single handed sailboat race around the world

Pooling resources within teams: together it's everything!

The vendée globe unveils its very first mascot: adélie the penguin, gobi, a technical supplier committed to zero waste.

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

Sam Goodchild

Oliver Heer

Boris Herrmann

Isabelle Joschke

Jean Le Cam

Tanguy Le Turquais

Nicolas Lunven

Sébastien Marsset

Paul Meilhat

Justine Mettraux

Giancarlo Pedote

Yoann Richomme

Thomas Ruyant

Damien Seguin

Kojiro Shiraishi

Sébastien Simon

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.

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She went around the world in 235 days to win sailing's most grueling competition

Scott Neuman

South African sailor Kirsten Neuschafer beat 15 rivals in the 2022 Golden Globe Race, a grueling, nonstop, round-the-world sailing competition. She is the first woman in the race's history to have taken first place. Kirsten Neuschafer/GGR2022 hide caption

South African sailor Kirsten Neuschafer beat 15 rivals in the 2022 Golden Globe Race, a grueling, nonstop, round-the-world sailing competition. She is the first woman in the race's history to have taken first place.

After 235 days alone at sea in a tiny fiberglass boat, South African Kirsten Neuschafer sailed to victory on Thursday in the 2022 Golden Globe nonstop, round-the-world race, crossing the finish line a day ahead of her closest rival.

In sharp contrast to the rough conditions she experienced during much of her voyage, Neuschafer, aboard her 36-foot Minnehaha, spent the last few hours with almost no wind, inching into the same harbor at Les Sables-d'Olonne, France, that she and 15 competitors departed on Sept. 4.

This race is a nonstop sail around the world. Cassette tapes are allowed, but no GPS

All but three of those entrants were subsequently forced out of the grueling race, regarded by many as the most challenging competition the sailing world has to offer. One boat sank in the Indian Ocean, with Neuschafer sailing to the skipper's rescue. Several others lost their masts or experienced other problems.

The Golden Globe is a unique race in which participants are not allowed to use most modern electronics to find their position at sea, relying instead on celestial navigation. It is a reboot of a famous 1968 race that resulted in the first nonstop, unassisted circumnavigation — a feat so rare that even today, more people have gone into space. The race was revived in 2018, and Neuschafer is now the first woman to win.

"I knew before I started that a large aspect of this race is luck and a large aspect is preparation," Neuschafer told NPR by satellite phone in February as she was about to round Cape Horn, where she faced 55 mile-per-hour winds and seas of 25 feet.

"The single-handed aspect was the one that drew me," she said of her decision to enter the race. "I really like the aspect of sailing by celestial navigation, sailing old school."

Neuschafer's closest rival, Abhilash Tomy, an Indian navy commander, is about a day behind her. Another competitor, Austrian sailor Michael Guggenberger, is not expected to finish for several more days.

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

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"I think this Golden Globe Race is a wonderful idea. Why dream of it and never do it. This is a challenge that has been created to achieve that dream." Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Race Patron

The 58th Anniversary edition of the first Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in 1968/69

The 2026 Golden Globe Race

21 sailors… 30,000 miles… non-stop… alone… no outside assistance, like the original sunday times event, the 2026 golden globe race is very simple: depart from les sables-d’olonne, france on september 6th, 2026 and sail solo, non-stop around the world, via the five great capes and return to les sables-d’olonne..

Entrants are limited to sailing similar yachts and equipment to what was available to Sir Robin in that first race. That means sailing without modern technology or the benefit of satellite-based navigation aids.

Competitors must sail in production boats between 32ft and 36ft overall (9.75 – 10.97m) designed prior to 1988 that have a full-length keel with rudder attached to their trailing edge. These yachts are heavily built, strong and sturdy, similar in concept to Sir Robin’s 32ft vessel Suhaili.

In contrast to the current professional world of elite ocean racing, this edition travels back to a time known as the ‘Golden Age’ of solo sailing.

Suhaili was a slow, sturdy 32ft double-ended ketch based on a William Atkins ERIC design. She was heavily built of teak and carried no computers, GPS, satellite phone or water-maker, and Robin completed the challenge with no outside assistance or aid of modern-day shore-based weather routing advice. He had only a wind-up chronometer and a barograph to face the world alone and caught rainwater to survive.

But he was at one with the ocean, able to contemplate and absorb all that this epic voyage had to offer.

Bringing back the Golden Globe Race and thus the ‘Golden Age’ of solo sailing is to celebrate the original event, the winner, his boat and that significant world-first achievement.

Once again competitors in this 2026 race will be sailing simple boats using basic equipment to guarantee a satisfying and personal experience. The challenge is pure and very raw, placing adventure ahead of winning at all costs.

It is for ‘those who dare’, just as it was for Sir Robin.

They will be navigating with sextant on paper charts, without electronic instruments or autopilots. They will hand-write their logs and determine the weather for themselves. Only occasionally will they talk to loved ones and the outside world when long-range high-frequency radios allow. It is now possible to race a monohull solo around the world in under 80 days, but sailors entered in this race will spend around 250 days at sea in little boats, challenging themselves and each other.

The 2026 Golden Globe Race will be another fitting tribute to the first edition.

Don McIntyre, Race Founder and Chairman – about the 2026 Golden Globe Race:

I was first exposed to the inaugural 1982 BOC Challenge Around Alone Race during the Sydney stopover, working on Aries wind vanes used by competitors. I spent time with them all. We laughed together and I heard their stories. I met my boyhood champion, Robin Knox-Johnston and was hooked. I decided to compete in the 1986 event, but with a part built boat, I ran out of time, so had to be content in the role of Sydney BOC Race Chairman that year. Competing in the 1990-91 BOC Challenge was one of the highlights in my life. On reflection, I always considered myself lucky as, in my opinion, it was the last of the ‘adventure events’. Each future race became increasingly performance orientated, sailed by elite sportsmen and women in ever more extreme yachts, focused on winning at all costs. Nothing wrong with that, in fact it was and still is incredibly exciting, but it was simply a lot more of an adventure in 1990. My dream to sail solo around the world was borne of inspiration gained while following the solo voyages of Francis Chichester, Robin Knox-Johnston and Bernard Moitessier, and reading about Chay Blyth, Blondie Hasler and others from the ‘Golden Age’ of solo sailing. That was an exciting period! In 2008, I saw Sir Robin Knox-Johnston speaking on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his record setting 1968 non-stop circumnavigation. Referring to the current space-age building materials, high tech satellite systems and computers supporting today’s solo sailors, he simply said (by comparison to his own expe­rience back then) ‘This takes the spice out of it!’. Well, just like the 2018 and 2022 editions, the 2026 Golden Globe Race very definitely puts the spice back into it and, by world standards, offers a very unique and demanding challenge to any sailor who’s up for it. That same year, Robin was asked: ‘What would you say to sailors thinking of circumnavigating?’ His response: ‘My advice to them would be quite simply this. If you’ve got the idea, and you want to do it, then do it. Don’t let ANYTHING get in the way. Far too many people sit in yacht clubs talking about it but then never do it. DO IT! You’ll never regret it.’ He’s right of course. Over the years I have personally supported many young solo sailors, men and women, to achieve their dreams. I hope this event will let many more – and maybe you! – achieve theirs! The 2018 and 2022 races were incredibly exciting and the 2026 GGR edition once again will venture into the unknown – watch this space!

Aims & Objectives

• To create a unique ‘RETRO’ non-stop solo around the world yacht race, in the image of the original Sunday Times Golden Globe that draws sailors back to the Golden Age of ‘one sailor, one boat’ facing the great oceans of the world.
• To organise a race where the adventure takes precedence over winning at all costs.
• To professionally manage an event where the sailor’s skill and traditional seamanship alone, rather than modern technology or support crews, gets them home and where the achievement truly belongs to the skipper.
• To give sailors of all ages an opportunity to race solo around the world safely, in a fleet of similar and affordable yachts in the spirit of Suhaili.

All historic video footage and photos of the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race are the exclusive copyright of PPL PHOTO AGENCY and may not be reproduced in any format for any purpose under any condition and may not be retransmitted at any time without the written permission of the rights holder. For video or image licensing, please email:  [email protected]  or visit  www.pplmedia.com .

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

That was the time Sir Robin Knox-Johnston took to complete the first solo non-stop circumnavigation. The winning yacht in this race can be expected to complete the same distance in 260 days.

The number of individuals to have sailed solo around Cape Horn and other Great Capes in the Southern Ocean. This compares to almost 700 astronauts who have been shot into space!

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A record on the high seas: Cole Brauer becomes first US woman to sail solo around the world

On Thursday, Cole Brauer made history, becoming the first American woman to sail solo nonstop around the world. The 29-year-old from Long Island, New York, celebrated at the finish line in Spain by drinking champagne from her trophy.

Friends, peers and sailing enthusiasts had been cheering Brauer on since last October, when she embarked on her more than four-month journey.

Race organizer Marco Nannini told USA TODAY he started the Global Solo Challenge to "create a platform for sailors like Cole to showcase her skills and move on to a pro sailor career."

While at sea Brauer kept her more than 400,000 Instagram followers updated − and entertained − with videos from onboard First Light. The trip was extremely challenging and physically exhausting, Brauer said in one video from December.

In the post, she describes how frustrated she felt when she had to fix and replace different parts of the boat.

"I don't want you guys to think I'm like Superwoman or something," Brauer said. "Right now I've been feeling just broken," she added, describing how she had to fix the boat's autopilot system after injuring her torso against the side of the boat's hull amid intense waves.

Who is Cole Brauer?

Brauer is from Long Island and competed for the University of Hawaii sailing team. She went to high school in East Hampton, New York, her university team website says. She was the youngest of more than a dozen sailors, or skippers, in the Global Solo Challenge.

The professional sailor lives in Boothbay, Maine, and during the spring and summer, she can be also found in Newport, Rhode Island, gearing up for races, the Newport Daily News reported last year .

Brauer has sailed on First Light, a 40-foot yacht, for over five years, the outlet reported.

"I always said I wanted to race around the world in this boat," she told the newspaper.

From above and below First Light's deck, Brauer shared aspects of her journey with followers and die-hard sailing fans.

On New Year's Eve, she donned a dress and danced at midnight , and in another post, she showed off how many pull-ups she can do.

As the only woman racing solo, nonstop around the world in the first Global Solo Challenge, Brauer said she was determined to prove there's nothing women and girls cannot accomplish.

"I push so much harder when someone's like, 'No, you can't do that,'" Brauer told NBC Nightly News . "And I'm like, 'OK, watch me.'"

Brauer is the first American woman to sail solo around the world. But Kay Cottee of Australia was the first woman in the world to accomplish the milestone, sailing off from Sydney Harbor in Australia in November 1987 and returning 189 days later.

On her profile page on the Global Solo Challenge website, Brauer said she wanted to send a message to the sailing community that it's time to leave its male-dominated culture in the past. In the profile, Brauer took aim at a lack of equal pay and what she describes as harassment in the sailing industry.

"Just as well as this community has built me up it has broken me and my fellow female teammates down. I am doing this race for them," Brauer said.

Brauer and her spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

How long was Cole Brauer at sea?

Brauer was sailing for over four months after departing on Oct. 29.

She finished second in the race, behind a sailor who departed about a month before she did.

The start times differed because that first place boat, Phillipe Delamare's Mowgli, is much slower, Nannini said, explaining the race's staggered start times.

"The format means that if you enter on a slow, small boat you can still win, which makes it much more inclusive than an event where a bigger budget is a definite advantage," he said.

France's Delamare will win first-place prize money of 7,500 euros (about $8,140), Brauer will win 5,000 euros (about $5,430) and the third place finisher will win 2,500 euros (about $2,710), Nannini said.

How dangerous was Cole Brauer's sailing race?

A medical team including a nurse and a physician trained Brauer and sent her on her journey with medicines and medical supplies, in case of any health issues, according to her Instagram account.

Early in the race, Brauer administered her own IV with a saline solution after she became dehydrated, according to one video posted to her social media.

Brauer's most serious health scare happened in early December when she said gnarly ocean conditions caused the boat to jolt, throwing her across the inside of the boat and slamming her hard against a wall.

Her ribs were badly bruised as a result, and her medical team told her to alternate between taking Advil and Tylenol, Brauer said on Instagram.

"Rigging up a sleeping seat belt has been added to my priority list," she said in the post's caption. "I know I'm very lucky that this wasn't a lot worse."

What is the Global Solo Challenge?

The inaugural Global Solo Challenge is a nonstop sailing race in which competitors departed last year from A Coruña, Spain.

The race encompasses nearly 30,000 miles and takes place mostly in the southern hemisphere.

After leaving waters off the coast of Spain, sailors travel south and around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. The race then includes the two other capes that together make up the famous three great capes: Australia's Cape Leeuwin and South America's Cape Horn.

About half of the other competitors dropped out of the race, according to racing data posted online by the Global Solo Challenge.

Delamare finished the race late last month after embarking on his journey in late September 2023, according to race data.

Contributing: Associated Press

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