easterly to turn the last 70 miles into a challenging beat to windward.

For regular updates on Istvan’s progress, visit

www.facebook.com/goldengloberace/

5th placed Finnish sailor Tapio Lehtinen and his barnacle infested Gaia 36 Asteria remains trapped in a challenging wind hole in the South Atlantic. He has managed to cover less than 400 miles during the past 8 days – an average of just 50 miles. At this rate, he will not finish before mid-May, but reports that all is well onboard.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston celebrates his 80th birthday.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to complete a solo non-stop circumnavigation 50 years ago, celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday. The BBC marked the occasion with a highly entertaining hour-long documentary on BBC Radio 4 about his record-setting circumnavigation in the 1968/9 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, narrated by Sir Robin . You can listen to it here:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00036lz

Save the Date – GGR Prizegiving programme – April 22

The 2018 GGR prize giving in Les Sables d’Olonne is set for April 22 – the day that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston completed the first solo non-stop circumnavigation 50 years before.

The Easter Monday celebrations will include a Press Conference and one-to-one interview opportunities with the 2018 GGR skippers, an announcement and introduction to skippers entering the next GGR in 2022, and publication of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s eagerly awaited independent report on lessons learned in heavy weather and survival techniques employed by skippers during the 2018 Race.

There will also be opportunities to sail aboard Bernard Moitessier’s famous 1968/9 Golden Globe Race yacht Joshua throughout the weekend from Port Olona on 20/21/22 April, organized by the Friends of the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle.

So why not plan to celebrate the Easter Weekend in Les Sables d’Olonne!

The post MEDIA ALERT: Istvan Kopar due to reach Les Sables d’Olonne finish at 09:00 UTC on 21st March appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

Uku Randmaa claims 3rd podium place in Golden Globe Race

Dateline: 10/3/2019 Les Sables d’Olonne, France

Uku Randmaa crossed the Les Sables d’Olonne finish line at 09:00 UTC today to secure third place in Golden Globe Race. Thousands lined the river entrance to catch a glimpse of this quiet spoken 56 year old Estonian solo circumnavigator and his boat.

Waiting for him at the dock was his wife Maibi and young twins Thor and Orm who were born shortly before his departure, together with the family of fellow circumnavigators who he had kept each other going through good times and bad over the radio. Winner Jean-Luc Van Den Heede was one of the first to shake his hand followed by Dutchman Mark Slats, and two who were rescued in mid-ocean, Loïc Lepage and Susie Goodall.

After almost 252 days at sea, all he had left in his larder was three packets of powdered soup, and he grabbed the pizza offered to him with both hands. The champagne was also something to savour, but before quaffing a drop himself, Uku thanked God for his safe return and poured some in the water, then thanked his boat One and All, sprinkling more on the mast and saved the biggest amount for his 2nd crewmate – his Hydrovane self steering before passing it round his fellow GGR skippers, .

Talking about his diet he said: “I think I must have lost at least 20kg. By Hobart, I knew I was going to run short of food so I divided up what I had left by two…and then I divided it by two more. I had two meals a day; a freeze dried dish and a cup of soup, but it has been very good for my health. If I did physical work, I got tired early, but it was not a major problem.

The hardest part of the voyage was lack of wind. I was stuck in the St Helena high pressure system for more than a week. My biggest worry was keeping the boat in one piece. I was worried that if something broke I might not be able to finish the race”

Another reflection on the voyage was the amount of rubbish in the oceans. “The biggest pollution – mainly plastic – was after rounding the Cape of Good Hope. There were streams of it in the ocean. At one time time I came across a door and on another occasion, a complete tree. If I had hit that, I think my steering would have broken.”

What did he enjoy most? “Oh, the Southern Ocean: the waves, the loneliness. The waves were amazing. I watched them for hours and everyone one was different.”

Barnacles were a continuous problem. “At Hobart, Don said ‘I have good and bad news for you Uku…The good news is that you could cut 10 days off your voyage time. The bad news is that you have to clean the bottom yourself!’ “It was quite scary to see your boat from outside. The waters were round 6°C. I wore my survival suit but it was very buoyant so I had to put lines under the keel and pull myself down to scrape the hull.”

“This was my biggest dream in life and I am very, very happy to have realised it…And for that, I have to thank my wife.”

Randmaa rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 5th place, and moved up to third in the harsh conditions experienced in the South Indian Ocean that led to the rescue of three other competitors, Indian Abhilash Tomy, Irishman Gregor McGuckin and Frenchman Loïc Lepage. The Estonian was in 3rd place by the Hobart film stop and maintained this position to the finish despite receiving a 72 hour penalty he received two weeks ago for private routing information he received from a ham radio operator.

4th placed American/Hungarian Istvan Kopar is expected to finish on March 18-19.

The post Day 252 – Uku Randmaa claims 3rd podium place in Golden Globe Race appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

DAY 249 – Uku Randmaa on the home straight
Latest ETA 09:00 UTC Sunday

Istvan Kopar escapes the Azores High and now 1,300 miles from finish
Tapio Lehtinen caught in head winds with 5,000 miles to go
Mark Slats making waves at the HISWA Amsterdam Boat Show
GGR prizegiving – Save the date April 22

Dateline: 7/3/2019 Les Sables d’Olonne, France

3rd placed Estonian Uku Randmaa has survived his last storm – 50knot winds and vicious 5m high seas – on Tuesday. The winds have now receded but the leftover Atlantic swell remains as his Rustler 36 One and All heads into the Bay of Biscay today. With 300 miles to go, Race HQ is now predicting a 09:00 UTC finish off Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday March 10.

For this 56 year-old solo circumnavigator, his homecoming could not come soon enough. He is out of food, and has not seen his wife and very young children for more than 8 months. It will be a warm embrace followed by a dash to get his first square meal since rounding Cape Horn on January 19. He joked with Race organisers yesterday: “ My boat is for sale. Any reasonable offer, but without food.”

He is promised a strong welcome in Les Sables d’Olonne led by the first two finishers Jean-Luc Van Den Heede and Mark Slats who are both making an overnight dash back to be first to shake his hand on the dock. Jean-Luc is returning from the Sail-In festival in Bilbao where the Frenchman will receive their top sailing award on Saturday, while Mark will drive through the night straight from his final public presentation at the HISWA Amsterdam Boat Show.

For regular updates and a live video feed of Uku‘s arrival and press conference, go to www.facebook.com/goldengloberace/

Meanwhile, 4th placed American/Hungarian Istvan Kopar appears to have finally escaped the clutches of the Azores High pressure system, and now within 1,350 miles of the Les Sables finish line, is making great strides towards completing his solo circumnavigation around 18-19 March.

Finland’s Tapio Lehtinen is having less luck. Faced with head winds for the past few days in a boat covered in barnacles which has lost its ability to point high into the breeze, Tapio is currently heading southeast, 90° from where he wants to go to escape the adverse current running down the South American coast. He is not expected to finish until May.

Meet Mark Slats at the HISWA Amsterdam Boat Show

Second placed GGR finisher Mark Slats and his Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick are the stars of the show at this week’s HISWA exhibition in Amsterdam. The yacht is on display and open to the public in Hall 1 until Sunday. Mark and designer Dick Koopmans, who led Mark’s preparations for the Race, will be giving talks on the main stage on Friday and Saturday. Mark will also be signing his new autobiography ‘Held Op Zee’ (Hero at Sea) on Friday. The book includes a full account of his adventures during the Golden Globe Race.

LOCATION DATE TIME WHAT

Hall 1              6-10 March All day Ohpen Maverick
Main stage     Friday March 8 15-16:00 Presentation
Stand 1.300   Friday March 8 16:30 – 17:30 Book signing
Main stage    Sat March 9 15:30 – 16:30 Presentation

Save the Date – GGR Prizegiving programme – April 22

The 2018 GGR prize giving in Les Sables d’Olonne is set for April 22 – the day that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston completed the first solo non-stop circumnavigation 50 years before.

The Easter Monday celebrations will include a Press Conference and one-to-one interview opportunities with the 2018 GGR skippers, an announcement and introduction to skippers entering the next GGR in 2022, and publication of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s eagerly awaited independent report on lessons learned in heavy weather and survival techniques employed by skippers during the 2018 Race.

There will also be opportunities to sail aboard Bernard Moitessier’s famous 1968/9 Golden Globe Race yacht Joshua throughout the weekend from Port Olona on 20/21/22 April, organized by the Friends of the Maritime Museum of La Rochelle.

So why not plan to celebrate the Easter Weekend in Les Sables d’Olonne!

The post DAY 249 – Uku Randmaa on the home straight appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

Day 241 – Uku Randmaa now within 1,200 miles of the finish. ETA in Les Sables d’Olonne 11-12th March

Istvan Kopar stalled in calms
Barnacles slow Tapio Lehtinen in his virtual race against Suhaili
Mark Slats receives a hero’s welcome home
American philanthropist steps in to support salvage of Gregor McGuckin’s yacht
GGR prizegiving programme

Dateline: 12:00 UTC – 27/02/2019 Les Sables d’Olonne. France

Third placed Estonian sailor Uku Randmaa is hungry…Hungry because he has caught no fish during the past week to supplement the last of his food stocks…Hungry to finish…and Hungry to see his young family after more than 8 months alone at sea.

Like a camel sensing water, he and his Rustler 36 One and All have put on a spurt over the past 7 days, more than doubling his lead over 4th placed American/Hungarian Istvan Kopar. He needs to because the 55-year old solo circumnavigator told Race organisers this week that he has lost more than 20kg during the voyage so far, and if he can’t catch fish, there is little left onboard to sustain him over the next two weeks.

Now within 100 miles of Santa Maria, the southern most island in the Azores, Randmaa has cleared the Azores high-pressure system that has trapped Kopar’s Tradewind 35 Puffin, and can expect stable south westerly Trade winds to carry him all the way to Cape Finisterre. The Bay of Biscay may well hold a few Springtime surprises, but he is now expecting to reach the Les Sables d’Olonne finish line sometime between 11-12th March.

The good news from Istvan Kopar is that the his self-made emergency tiller he fitted on Puffin two weeks ago is standing up well. The bad news is that he is about to stall in the transition zone between the North East and South West Trade winds, and could be stuck there for several days. Now 2,130 miles from the finish, he is not expected to get there before March 21.

Finland’s Tapio Lehtinen is not even thinking about the finish. Still more than 5,100 miles from Les Sables d’Olonne, he’s busy simply enjoying his own environment and wildlife too much. The goose barnacle infestation that is slowing his Gaia 36 Asteria to a leisurely walking pace half way up the South Atlantic is providing him with a bonus time at sea. Today, the GGR tracker is suggesting a May 1 finish ETA, but as the barnacles grow and slow his progress further, Race Organisers suspect it could be June before he sees the sands of Les Sables. Then, restaurateurs will be queuing up to harvest the crop. Goose barnacles it seems – large ones especially – are quite a delicacy!

Mark Slats receives a hero’s welcome in the Netherlands

After a leisurely cruise, taking in dinner dates with Susie Goodall in Falmouth, Ertan Beskardes in Poole and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and his Clipper Race skippers in Gosport, 2nd placed Dutch skipper Mark Slats returned to his home port of Scheveningen and a hero’s welcome last Saturday.

Karen Hogenbirk reports: “A fleet of boats with friends, fans and media came out to escort him to Yacht club Scheveningen where he was was reunited with his Mom and Dad. Bruno Bruins, the Dutch Minister of Health and Sports was also there to welcome him and received the first copy of Mark’s book ‘Held op zee’ (Dutch for ‘Hero at sea’) about his adventurous life including his story of the Golden Globe Race.

Hundreds of people gathered on the dock including the many volunteers that supported him before and during the race, and made this welcome possible.

By Sunday, however, it was back to business. Having talked about plans for new adventures in the Scheveningen YC the night before, Mark was back in the gym, starting to train for his next challenge!”

American philanthropist steps in to support salvage of Gregor McGuckin’s yacht.

An American philanthropist with a taste for Irish whiskey has stepped in to support the salvage operation to recover Gregor McGuckin’s yacht Hanley Energy Endurance drifting some 1,200 miles west of Perth, Australia. Speaking from Fremantle overnight, American tug boat skipper Cody Cordwainer, who is leading the salvage operation said: “Its taking longer than expected. The 60ft sloop we had planned to use has structural problems that are too expensive to repair, so we are back to square one looking for a suitable ocean-going boat.

The good news is that an American philanthropist has donated a large chunk of the salvage costs in exchange for the barrel of Glendalough 7 year old 777 single malt whiskey still onboard and the Distillery has agreed to this.

We have made a lot of contacts here and are looking at two avenues: Finding someone with an ocean-going boat having trouble meeting their monthly slip payments who could use the extra cash, or someone with a boat that they want to make ocean-going, and we can do that for them.

I’m certain this is going to happen. We are going to make it happen and I’m not going home until we do.”

Save the Date – GGR Prizegiving programme

The 2018 GGR prize giving in Les Sables d’Olonne is set for April 22 – the day that Sir Robin Knox-Johnston completed the first solo non-stop circumnavigation 50 years before.

The Easter Monday celebrations will include a Press Conference and one-to-one interview opportunities with the 2018 GGR skippers, an announcement and introduction to skippers entering the next GGR in 2022, and publication of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s eagerly awaited independent report on lessons learned in heavy weather and survival techniques employed by skippers during the 2018 Race.

There will also be a photo opportunity with Bernard Moitessier’s famous 1968/9 Golden Globe Race yacht Joshua.

So why not plan to celebrate the Easter Weekend in Les Sables d’Olonne!

The post Day 241 – Uku Randmaa now within 1,200 miles of the finish appeared first on Golden Globe Race.

Day 234 – Uku Randmaa handed 72 hour penalty for weather routing violation

Istvan Kopar suffers broken tiller – now down to his emergency rudder
Tapio Lehtinen neck-and-neck in virtual race against Suhaili

Dateline: 14:00 UTC – 20/02/2019 Les Sables d’Olonne. France

Third placed Estonian skipper Uku Randmaa has escaped disqualification from the Golden Globe race after breaching the strict rules forbidding outside assistance, but has been handed a 72-hour penalty for asking and receiving weather routing information during radio contact with a Ham radio operator.

A 16-minute recording of the radio communication was received at Race HQ yesterday (19th February). The first five minutes covers a legitimate publicly available weather information, but at -9:15, Randmaa asks: “I have a question…How can I say it…I’m heading 90°. Can I be sure that I can take the wind if I’m sailing east?

Ham operator: If you go directly east you will be staying in the light area. You need to continue North… and then you will catch the westerly winds. I don’t know if I can tell you that, but I think you need to go at least to 28°North and then maybe start going Northeast.”

Randmaa: Ok, but I can’t do that…the wind is coming exactly from 35° and 25°

Ham Operator: If you go too far east…. I will have a look…I can’t give you too much information. It might make you get disqualified and I don’t want to do that. The wind is at a 45° angle…and so is the wind hole.

Randmaa: So I have to move north west again?

Ham operator: Definitely. Not too much east at the moment.

Race Chairman Don McIntyre explained: “This is a retro race with skippers restricted to using a sextant, paper charts and wind-up chronometers just as Sir Robin Knox-Johnston used in the first Sunday Times Golden Globe Race 50 years ago. All digital equipment is banned, including sat phones and GPS. Skippers can only communicate via Single Side Band (SSB) radios and amateur Ham radio net, which the whole world can listen in to if they wish. The GGR has attracted hundreds of Ham Radio operators around the world who are listening in and connecting with the skippers, and they play a valuable part in providing a communication network for the Race. But the skippers know that while they can ask for public weather information, weather routing – given directions on where to go – is strictly banned.

The Race Committee has accepted Uku Randmaa’s explanation that he did not fully appreciate that the information he received was routing and reduced the penalty from disqualification to a 72-hour penalty.

He served part of this penalty at sea overnight, but following a plea for mitigation on the grounds that he has very little food left for the final 2,000 miles to the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne, the Race Committee has agreed that Randmaa can continue racing and the remainder of his penalty time – 65hrs 40 minutes – will be added to his finish time.”

Uku caught another Marlin last weekend, which will have given him 3 days nourishment, but his basic stocks onboard now consist of:

60 spoons of rice,
20 packets of dried soup,
23 freeze dried meals,
15 tea bags
Four spoons of sugar

The latest ETA for Uku’s return to Les Sables d’Olonne is now March 13, so this has to last him 21 days!

Click here to download the Radio recording

Click here to read official ruling

Istvan Kopar, trailing 422 miles behind Uku Randmaa in terms of distance to finish today, reported that his makeshift tiller on his Tradewind 35 Puffin broke last Friday and he is now reduced to using his emergency rudder. His health issues also continue with an aching tooth abscess, fungal infection under his fingernails and mould growth in the dank conditions below decks all sucking on his morale. In consideration of these steering issues, the Race Committee has agreed that the 24-hour penalty he sustained stopping in the Cape Verde Islands to fix his self-steering will now be added to his finish time, rather than served in a penalty box at sea.

5th placed Tapio Lehtinen is making good speed up the South American coast despite the barnacle growth on his Gaia 36 Asteria. He reported at the weekend that the barnacles are now growing in large clumps up to 30cm thick around the keel area, which must be sapping speed considerably. But not enough it seems for the Finn to overcome his fear of sharks and dive overboard to scrape the hull clean. Tapio’s ETA back at Les Sables d’Olonne is now May 14th.

Asteria continues to run neck-and-neck with Suhaili in her virtual race against Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s solo circumnavigation. Lehtinen’s yacht has a 74-mile lead today, but that is set against Suhaili’s last known relative position four days ago, so is really running 3-400 miles astern.

The post Day 234 – Uku Randmaa handed 72 hour penalty for weather routing violation appeared first on Golden Globe Race.