Three adventurous madmen will leave the Bahamas on the 10th January at the start of a race around the world – in ten-foot boats.

The Around in Ten race will take around eighteen months to complete. The only compulsory stops are Panama, Darwin and Cape Town, and the competitors can take any route they wish. The likelihood is that, with such limited storage space, they will need to make many more stops to re-supply.

The confirmed entrants, comprised of Israeli Gershon Gerchman in Tatiger, and two American competitors, Paul Boucher in Flying Frog and Steve Rinker in The Floating Bear are currently making their way to the Bahamas. Joining them there will be their support boat, a 38ft steel Roberts Spray which hopes to shadow them around the world.

The boats themselves are sealed hulls, and are powered by a variety of rigs, from Junk rigs to Kites.

Keep up with their preparations and view the designs on the Around in Ten Website

The Floating Bear is launched.

Top pic shows the Around in Ten trophy, to be awarded to the winner. Images courtesy Around in Ten.