Home-built 5.8m yachts to race across the Atlantic in the Globe 5.80 Transat

Katy Stickland

The second edition of the Globe 5.80 Transat will start from Lanzarote, and will see skippers racing home-built 5.8m plywood yachts across the Atlantic

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The Globe 5.80 Transat, a 3,500-mile race across the Atlantic in home-built plywood 5.8m/19ft boats, will begin next month.

This is the second time the race has been run, and five entries are confirmed: Niels Kamphuis (NED), Michael Moyer (USA), Jack Johnson (USA), Keith Oliver (GBR) and Ertan Beşkardeş (GBR).

A man sailing a small boat out to sea

Ertan Beskardes sailing Trekka. The Turkish-British sailor has plenty of race preparation experience, having competed in the 2018 and 2022 Golden Globe Race. Credit: Ertan Beskardes/Ocean Frontiers OGR/GGR/CG580

All the entrants have to sail a five to six-day qualifying voyage from Lagos, Portugal to Rubicon Marina in Lanzarote ahead of the race start.

A former 2018 and 2022 Golden Globe Race skipper, Beskardes is sailing the 5.80 Class prototype, Trekka, which belonged to the race founder, Don McIntyre.

See a video of the inside of Trekka below.

Beskardes has already sailed Trekka from Les Sables d’Olonne in France, across the Bay of Biscay and south towards Lagos, Portugal. He has already provisionally entered the 2025 Mini Globe Race.

This is a solo race around the world in Class Globe 5.80 boats in stages, and the Globe 5.80 Transat is the first of two qualifying solo-transat races for the event.

A Class 5.80 boat with a blue hull on a craddle

Keith Oliver began building his Class 5.80 in February 2022. Credit: Keith Oliver/Ocean Frontiers OGR/ GGR/CG580

Fellow British skipper, Keith Oliver is facing time pressures to make the start of the Transat.

He has only just finished building his 5.80, Meraki (Hull No. 178), and is currently carrying out sea trials; he has just weeks to make sure all the systems on board are running smoothly and make Lagos by 12 November. He will be trailering his 5.80 from his home in Chichester to Portugal.

Meanwhile, both American entrants are shipping their 5.80s from the US to Lagos.

A small yellow Class 5.80 boat being prepared for the Globe 5.80 Transat

Michael Moyer on Sunbear with friends, family and rival skipper, Jack Johnson. Credit: Michael Moyer/ Ocean Frontiers OGR/ GGR/CG580

A US Coast Guard Licensed Captain, Michael Moyer has sailed over 74,000nm, 8,000 singlehanded.

He will be sailing Sunbear (Hull No. 079). He had hoped to compete in the inaugural Globe 5.80 Transat, but the yacht wasn’t finished in time.

Moyer, who is from Newport Beach, said: “I have been waiting almost three years for this great adventure, let’s go already!”

Continues below…

Jack Johnson has been sailing all of his life and said he enjoyed building his 5.80, Right Now (Hull No. 113).

The Californian sailor, who has over 10,000nm under his belt, 500nm solo, has entered the Globe 5.80 Transat to “test himself with a challenging solo sailing event.”

Dutch skipper Niels Kamphuis has always dreamed of completing a transatlantic crossing.

Niels Kamphuis crossing the Bay of Biscay in Biggest Monkey ahead of the start of the Niels Kamphuis

Niels Kamphuis crossing the Bay of Biscay in Biggest Monkey ahead of the start of the Niels Kamphuis. Credit: Niels Kamphuis/Ocean Frontiers OGR/ GGR/CG580

He has spent one-and-a-half years building his boat, Biggest Monkey (Hull No. 163), and has already sailed it solo from Brest to Lagos for the start.

“The Class Globe 5.80 is a very interesting, affordable and fun boat to build. I’ve sailed all my life but this experience was still on the bucket list,” said Kamphus.

The Globe 5.80 Transat will start on Saturday, 25 November from Lanzarote, with the first arrivals at Falmouth Bay, Antigua expected just before Christmas.

Lutz Kohne, who was in charge of the inaugural 2021 Globe 580 Transat, continues as Race Director for the coming edition.

He has just returned from his own solo Atlantic crossing to qualify for the Golden Globe Race 2026.

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