As global financial markets melt faster than spring snowpack in the American West, I find myself daydreaming more and more of simply setting sail. Given the drubbing that Wall Street is suffering as I write these words, it’s fair to say that the LOA of my dream boat is shrinking in accordance with my now-humbled portfolio.

And considering the new tariff-fueled world order (ahem), the brave singlehanded skippers competing in the McIntyre Mini Globe Race are suddenly looking smarter and smarter.

Granted, they’re racing around the world aboard ALMA Globe 580s whose LOA measures a mere 19 feet, stem to stern, but they’re are actually out there, fulfilling their dreams, rather than hitting refresh on their favorite stock-market app.

As longtime readers of this publication know, I’ve got a soft spot a nautical mile wide and deep for sailors who commit to their dreams, be it an Olympic campaign, attempting to win a world championship title, or engaging in a solo circumnavigation. The McIntyre Mini Globe Race falls solidly in this latter category.

The race’s first leg began off Antigua and took the fleet of 15 singlehanded skippers across 1,200 nautical miles of brine to a finishing line off of Panama’s east coast. From there, the fleet transitioned 62 miles overland (by truck) to the Pacific Ocean, where racing resumed last Tuesday (March 25).

“The Panama transfer was a logistical triumph that tested everyone’s nerves and capabilities,” said Don McIntyre, the race’s director, in an official event communication. “Now the real test begins—crossing the largest ocean on Earth in the smallest yachts, with no support.”

 ALMA Class Globe 580 one design Yachts are building in 37 countries with nearly 100 active builders. After the third running of the Globe 580 Transat Race and now start of McIntyre Mini Globe Race imminent, interest in this unique class is growing rapidly © World’s Toughest Row / MGR2025

Leg Two is a beast: 7,200 nautical miles, alone, aboard a homebuilt 19-footer, all the way to Fiji.

Of the McIntyre Mini Globe Race’s five legs, Leg 2 is the longest, however it is broken into smaller bites, with some rests along the way. First, the fleet will take on the 4,800-mile passage from Panama to the Marquesas Islands, where they will enjoy an eight-day pit stop, before hoisting sailing again, this time for a 500 nautical mile “sprint” to Tahiti.

Then, after resting their bones for seven days, the fleet will sail 1,500 nautical miles to Pangai, Tonga (with an eight-day stopover), before making the final 500 nautical mile passage to Fiji.

If this sounds a bit unconventional to have multiple pitstops along a single leg, you’re not alone in your thinking, however the important part to focus on isn’t NOR semantics but rather the 7,200 nautical miles that these skippers will sail aboard boats that are much smaller than the square footage of my home office.

As of this writing (Monday morning, U.S. West Coast time), the fleet was largely to the south and west of the Galapagos Islands.

Swiss-flagged skipper Renaud Stitelmann, sailing aboard Capucinette, was in the pole position and sailing at 3.4 knots, followed by Australian-flagged skipper Daniel Turner, sailing aboard Immortal Game at 3.1 knots, and Spanish-flagged skipper Pilar Pasanau, sailing aboard her Peter Punk also at 3.1 knots.

North American interests in the race are being represented by Joshua Kali (USA), who is sailing aboard Skookum some 345 nautical miles astern of Stitelmann’s Capucinette.

The route for the 2025 McIntyre Mini Globe Race – photo © MGR2025

The fleet is making progress, albeit slowly, however a glance at the tracker reveals a heck of a lot of blue between their bows and their first stop of the marathon leg in the Marquesas.

While I understand that the McIntyre Mini Globe Race isn’t for everyone (case-in-point: I’m sitting in my relatively spacious office, armed with a great cup of AeroPress-brewed coffee, in a comfy office chair, working on a desk that’s both level and stationary), these skippers are out there engaging in the adventure of a lifetime.

Sure, their vessel’s reel off daily mileage tallies that an IMOCA 60 or an Ultim trimaran could polish off in less than two hours, but McIntyre Mini Globe Race skippers are doing these miles for a miniscule fraction of the cost of a circumnavigation aboard these much larger and faster steeds.

Call it a case of doing more with less, but—given the tariff-induced harikari that’s roiling the global financial markets—these skippers are inspiration that great adventures don’t have to require vast war chests to finance.

(N.B., anyone seeking further inspiration along these lines is highly encouraged to read “My Old Man and the Sea” by David and Daniel Hays. Just be warned: the book is a page-turner, and it cost me sleep last week as it’s a hard one to put down.)

Meanwhile, in Olympic class sailing news, the 54 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca recently wrapped up on the waters off of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and saw racing unfurl in ten classes.

Emma Wilson (GBR) was crowned the overall winner of the regatta after posting 12 impressive bullets in the Women’s iQFOiL windsurfing event. While Wilson delivered a dominant performance, Great Britain emerged as the country to beat, collecting top honors in the 470 Mixed event (Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris), the 49erFX event (Freya Black and Saskia Tidey), the ILCA 7 evet (Michael Beckett), and the Nacra 17 event (John Gimson and Anna Burnet).

For North American fans, the four best results posted by athletes from this continent were Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid’s (USA) sixth place finish in the 49er class; Andrew Mollerus and Trevor Bornath’s (USA) eight-place finish in the 49er class; Paris Henken and Helena Scutt’s (USA) eight-place finish in the 49erFX, and Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance’s (CAN) ninth-place finish in the 49erFX.

One of 18 Classes participating across six courses, the Melges 32 Class is alive and well at Charleston Race Week 2025 at Patriots Point – photo © Tim Wilkes Photography / timwilkes.com

Finally, for anyone who is seeking diversion from the financial morass, Charleston Race Week (April 10-13) will be unfurling on Charleston’s historic water later this week. The annual spring event will feature racing in J/70s, Melges 24s, J/105s, VX Ones, J/24s, J/22s, and Melges 32s.

Sail-World tips our hat to the teams that competed at the 54 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca regatta, and we wish all teams competing in Charleston good luck.

As for the brave skippers competing in the McIntyre Mini Globe Race, we have a candle lit for their safe passage, and we thank them for their inspiration. Global 401Ks might be looking more like 201Ks at the moment, but these bold souls are a great reminder that one doesn’t need an Ultim trimaran, or even a tricked-out 40-footer, to realize their offshore dreams.

May the four winds blow you safely home.

by David Schmidt