2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Arrives in Les Sables-d’Olonne
Sixteen of the 17 provisional entrants in the 2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Race are now in Les Sables-d’Olonne for the final countdown to their extraordinary solo, non-stop and unassisted race around the world, starting Sunday, 6 September.
The official arrival deadline was 10 August, and the coming weeks are filled with final preparations, critical safety inspections, medical and emergency training, briefings and last-minute work on the yachts.
The GGR SITraN Prologue starts at 1400 hrs on Sunday, 16 August
The three-day, two-night offshore trial will test every onboard system under real sailing conditions, including the live-transmission systems.
Entrants may sail two-handed or three-handed—the choice is theirs. It is a serious offshore systems test, but also a fun race before the final preparations begin.
These are not the high-speed, computer-driven flying machines of modern professional ocean racing. GGR sailors head south alone aboard small traditional yachts, navigating with sextants and paper charts, without GPS, computers or modern navigational assistance.
Once they leave, they must solve their own problems, make their own decisions and live with themselves through months of storms, calms, cold, heat, fear, exhaustion and absolute isolation.
For most, simply reaching Les Sables-d’Olonne has already taken years of work.
Across the three previous editions of the McIntyre Golden Globe, 43 sailors set out and only nine crossed the finish line—a completion rate of just 21%. If history repeated itself, only three or four of today’s 17 entrants might return as official finishers.
This time, however, Don McIntyre believes the depth of preparation and accumulated knowledge within the fleet could change those odds dramatically.
“I would love to see at least half of this fleet cross the finish line,” said Don McIntyre. “They are more prepared than any fleet we have seen across the previous three editions. But this race has a habit of writing its own story. The oceans always have the final say.”
The GGR Marina is open—come and meet the sailors
Starting Saturday, 22 August, the Golden Globe Marina becomes the public home of the Golden Globe Race, with the GGR pontoon and Pavilion open to visitors.
No special passes are needed to walk through the public pontoon area and meet the sailors as they complete their final preparations.
Mayor Nicolas Chénéchaud will officially welcome and introduce all entrants at 14:30 on 22 August. Everyone is invited to this special occasion.
This is an unusual opportunity to get close to a round-the-world race before it starts. Visitors will see the skippers working on the same boats that, just days later, will be heading alone towards the Southern Ocean and Cape Horn.
Every day brings something different.
At approximately 13:30, visitors can learn the basics of celestial navigation during a celestial noon-sight demonstration, using a sextant to measure the sun close to its highest point.
Entrant poster-signing sessions run from 14:00 to 15:00, with regular skipper question-and-answer sessions in the GGR Pavilion.
Guided visits bring groups onto the pontoon to discover the boats, understand their equipment and, where possible, meet the skippers themselves.
The GGR Pavilion will also provide race information, history and merchandise. From 29 August, the Association Méridienne’s Art of Navigation exhibition will showcase historic navigation instruments and the techniques mariners relied upon long before satellites and GPS.
History comes alive on the marina
The Golden Globe has always been about more than racing. It is also about remembering the sailors who first proved what might be possible.
From 29 August, the legendary Suhaili, in which Sir Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world, and Bernard Moitessier’s famous Joshua will join the GGR fleet in the marina.
There will also be history in miniature.
Master model builder Bernard Mauviel will sail three spectacular large radio-controlled models on the marina basin during the final ten days before the start: Suhaili, Joshua and Teignmouth Electron, the trimaran sailed by original 1968 Golden Globe entrant Donald Crowhurst.
The three boats represent some of the most enduring human stories from the race that started it all.
The story behind the models
Whenever possible, Bernard Mauviel tracked down the original plans for each yacht. He even obtained the plans for Teignmouth Electron from Simon Crowhurst, son of Donald Crowhurst.
These extraordinary models are more than replicas. They preserve the personalities, boats and human stories of the original 1968 Golden Globe Race, allowing a new generation to experience its remarkable history.
FairWinds Virtual GGR—now everyone can race
For the first time, followers do not have to simply watch the adventure. They can race around the world themselves.
The new FairWinds Virtual Golden Globe Race allows anyone with a computer to command a virtual Rustler 36 and race through the same real-time weather systems experienced by the real fleet.
There is also a twist worthy of the Golden Globe.
Players wanting the complete retro experience can turn to celestial navigation, learning to use a virtual sextant and traditional techniques to work out where they are.
Registration and GGR racing are free, making it possible for complete beginners and serious virtual sailors alike to discover the art—and occasional frustration—of navigating the oceans without simply looking at a GPS position.
It is fun, it can become very serious, and even someone who has never held a sextant before can learn the fundamentals of finding their way across an ocean using the sun and stars.
A world first—the GGR Live Window
The 2026 race will introduce something never before attempted in solo around-the-world yacht racing: the GGR Live Window.
Specially developed one-way satellite technology will allow followers to step aboard selected yachts through live video on YouTube while preserving the strict isolation of the sailors themselves.
The system sends information off the boat—but nothing comes back. The sailor cannot receive messages, weather information, internet data or outside advice through the system.
Viewers, however, will be able to see live video together with selected sailing and biometric information—even the skipper’s heartbeat.
Scheduled two-to-three-hour live transmissions from different yachts will rotate throughout the voyage, with the ability to interrupt normal programming when major events unfold.
The current planned line-up includes Andrea Lodolo of Italy, Ertan Beskardes of the United Kingdom, Gunnar Christensen of the USA, Helga Marie “Mara” Løvenskiold Kveseth of Norway, Etienne Messikommer of Switzerland, Pär Nyman of Sweden and Louis Kerdelhué of France.
No starting gun—racing the clock, just like 1968
There will be no conventional massed starting line on 6 September. That is deliberate.
The original 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race had no single starting gun. Its nine entrants were free to depart from different ports over a period of months, effectively racing themselves and the clock.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston ultimately became the only finisher and the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the world.
The 2026 departure pays tribute to that history. At the end of the race, the overall times will be compared to declare the winner.
The Parade of Sail begins at 14:00, before the GGR yachts leave the Golden Globe Marina one at a time, at two-minute intervals, beginning at 14:30.
They will motor at three knots down the famous Les Sables-d’Olonne channel through the crowds, before hoisting sail near the harbour entrance.
From there, the yachts head to the South Cardinal mark at La Nouch, sail west towards Petit Barge, then return past La Nouch before finally pointing their bows offshore.
Their next destination? Les Sables-d’Olonne—via Cape Horn!
The route through the bay will give spectators along the foreshore an exceptional view of the fleet under sail before the boats disappear over the horizon and begin their long journey south.
For anyone wanting to get even closer, the city has chartered the passenger vessel Port Fromentine to take spectators into the bay on start day.
Tickets can be booked through the official race-start information on the GGR website. Places are limited.
Who will come home?
For those standing beside the channel on Sunday, 6 September, the departure will be far more than a sporting start.
Every skipper passing between the harbour walls is about to sail into the unknown.
They are experienced. They are adventurous. They are determined. But no amount of preparation can tell them what the next eight months will bring: the storms they may face, the equipment that might break, the decisions they will have to make or the personal battles that come from being completely alone, month after month.
As the final yacht disappears towards the horizon, one question will hang over Les Sables-d’Olonne:
Who will come back?
“Start day will be an incredible moment,” said Don McIntyre. “We will watch these brave, experienced and adventurous sailors leave Les Sables-d’Olonne and wonder what they are about to experience out there—and which of them we will see sailing back through this channel approximately eight months later.
“That is the Golden Globe. One sailor, one boat and the great oceans of the world. No one knows how the story ends.”
The 2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Race starts from Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, on Sunday, 6 September 2026.
The official GGR 2026 Souvenir Book is out!
Explore the official GGR 2026 Souvenir Book, featuring the race’s history, the 2026 skippers and their boats, the route map, stories, event information and everything you need to follow the adventure. Check it out here.
