Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

IMAGES THIS SPREAD: SUSIE GOODALL RACING/DHL

T

he story of the Golden

Globe race in 1968 is

known worldwide. here

have been endless books,

documentaries and

even Hollywood ilms depicting the

endeavours of the nine hardy souls

who set out to become the irst person

to sail non-stop around the world

alone. It made the winner – and only

inisher – Sir Robin Knox-Johnston a

household name, so too many of those

who did not complete the race; from the

Nero-esque Bernard Moitessier to the

tragic mystery of Donald Crowhurst.

Now, 50 years on, 19 sailors from

13 countries – ive with British roots -

will set out from Les Sables d’Olonne,

France on 1 July to re-create that golden

age of sailing in a second Golden

Globe Race. hey will race traditional

long keeled yachts between 32-36t

designed prior to 1988. here is no

rating system, so whoever is in the

lead is the winner. hey will use only

the navigation tools that were available

to sailors in the 1968 Golden Globe.

hat means no GPS, digital charts,

computers, electronic self-steering,

clocks or sailing instruments. Instead,

they will be navigating with a sextant

and wind-up chronometer, plotting

their course on paper charts, writing up

their logs longhand and communicating

with the outside world by radio.

Skippers will carry a satellite phone

(with GPS disabled) for which the sole

use will be to communicate with race

control, together with a sealed box that

carries a second sat phone and GPS

plotter - but break the seal and sailors

are out of the race, relegated to the

‘Chichester’ class (as if they have made

one stop). he yachts are also itted with

a tracker to provide the outside world

with minute-by-minute progress, but

skippers will not be able to see this.

he original race allowed skippers

to start from any port north of 40°N

between 1 June and 31 October. his

time, the leet will set out together from

one port and attempt to sail non-stop

via the three great capes – Good Hope,

Leeuwin and Cape Horn. here are

two compulsory ‘gates’ to pass through,

one of the Canaries and one inside

Storm Bay, Tasmania, to drop of

ilm, audio logs and letters. Entrants

are not allowed to take on stores nor

any outside assistance, including

private weather and routing advice.

Velocity prediction programmes

suggest that the winner could complete

the 30,000nm distance inside 200 days,

but it is more likely to be around 240

days with some taking as much as 300

days. All have to return by 22 April

(2019), the same day Sir Robin returned

to Falmouth back in 1969 – because

that is when the prizegiving is set!

SUSIE GOODALL

Of the 19 skippers, not only is Susie

Goodall set to be the only female

setting of on the Golden Globe, she

is also the youngest at 28 years of

age – the oldest being 72 year old

Frenchman, Jean-Luc van den Heede.

It is easy, for those of us not inclined

to enter ourselves, to look upon the

entrants as being two reefs short of the

whole mainsail – to butcher a well worn

phrase. But it only takes a couple of

minutes speaking with Goodall to realise

she is not a dreamer, nor is she unaware

of the challenge ahead. She is incredibly

driven, hugely excited by sailing and

illed with an optimistic enthusiasm

that brings to mind the demeanour

of a certain young Ellen MacAthur.

Goodall grew up in a sailing family

and says she remembers almost all

holidays involving sailing in some form

or other. “Sailing has always been a part

of my life and I can only remember

loving it,” she enthuses. “My irst boat

was something called a Bonito which

I usually have to explain to people as I

haveyettomeetanyotherpersonwho

knowswhatitis!Itwasa14tdinghy

thatwasverynarrowandveryhigh

above the waterline and incredibly

heavy.Shehadatinytriangularsail.

As you can imagine, she took quite

a lot of work to get moving!”

he Bonito was inherited from her

older brother and served her needs well

for a time but then racing at her sailing

club on the Isle of Wight beckoned.

he Bonito was soon dropped in favour

of a Laser Radial, again following her

older brother’s lead. “I did enjoy racing

a Laser at the club, it wasn’t anything

tooserious-Ineverwentanddid

any championships or tried to make

any youth squads or anything - but it

was really fun going out and racing

against other people at my club.

“By the time I was in my early 20s,

I had come to the realisation that I

wanted to sail some bigger boats and,

inparticular,wantedtoseeawholelot

of other places in the world – principal

in that, I really, really wanted to see the

Arctic. So I started working towards

myYachtmasterandthenwasableto

head of to Greenland and Svalbard,

workingascrewonyachts,andthatwas

probablyareallybigmomentforme.”

It was while working in that day job

The 30,000nm race is likely to last around

240 days, with some boats taking 300 days

Facing page

Goodall is

confident she has

the necessary skills

to make it round

Above

Goodall’s training

included a round

trip to Antigua,

via Lisbon and

the Azores,

before refitting

in Falmouth

July 2018 Yachts & Yachting 31

PREVIEW GOLDEN GLOBE