Golden Globe Race: who will arrive first in Cape Town?

The 2022 Race to the Golden Globes fleet is closing in on the next photo gate in Cape Town, and all eyes are on the top five boats.

British solo skipper Simon Curwen is always in the lead, even if he cannot be complacent; Tapio Lehtinen, Abhilash Tomy, Pat Lawless and Kirsten Neuschäfer all grow.

All the boats are performing well, with many cruising between 165 and 170 miles a day.

South African Kirsten Neuschafer set a new Golden Globe Race 24-hour record of 184 miles in her Cape George 36 cutter, Minnehaha; the 39-year-old specifically wanted a Cape George 36 for racing, which has a Sail area of ​​806 square feet and is considered by many to be one of the fastest boats in the fleet.

“At the moment, I have everything (all my sails) taut, mainsail taken, otherwise the boom is touching the water. The boat is awesome and I’m really happy with it,” she said.

Neuschafer sailed this route several times during his career as a professional skipper. Currently he is the most southerly of the fleet, having changed course earlier in the week to avoid getting too close to Tristan da Cunha. Like many other skippers, Neuschafer did not receive any information via his Weather report fax and relies on his on-board barometer.

‘Navigation wise, I feel quite happy, I have a good idea of ​​where I am. I really want to get there [Cape Town] and see Table Mountain and this beautiful coastline; it will be fun,” added Neuschafer, whose only problem right now is running out of books to read!

Abhilash Tomy in his cattle rustler 36 also makes good use of the high pressure system, and last week bayanat covered 1,140 miles, a new race record.

‘bayanat passed Tristan Da Cunha, the loneliest place on the planet,” he tweeted yesterday.

Tomy, who had to be rescued during the 2018 Golden Globe Race after his boat was dismasted in a storm in the southern Indian Ocean, said he views the Golden Globe Race as a world Tour not a race, and looks forward to a “boring, adventureless passage”.

“It’s good to be out of the trade winds at 30 knots, and it’s become much more comfortable over the past few days. I am on port tack from 1.5° north,” he said.

“My goal was to keep the boat in good shape and not push the boat too hard and I’ve achieved that so far,” he added.

Irish skipper Pat Lawless is currently in fourth place and was scared earlier in the week thinking he discovered rat droppings aboard his Saltram Saga 36, green rebel.

“I screamed like a wimp,” he confessed. “I took a torch and looked. It was black pepper. But Jesus, my heart!

He spends four hours a day checking his navigation. “My headspace is occupied by my next waypoint,” he said.

Lawless, 66, spends her days sailing, checking the boat, cooking and listening to music.

‘I listen a lot of music; music makes me emotional, makes me sweet!’ he said, adding that he missed his family and his home in Ballyferriter, Co Kerry – the most westerly village in Europe.

Continued below…

french captain Damien Guillou faces away weather vane direction problems.

Just after the start of the race, he returned to Les Sables d’Olonne after the head broke one of the mounting bolts on his Hydrovane. According to the racing rules, he was allowed to continue racing as long as he left Les Sables d’Olonne before 1600 UTC on September 11, 2022, which he did.

Prior to the race, Guillou’s team had installed a new high performance blade and modifications were made to the vane steering system, including the rudder attachment for the new blade. The original blade was kept as a spare.

Hydrovane representatives offered free inspections and service to all Hydrovane units used in the race, which Guillou did not accept.

Earlier this week the main stainless steel rudder shaft on Guillou’s Hydrovane broke and he had to fit a spare. He also modified the replacement arbor and blade by drilling the stock 6mm hole to 7mm, threading it, and installing two machine screws on each side to hold the blade in place.

Hydrovane now recommends all participants with this homing set up to do regular checks, and this was passed on by GGR Race Control.

It will also now be mandatory for participants in the 2026 Golden Globe Race to ensure that any modifications to the wind vane are shared with the manufacturer and Race Control for comment.

Guillou, who is currently sixth, raced hard to catch up with the frontrunners.

For those who are at the back of the fleet, their passage to Cape Town should be much shorter.

American Elliot SmithBritish skipper Ian Herbert Jones and French sailor Arnaud Gaist are in a different weather system and should be able to take a more northerly route.

Guy Waiteswho discovered barnacles on the hull of his Tradewind 35 masthead sloop, Sagarmatha a few weeks ago, decided to set sail for Uruguay, 1,500 miles from her current position.

The British sailor cannot eliminate the growth of 2-inch-long gooseneck barnacles all over the hull and stern of the boat, which slows the vessel.

He tried to jump overboard to clean the hull, but to no avail, and believes Sagarmatha should be taken out of the water.

“I’ve been under the boat and the stern is completely covered, I can’t even see the antifouling and I couldn’t even remove them with a tool that I have. So I turned around and headed for Punta del Este. I cannot envisage continuing to Cape Town; it’s too far and I’m crawling, barely moving,” he said.

“If I continue like this to Cape Town, I’ll be so late that I won’t be able to make it to the Southern Ocean in time. I might as well go somewhere closer, get rid of these damn things and then I can make a decision,’ he added.

Waites, who is a former Clipper Race skipper, is sailing to the Yacht Club in Punta del Este, where he will consider his options. He knows he should have taken care of his barnacle problems in the Doldrums, rather than letting them get worse.

barnacles tormented several members of the 2018 Golden Globe Race fleet, including Tapio Lehtinen, who took 322 days to circumnavigate the globe.

Current positions of the skippers of the Golden Globe Race 2022 on October 28, 2022 at 1200 UTC

Simon Curwen, (United Kingdom), Vizcaya 36 years old, Clear
Tapio Lehtinen, (Finland), Gaia 36 years old, Starfish
Abhilash Tomy, (India), Rustler 36 years old, bayanat
Pat Lawless, (Ireland), Saltram Saga 36green rebel
Kirsten Neuschafer, (South Africa), cutter for the Cape George 36, Minnehaha
Damien Guillou, (France), Rustler 36 years old, PRB
Michael Guggenberger(Austria), Vizcaya 36, Fed
Ertan Beskardes(UK), Rustler 36, lazy otter
Jeremy Bagshaw(South Africa), OE32, Olleanna
Elliot Smith, (USA), Gale Force 34, Second breath
Guy Waites (UK), Tradewind 35, Sagarmatha
Ian Herbert-Jones (UK), Tradewind 35, Puffin
Arnaud Gaist, (France), Barbican 33 Mk 2, Hermes phone

Retired:

Edouard Walentynowicz(Canada), Rustler 36, Noah’s joke
Guy de Boer(United States), Tashiba 36, Spirit
Marc Sinclair (Australia), Lello 34, Coconut

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