The Golden Globe Race starts this Sunday from Les Sables d’Olonne. 16 sailors will participate in this round the world sailing in the old fashioned way, without any modern technology on board. Won in 1968 by the British Sir Robin Kox-Johnston in 312 days, this mythical race was revived in 2018 and won by Jean-Luc Van Den Heede in 211 days.
Alone at sea, this is the best place to be alone. Arnaud Gaist
The skippers will only navigate using the sextan, the barometer, and the compass, and on production boats designed before 1988 between 9.75m and 10.97m. Among them Arnaud Gaistfrom La Tranche sur Mer. The 51-year-old amateur sailor caught the virus while crossing the Atlantic: “_It’s boats that make 4 to 6 knots, 7 to 8 months in a life this n’ is not a big deal -_relativizes Arnaud Gaist, jovial, a few hours before the big start – and then alone at sea is the best place to be alone”.
– Yves-Rene Tapon
All the competitors had to show proof of miles at sea and pass physical tests before setting off. In the absence of communication and assistance (except in an emergency) 4 pass will be compulsory to drop off their films at the race management and chat for a few moments from the boat, in the Canary Islands, in Cape Town in South Africa, off Tasmania and in front of Punta del Este in Uruguay. “It’s the mind that will crack long before the physical -explains Arnaud Gaist- and I had a mental coach, training systems, we try to see inside without lying to each other, because at sea we can’t lie to each other“.
Leaving aboard one of the smallest boats in the fleet, the sailor has only one objective: “I bring the boat back, if I arrive late, it’s because I’ve won, it’s over”.