“The GLOBE40 is reminiscent of the Mini spirit – albeit on Class40s – and the Tour du Finistère course – albeit on a planetary scale! In reality though, it’s a race like no other, whilst being technical and demanding in terms of stamina, and an adventure with a capital A, with stopovers – Mindelo, Moorea, Ushuaia… more reminiscent of a maritime adventure novel than simply a yacht race.” François-Xavier de Crécy – VOILE MAGAZINE – April 2023.

The first round the world race with stopovers created by a French organiser, the GLOBE40 proved to be an extremely demanding competition and an extraordinary human adventure. Given how strikingly vivid the event was, it’s impossible to bottle the emotions felt by the skippers of 11 nationalities.

Born in a global crisis, the GLOBE40 stuck to its promise of a planetary circumnavigation. Furthermore, the collective memory of the faces of all origins and cultures encountered at the stopovers are just as important as the 34,000 miles covered at sea. Having written this first page, which will inevitably remain unique, the GLOBE40 must now invent its future, whilst staying true to its principles. The second edition is in the pipeline with a scheduled start in the summer of 2025 and today’s publication of a Pre-Notice of Race, outlines the overall framework.

The fundamental principles behind the event are reaffirmed

The Pre-Notice of Race published today, adopts all the same principles as the original edition: a double-handed race on Class40s, the option of switching one crew member at each stopover, or two under certain circumstances, a World Sailing category 1 course (the last category before category 0, which allows courses with no limits), a complementary list of equipment suited to a round the world race without a major transformation of the boats, a points ranking with coefficients allocated to legs according to difficulty, technical assistance arranged by the organiser to support the teams, the same principles for qualification to take into account the geographical diversity and experience of the applicants, with consideration of the profiles and, if need be, with a request for additional miles. A pre-registration procedure has been put in place today to promote projects and offer support with their approach to preparation. The complete Notice of Race will be published on 1 September 2023.

A development of the format to promote participation

To make participation even more accessible, the format has been slightly condensed so the overall length is 8 months, as opposed to 9, and 6 legs as opposed to 8, with a prologue. The start is scheduled for late summer 2025 and the finish for April 2026. The geographical scope of the legs will be in the same vein as that of 2022 / 2023: a prologue setting sail from France, an official start in Southern Europe or South of Europe, the first Atlantic leg, an Indian Ocean leg, a Pacific Ocean leg, a leg in the southern part of the South American continent, a second Atlantic leg and a finish in France. The 30,000-mile course remains very full-on for this circumnavigation of the globe via the 3 capes, with an average of 5,000 miles per leg and around 150 days at sea for first finisher, but still in line with a category 1 race in that it limits the time spent in the more hostile latitudes. The intention is to repeat the particularly attractive stopovers, as well as offer up some new destinations with the same spirit of adventure and exploration. The stopovers will be announced as and when they have been formalised by contract, a process that’s already under way for some, with the aim of concluding all of them by the end of 2023. Around fifteen campaigns at the start, namely double that of 2022, is a reasonable objective for participation numbers in 2025 / 2026 so as to enable qualitative growth for the event.

A sports objective geared towards gender diversity

With a mixture of profiles – from experienced amateurs keen for an experience of a lifetime, to professionals (40% of the skippers in 2022/2023) assisting amateur skippers, like this year’s Dutch winner SEC HAYAI, and sailors completing a world tour to flesh out their on-the-water experience like the Japanese team on MILAI – variety has been a key ingredient in the event’s success. The GLOBE40 is a top-level event, which is neither a purely professional race nor an event reserved for ‘super-amateurs’. The evolution of the race format also aims to fit around the teams’ event schedule for the Class40’s European circuit, with whom there is contact. There will be an emphasis on a mixture of women and men too, as the organisation is eager to develop the participation of women in this ‘Holy Grail’ of offshore racing that is a circumnavigation of the globe. The experience of the first edition demonstrates how much women contribute to a race where stamina and mental strength play a very important role. Finally, an international mixture will be welcome, because this profusion of nationalities forms part of the GLOBE40’s DNA and gives the event a highly original atmosphere.

An event with its finger on the pulse of the territories it traverses

A far cry from the conventional narrative about societal or environmental commitment, the recently concluded first-edition of the GLOBE40 has proven its commitment and its desire to get to know and gain a deeper insight into the countries traversed and the peoples encountered along the way. In this way, nearly half of the media coverage – including 6 x 26′ programmes – was devoted to themes ranging from the competitive aspects of the race through to an incredible variety of encounters popularised by the quality of the photo and video reports created by professionals keen to ensure that the plights of countries and their inhabitants do not go unseen. From the lighthouse keeper on the island of Mindelo in Cape Verde to the farmer in Mauritius, the reforestation and coral protection associations in Mauritius, those tasked with protecting marine mammals in French Polynesia, Tangier reclaiming its cultural history and the future of Antarctica in light of a huge surge in tourism. With a backdrop of the threats looming over the future of vast maritime spaces across an international zone, the GLOBE40 is really able to put its finger on the pulse of what is actually happening on the world’s oceans. Indeed, it witnessed first-hand, a fleet of a 100-industrial trawlers plundering the ocean’s resources within a 30-mile radius of the coast of Argentina, complete with their impoverished crews, presenting a very real danger.

Finally, over the coming weeks the media coverage for the first edition will be published: a single figure: the fantastic film recap has been picked up by more than 40 media outlets around the world!

by Sirius Events