The fleet of 16 boats racing in the Golden Globe Race are now through the Lanzarote Film Gate and sliding down the coast of Africa dodging calm patches and looking for breeze in all the wrong places. The race has also claimed its first damaged boat skippered by the American sailor Guy de Boer. We will come back to Guy because his is a great American story of grit and perseverance.
There are four Film Drop gates in the race with Lanzarote being the first. It’s in the spirit of the first Golden Globe Race held 58 years ago where the sailors were able to drop off all their film footage and other media at a stop in Hobart. Same with the gate in Lanzarote. The boats slowed for a brief interview handing over, but not touching hands, any video and photos that have been collected so far in the race. Race founder and organizer Don McIntyre and his team have been on hand for every competitor and filmed a short interview before the sailors hoisted sails and carried on. The next film drop will be off Cape Town, South Africa with Hobart in Tasmania and Punte del Este in Uruguay being the other two gates.
There has been a close race at the front with French sailor Damien Guillou leading since the start, but being chased relentlessly by the 70 year old Irish sailor Pat Lawless. At the most recent position reports Lawless was just over 100 miles astern of Guillou having closed the gap to single digits as they neared Lanzarote and the wind was affected by the land and played games with the sailors tactics. A tight-knit pack of boats trail the leader by around 300 nautical miles.
All of the boats have been enjoying some decent trade wind sailing and the usual games of snakes and ladders is in full effect as the leading boats find more wind and pull ahead, only to lose the distance gained when they inevitably sail into lighter winds and those astern play catch-up. It seems as if Lawless and Damien Guillou have managed to break free of the rest of the fleet and are in their own wind pattern. They will, however, have to deal with the doldrums which will allow those astern to close the gap.
Let’s go back to Guy de Boer, one of seven Americans in the race. De Boer competed in the Golden Globe Race four years ago but sadly, after going through the Lanzarote film drop he ran aground on Fuerteventura, an island south of Lanzarote that is also part of the Canaries. Unfortunately that ended his race, but luckily they were able to salvage the boat and repair it.
It seems as if the repair done was not adequately reinforced. The lower aft chainplate, an important piece of the rigging especially when sailing downwind in any kind of breeze, is attached to a bulkhead which allows the loads to be distributed throughout the hull. Unfortunately it appears that the bulkhead was not sufficiently rebuilt and therefore the chainplate is coming loose. The good news is that they can repair the boat and he can continue racing. He is currently in Lanzarote. Guy will no longer be racing in the actual Golden Globe, but a separate class called the Chichester Class. Sir Francis famously stopped his solo circumnavigation in Sydney so if you stop in the GGR, you are not out and can finish as a Chichester competitor.
Speaking of Sir Francis, my friend John Passmore who goes by Old Man Sailing is well into his challenge of recreating Chichester’s voyage from England to Sydney and is ahead of the GGR fleet having left from the same dock in England where Chichester started his voyage 60 years ago. He is not part of the Golden Globe but has captured my imagination and I will write more about him in the coming weeks.
Damien Guillou has only 23,728 miles to go. – Brian Hancock
