Golden Globe Race 2022 entrant Guido Cantini aboard Hannah of Cowes the Vancouver 34. Credit: Guido Cantini/Hannah Racing.

The Golden Globe Race revival is setting off again in 2026 for its third edition.

The event, an ode to the ‘golden age’ of adventurous sailing, was relaunched in 2018 to mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.

It remains an enduring test of tenacity, endurance, and technical skill.

Origins of the Golden Globe Race

The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race is the stuff of legends, and has inspired generations of sea men.

It yielded sailing heroes like Sir Robin Knox Johnston and Bernard Moitessier, as well as more tragic figures like Donald Crowhurst and Nigel Tetley, and led to the founding of events such as Sir Chay Blyth‘s Global Challenge, the BOC Challenge, later the Velux 5 Oceans Race, and even the Vendée Globe, now the high-tech pinnacle of single-handed non-stop circumnavigation.

After Sir Francis Chichester‘s historic 1966-67 solo round-the-world sail, which included one stop in Sydney, the race was on to see who would be the first to do it non-stop.

As multiple sailors planned a continuous voyage, The Sunday Times opted to bring their individual adventures together under the umbrella of a shared event.

Of the nine sailors that entered, only one finished.

One kept sailing, one tragically lost his life (and likely his mind) at sea, and another was found dead just a few years after the event’s end.

What is the Golden Globe Race like now?

In 2018, on the 50th anniversary of the original Golden Globe Race, Don McIntyre‘s McIntyre Ventures re-launched the Golden Globe Race in its original format, attempting to preserve much of its original spirit.

The “new” Golden Globe Race is a nonstop, single-handed, unassisted, east-about (from the west towards the east, so clock-wise) sail around the world, with only the technology Sir Robin Knox-Johnston would’ve had onboard Suhaili.

That’s one (potentially amateur) sailor, on one (vintage) boat, in near-total communion with their environment, facing the world’s oceans in all their awesome glory, for the better part of a year.

Pretty insane, right?

It’s not for nothing that the GGR has been called ‘the Voyage of Madmen’ and the ‘Loneliest Race in the World,’ and inspired countless books, documentaries, and other media.

The 2026 edition is leaving on 6 September 2026 from Les Sables d’Olonne. Arrivals are foreseen between April and June 2027.

Leaderboards from previous editions:

2022-2023

1. Kirsten Neuschäfer – SOUTH AFRICA – Cape George Cutter, CG36
2. Abhilash Tomy – INDIA – Rustler 36 Masthead Sloop
3. Michael Guggenberger – AUSTRIA – Biscay 36 Masthead Ketch

2018

1. Jean-Luc Van De Heede – FRANCE – Rustler 36 Masthead Sloop
2. Mark Slats – DENMARK – Rustler 36 Masthead Sloop
3. Uku Randmaa – ESTONIA – Rustler 36 Masthead Sloop