THE 2022-23 GOLDEN GLOBE RACE : THE RACE OF ATTRITION

Katy Stickland talks to the five finishers about routing, gear failure, their seamanship and how they coped spending eight months alone at sea

- Katy Stickland

Like the previous editions of the Golden Globe Race, the 2022 event attracted both professional and amateur sailors; some were determined to win, while others wanted to fulfil their dreams of finishing a solo, non-stop round the world yacht race.

There was no shortage of people signing up to race in long-keel pre-1988 production yachts between 32ft-36ft without the use of modern technology, although just 16 made it to the start line on 4 September 2022.

By the first gate in Lanzarote, two – Edward Walentynowicz and Mark Sinclair – had retired due to personal reasons; there were more retirements by Cape Town due to windvane steering failure (Pat Lawless), a bending mast (Arnaud Gaist), loneliness (Ertan Beskardes) and, in the case of Guy de Boer, damage to his boat after he fell asleep and ran aground on the north coast of Fuerteventura.

In the end, just 10 skippers entered the Indian Ocean, although French favourite, Damien Guillou had to return to Cape Town just days later due to the failure of his Hydrovane self steering rudder; he decided to retire.

RESCUE AT SEA

Finn Tapio Lehtinen had come fifth in the 2018 Golden Globe Race – the last finisher – and had wanted to improve his performance in 2022. But his race was cut short 450 miles south east of South Africa when he was woken by a loud bang and the realisation that his Gaia 36, Asteria, was sinking.