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The Fleet The Clipper 70

The third generation of one-design Clipper Race yachts debuted in the Clipper 2013-14 Race, proving to be faster and more dynamic than previous Clipper Race yachts, breaking speed records of 35 knots [OneDLL, Leg 6].

The eleven 70-foot yachts make up world’s largest matched fleet of ocean racing yachts. Designed by renowned naval architect Tony Castro, they are the shining jewel in the Clipper Race crown, perfectly adapted to this gruelling sailing challenge.

As with all lean, mean ocean racing yachts, the Clipper 70s are not for the faint-hearted. They are by design stripped of all luxuries. Race Crew must become experts at living in a confined space, managing all their kit and belongings as they settle into their new home.

The Clipper 70s feature twin helms, twin rudders, and a six-foot bowsprit, which allows the inclusion of three large asymmetric spinnakers and a suite of Yankee headsails, which combine to increase performance and boat speed. The new hull design produces better performance and control, especially in the light winds encountered near the Equator or between weather systems when crossing oceans. The design provides total control in the heaviest of conditions, ensuring not only high speeds, but safety too.

Today’s fleet is in stark comparison to the one which began the very first Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 1996. Development ideas have been taken from both previous yacht designs: the Clipper 60s and Clipper 68s.

Hull & Exterior

The hull construction utilises lessons learnt from previous races, employing well-proven composite construction materials and methods. The hull and deck are of a sandwich construction using glass fibre, epoxy resins and structural foam. More commonly called Foam Reinforced Plastic (FRP), this construction method is light, stiff and proven to produce an incredibly strong and safe hull. Modern features have been included within the design of the hull which, along with the twin rudders, give improved directional stability when heeling, provide the helm with more control and achieve a faster ride.

The deck layout provides a well-designed environment for the crew to perform in. Eleven Harken winches, including the primaries controlled by twin three-speed coffee grinders, will swiftly bring the sails under control. Jammers and organisers have been located in easy-to-operate locations allowing crew to swiftly change settings. The mainsheet has been placed further aft in the cockpit, permitting a better level of communication between the crew as they undertake the various evolutions during tacks, gybes, hoists and drops. The aluminum mast towers 95-feet above the waterline and is rigged using tried and trusted materials and methods to further improve overall safety.

The boats are designed with a state-of-the-art HD fixed camera system to ensure that all the action on deck will be captured and used by media around the world to showcase the conditions faced by the crew during the race.

Interior Design

Below deck is a stripped-out interior with 24 bunks, a state-of-the-art navigation station and a simple galley. Watertight bulkheads and doors are strategically located to provide compartmentalisation in case of flooding.

The navigation station is placed towards the stern, providing a closer link between the navigator and helmsman. It is equipped with all the latest navigation electronics, navigation computers and cutting-edge satellite communications. This area of the yacht will provide the skipper and media crew member on board an ideal working space. GRIB weather files will be studied and courses mapped on the navigation computer while photos, diaries and videos will be edited and sent back to race headquarters using a powerful marine computer.

The engine and generator are mounted behind the companionway steps. Their mid-ship position brings increased stability and balance to the hull and also keeps all the ancillaries and electrical components in one maintenance-friendly area.

Centrally, just aft of the mast, sits a simple horseshoe-shaped galley, which feeds in to the communal area. This is where crew briefings and all-important meal times can take place. Crew accommodation runs from the stern forwards in a series of double bunks and stops short of a watertight bulkhead towards the front third of the boat. Ahead of this is a large compartment for storing sails, with the main hatch located directly above.

Bigger, Better, Faster

Why do the Ocean Race sailboats look so different? What to know about IMOCA vessels

The Ocean Race features two fleets of high-performance racing yachts, both capable of speeds high enough to travel 600 nautical miles or more in 24 hours under the right conditions.

For the first time in the history of The Ocean Race, the teams are racing 60-foot IMOCA class vessels in pursuit of the Ocean Race Trophy, crewed by teams of four sailors and one onboard reporter.

The 65-foot VO65 Class is racing for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup over three legs: Leg 1 from Alicante, Spain to Cabo Verde, Leg 6 from Aarhus, Denmark to The Hague in the Netherlands, and Leg 7 from The Hague to Genova, Italy.

Aboard an IMOCA: Newport Daily News reporter takes the helm of 11th Hour Racing's boat Malāma

How are IMOCA 60 boats sailed?

The IMOCA Class uses a “development design” rule which allows the designers to experiment with hull and sail shapes within set parameters. However, masts, booms and standing rigging are one-design.

Since 2015, the class rules have also allowed the use of retractable underwater foils which further boost performance by lifting the boat partially out of the water, at times allowing the boat to move faster than the recorded wind speed.

While some teams are using pre-existing vessels for the race, Newport-based 11 th Hour Racing took advantage of the development design condition to build a custom IMOCA designed specifically for a crew of four – a huge departure from rigging and control configurations geared towards solo racers, and one that allows the team to maximize performance and speed.

Their custom-built boat Malama features 22-foot retractable underwater foils, a three-ton canting keel, a 95-foot mast and has eight sails on board. So far, it has reached a top speed of 38 knots, or about 43 miles per hour.

The other four teams crewing IMOCAs are Team Malizia, GUYOT environnement-Team Europe, Biotherm Racing and Holcim PRB.

What it 11th Hour?: How a Google co-founder is tied to the Newport organization leading The Ocean Race

VO65s are racing over three legs for The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup

The V065 fleet is built to a strict one-design rule, meaning the boats are identical in every way and evenly matched in terms of performance capability.

These boats are single-hull carbon construction yachts, raced by mixed-sex crews with a minimum of seven sailors, and are capable of racing up to 600 miles in a single day.

VO65 teams participating in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup are competing in the VO65 class in the in-port races scheduled in each city in addition to three stages of offshore racing from point to point:  Alicante, Spain to Cabo Verde; Aarhus, Denmark to The Hague, the Netherlands; and The Hague to Genova, Italy.

The Ocean Race is back: How busy will Newport be and what does that mean

The teams competing in the VO65 Sprint Cup are Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, Ambersail 2, Team JAJO, WindWhisper Racing Team, Viva Mexico and Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova.

• Yachting Monthly
• Digital edition

The 2023-24 Ocean Globe Race

• November 2, 2023

In the spirit of the Whitbread, 14 yachts from 23 different countries set off from Cowes to compete in The Ocean Globe Race 2023-24

Hundreds of spectator boats cheered the start of the Ocean Globe Race on Sunday 10 September, as 14 iconic yachts raced through the line off Cowes, at the start of a 27,000-mile global circumnavigation in the spirit of the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race.

A flotilla of well-wishers, including Britain’s largest working steamship, Shieldhall, waved and clapped the fleet to the starting line opposite the Royal Yacht Squadron on the Isle of Wight, where Sir Chay Blyth, a fellow circumnavigator, fired the starting gun.

The race celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first Whitbread Round the World Race, which means taking on the world’s toughest oceans without modern technology, using no computers, satellites, GPS, or high-tech materials for navigational aids.

The Whitbread Round the World Race started from Portsmouth in 1973 following in the route of the great Clipper ships. It was the first fully crewed global yacht race, capturing the heart of the British public, and the forerunner of the Volvo Ocean Race and the Ocean Race.

Translated 9 was previously raced as ADC Accutrac by British skipper Clare Francis, who took fifth place in the 1977 Whitbread Round the World Race. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Explorer, AU (28) was first over the line in light winds, followed by Spirit of Helsinki, FI (71) and Translated 9, IT (09). The only British entry, Maiden, GB (03) was on the other side of the line in fourth position. This was only the start, however, and there were still 27,000 miles to go.

‘What an amazing sight to witness 14 teams recreating history, stepping back in time and setting off around the world on a grand adventure in the spirit of the original 1973 Whitbread,’ said Don McIntyre, Ocean Globe Race founder and sponsor.

Seven of the boats competing have taken part in one or more of the past Whitbread races: Maiden, Pen Duick VI, FR (14), Esprit d’Équipe, FR (85), Neptune, FR (56), Outlaw, AU, (08) and Translated 9, IT (09), formerly ADC Accutrac skippered to 5th place by Clare Francis in the 1977 Whitbread.

A wave from the crew of L’Esprit d’Equipe. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Father’s legacy

It was an emotional sight to see skipper Marie Tabarly at the helm of Pen Duick VI following the same route as her father 50 years ago on the same yacht. Pen Duick VI was dismasted twice in the 1973 Whitbread when skippered by Marie’s father, Éric Tabarly.

One of the most notable teams is the Farr 58, Maiden. In 1990, Tracy Edwards, now MBE, triumphantly brought home the first ever all-female Whitbread crew onboard Maiden to Ocean Village Marina, Southampton. At the time, it was estimated that almost 50,000 people came to witness this momentous event, which helped to turn the tide on women’s participation in sailing.

In this edition, Maiden again set sail with an all-female crew under skipper Heather Thomas, firstly to win, but also to highlight the work of the Maiden Factor Foundation, a charity started by Tracy to support communities to enable girls into education, helping them to reach their full potential and create better futures for all.

L’Esprit d’Equipe at the start of the race. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Helicopter evacuation

A week after the start, an injured crewman, Stéphane Raguenes, from the French yacht Triana (66) was evacuated by long-range helicopter in a dramatic rescue 225 miles from the island of Madeira. Stéphane had slipped on deck in heavy weather causing a severe laceration to the back of his leg.

At the time, 4m waves made a transfer to a nearby container ship impossible and skipper Jean d’Arthuys planned to continue to Madeira to seek medical treatment.

But D’Arthuys raised the alert to Code Red the following morning and requested a helicopter evacuation after Stéphane’s condition deteriorated overnight. The long-range rescue was carried out later that day and Raguenes was successfully helicoptered to hospital in Madeira.

The same day, another entrant Godspeed, (01) USA, contacted OGR race control reporting their boom had developed a six-inch crack in the middle following a few days of heavy weather. The team has now diverted to Lisbon to begin repairs.

French rivals L’Esprit d’Equipe and Evrika passing the Needles en route to Cape Town. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Crew diversity

The 218 sailors taking part in the race – 65 women and 153 men ranging from 17 to 73 years in age – come from 23 different countries and include: 96 crew from France, 31 from Finland, 18 from the UK, 18 from the US, 11 from Italy and six from South Africa. The diverse crews taking part are united by a passion to live a life less ordinary.

This OGR is dominated by the French; five of the yachts, Triana (skipper Jean d’Arthuys), Evrika (skipper Dominique Dubois), Neptune (Tanneguy Raffray), Pen Duick VI (Marie Tabarly), and former winner L’Esprit D’Equipe (Lionel Regnier) sail under the French flag.

With so much emphasis on youth – invigorating though it is, we do live in an ageing society. There are many sailors who will warm to surgeon Tanneguy Raffray’s initiative for including Bertrand Delhom among his crew.

Delhom has had many medical misfortunes throughout his life, including a partial amputation of his foot which has left chronic residual pain. He is no stranger to depression. Raffray describes Delhom’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease as ‘the last knife’. Delhom volunteers as an instructor for other disabled sailors and asked Raffray to accept him on board Neptune to give hope to others. They have worked together on a programme of physical and psychological exercises to strengthen Delhom for the voyage and have also made various modifications to Neptune to provide additional hand holds.

Raffray will write about the experience for both the medical and popular press when they return.

The oldest OGR entrant, Campbell Mackie, 73, mentoring Spirit of Adelaide’s youngest crew member, India Syms, 18. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Strong British contingent

Though Maiden is the UK’s only entrant, there are other British sailors scattered through the fleet.

Some have signed up to sail a single leg, others are ‘rounders’. Simon Curwen, who took line honours in the recent Golden Globe Race, is sailing the first two legs on board the Italian yacht Translated 9. He sounds slightly surprised to be there and agrees that this is a significant departure from his usual solo racing.

The invitation to join Translated 9 came so soon after the GGR last year that Curwen had turned it down. His wife Clare encouraged him to think again. He is sailing with Vittorio Malingri, whose father and uncle have both done the race, and who is joined by his son Nico. Owner Marco Trombetti is the co-skipper, and his wife and business partner, Isabelle Audrieu, will sail with them for a leg.

A hive of activity and excitement aboard Pen Duick VI as the crew get her off to a good start with Marie Tabarly at the helm. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Jill Comber, sailing the whole race on the Australian yacht Explorer, has a hunch that her skills as a CEO of a successful company will prove transferable to challenges of life on board. She took up sailing as a single mother looking for something she and her nine-year-old son could do together. He’s now an adult, seeking his own adventures.

Since selling her company Jill has done as much ocean sailing as she can and sees the OGR as a way to accelerate her learning about herself. ‘It feels like throwing my life up into the air and wondering where it will come down.’ Her role on board is crew co-ordinator, something very necessary as Explorer has crew joining and leaving at every stage. Some they haven’t even met yet.

Terry Kavanagh, the sole Irishman in the OGR, sailing on Explorer as first mate, agrees with Jill about business skills being transferable. He’s still part way through a slow circumnavigation with his wife Jac and is an unexpected convert to racing. This January they took part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. However, Terry was inspired by Don McIntyre’s concept of the OGR and, as Jac had already raced round the world via the Clipper fleet, they agreed to leave their yacht in the West Indies and sign on. While Terry sails this race with skipper Mark ‘Captain Coconut’ Sinclair, Jac has joined the shore-based team, managing PR.

Maiden’s all-female crew range in age from age 18 to 42, with skipper, Heather Thomas, 26 (fifth from left), at the helm for the OGR. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Good to see the Brits

Tom Napper, first mate on Pen Duick VI, has found that the best way to have a career in sailing is to be at the right place and jump on opportunities. He’s a sailor and rigger from Cornwall who started his career afloat when he was two. His mother, a single parent and district midwife, often needed people to look after her hyperactive child and was relieved to discover that the motion of a boat helped him sleep.

He first met skipper Marie Tabarly when racing in Monaco and kept in touch until a message arrived last year, ‘We need to go and drink coffee.’ Tom joined Pen Duick VI in November and has found his French crewmates welcoming – though Sir Chay Blyth muttered that it was ‘Good to see a Brit on board,’ Aurora Sillars (23) is the youngest member on board the South African entry Sterna. This is owned by a new adventure sailing company, Allspice Yachting, which hopes to use the race to gain recognition and also undertake environmentally useful projects.

Her owner, Dr Gerrit Louw, is a former academic specialising in geo-informatics, and the boat’s main sponsor is Inclusive Carbon Standard, which aims to reduce the cost of carbon credits and supply food and trees for Africa. Aurora’s personal project is plankton collection. Sterna was the first yacht in the fleet to achieve the Green Card for passing all safety checks. She also has the lowest handicap.

Maiden’s all-female crew are likely to maintain resilience. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Lucy Frost on the Australian yacht Outlaw is clear about her motivation – ‘Sailing puts a smile on my face.’ She began sailing when IVF failed and it was clear that she could never have children. ‘You can do anything now,’ her sister told her. Fast forward to the OGR 23 and Lucy was one of the initial five investors in Outlaw, a cooperatively owned yacht.

Their skipper, Campbell Mackie (73) is the oldest person in the race and, like Tapio Lehtinen, still feels inspired by the legacy of the tea clippers and grain racers. Lucy has sailed on Maiden and believes that there are still many ways in which women in sailing are at a significant disadvantage. She welcomes the OGR quota system.

Pen Duick VI under way. Photo: Studio Borlenghi/Luca Butto

Multi-skilled crews

Emma Walker is the sole British woman on the US veterans’ yacht Godspeed. She’s an inveterate adventurer who has spent much of her life backpacking but has also served in both the Royal Navy (as an engineer) and RAF (as a photographer). She has little sailing experience but discovered that her talent for logistics is valuable when getting the all-veteran crew motivated and jobs completed. She will also use her experience as a photographer to document the trip.

Godspeed is owned by Skeleton Crew Adventures, a charity founded by skipper Taylor Grieger. Grieger suffered from PTSD after his military service and has already made a fundraising film, Hell or High Seas, (available on Amazon) about his attempt to round Cape Horn. They still have fundraising to do in order to complete this race. Emma says her experience so far is like being back in the service family; ‘We’ve got each other’s backs.’

Galiana WithSecure testing how many sails you can hoist at once

The Swan 57 White Shadow is the single Spanish entry, also skippered by a French sailor, Jean-Claude Petit, who will be joined by some of his family members.

The Finns have two boats, Spirit of Helsinki (formerly Whitbread racer Fazer Finland) skippered by Jussi Paarvoseppa, and Tapio Lentinen’s Galiana WithSecure. Their crews have trained hard and there is a good deal of national pride urging them on. And whatever one’s allegiance it will be hard not to wish Tapio, in particular, every good fortune after the gooseneck barnacle attack in the GGR18, the loss of Asteria in GGR22, and Galiana WithSecure’s dismasting in the recent Fastnet.

When asked how he personally recovered from such setbacks, Tapio spoke of the deeper values which sustained him, and also the realisation that being able to sail ‘is a fantastic gift. One shouldn’t spoil it by crying over spilt milk.’ With that in mind, Tapio will also be flying the Ukrainian flag.

The crews are expected to finish between the 1 and 10 April 2024.

The Ocean Globe Race route

The eight-month adventure follows the original Clipper route and is split into four legs, sailing around the three great Capes: Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, Australia’s Cape Leeuwin, and South America’s notorious Cape Horn. Stopovers include: Cape Town, Auckland and Punta del Este.

The first leg: 6,650 miles, Southampton to Cape Town. The first boats are expected to finish between 9-21 October. The second leg: 6,650 miles, Cape Town to Auckland, New Zealand. It starts on 5 November and is expected to finish between 14-23 December. The third leg: 8,370 miles, Auckland, New Zealand to Punta del Este, Uruguay. It starts on 14 January 2024. The first boats are expected to finish between 9-18 February 2024. The fourth leg: 5,430 miles, Punta del Este, Uruguay to Southampton. The first boats to cross the finish line are expected 1-10 April 2024.

The entrants

The yachts are split into three classes: the Adventure Class 46-55ft; Sayula Class 56-65ft; and Flyer Class, comprising ex-Whitbread yachts from the first three editions.

Adventure Class (47-55ft/ 14-17m)

Galiana WithSecure (Tapio Lehtinen), FIN, Swan 55; Triana (Jean D’Arthuys) FRA, Swan 53; Outlaw (Campbell Mackie), AUS, Baltic 55; Sterna (Allspice Yachting, Rufus Brand) ZAF, Swan 53; Godspeed (Skeleton Crew Sailing, Taylor Grieger), USA, Swan 51.

Sayula Class (56-66 ft /17-20m)

Evrika (Dominique Dubois), FRA, Swan 65; Explorer (Mark Sinclair), AUS, Swan 57; Spirit of Helsinki (Jussi Paavoseppä), FIN, Swan 651; White Shadow (Jean-Christophe Petite), ESP, Swan 57

Flyer Class (Former 1973, 1977 or 1981 Whitbread race boats)

L’Esprit d’Equipe (Lionel Regniér), FRA, Whitbread 1981; Translated 9 (Vittorio Malingri), ITA, Whitbread 1977, Pen Duick VI (Marie Tabarly), FRA, Whitbread 1973; Neptune (Tanneguy Raffray), FRA, Whitbread 1977; Maiden (Heather Thomas), GBR, Whitbread 1989.

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One Design racing – The Volvo Ocean 65

The One Design era means that, more than ever, teamwork, skill and sacrifice are the deciding factors when it comes to winning the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Boatyard

The Boatyard concept was introduced for the 2014-15 edition, to take care of the tuning, repair and maintenance of the competing yachts, and was made possible by the one-design concept of the Volvo Ocean 65.

Main technical specifications

• 66.830 ft 20.37 m HULL LENGTH
• 72.63 ft 22.14 m LENGTH OVERALL
• 15.68 ft 4.78 m MAX DRAFT
• 65.61 ft 20.00 m LENGTH WATERLINE
• 18.37 ft 5.60 m HULL BEAM OVERALL
• 27,557 lb 12,500 kg BOAT WEIGHT

Technical equipment

The Volvo Ocean 65 one-design high-performance race boats are designed and equipped with the latest communications and safety technology.

Innovative features

The new Volvo Ocean 65 incorporates a series of innovations that, combined, make a boat that is not only fast through the water - but also cool looking and capable of withstanding the toughest conditions on the planet. Here we look at a selection of the new features.

Reverse bow

The reverse bow is mainly a cosmetic feature, in the most photographed area of the boat, but it will also help keep water off the bow.

Onboard media packaging

There are five fixed camera positions and two uplink points, which will combine to give coverage from all angles. The camera and mic point in the companionway hatch will get right in the faces of the sailors. Cameras can be remote controlled and directed, while new microphone locations and systems will enhance voice recording. Key to the project is that the cameras and microphones now have much better protection from wind and water, enabling interviews in the cockpit.

The new boat has an inclined keel pin axis that will be positive for performance: creating a large vertical force on the keel fin, creating lift and reducing the displacement and the amount of drag.

There are eight bulkheads inside the Volvo Ocean 65 – compared to a typical number of four on a Volvo Open 70. The increase means a stronger and more solid structure.

Water ballasts

In the Volvo Open 70 there was only one water ballast in the stern. The Volvo Ocean 65 has two aft water ballasts and one forward water ballast.

The maximum draft has been increased from 4.5m to 4.7m. This allows an increase in the righting moment while decreasing the keel weight, giving the boat a noticeable performance improvement.

We know what you’re thinking – if this is a sailboat race, then why do the boats need an engine?

The design and build consortium

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

WATCH: Ocean Race yachts ‘attacked’ by orcas following spate of whale collisions

• Helen Fretter
• June 23, 2023

Two VO65 yachts racing in The Ocean Race have become the latest boats to face ‘attacks’ by orcas off the Iberian Peninsula after a spate of whale collisions with yachts

Two VO65 yachts racing in The Ocean Race have become the latest boats to face ‘attacks’ by orcas off the Iberian Peninsula.

The two VO65s, Team JAJO and Mirpuri Trifork Racing , were racing in the VO65 Sprint leg to the race finale in Genoa when they were approached by orcas yesterday afternoon between 1-5 miles off the Spanish coast on the approach to Tarifa.

Despite the orcas shoving into the boats, and nudging or biting at the rudders, both VO65s escaped unscathed, and subsequently contacted Race Control to confirm there had been no damage or injuries onboard.

“Twenty minutes ago we got hit by some orcas,” said Team JAJO skipper Jelmer van Beek shortly after the incident. 

“Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team. We took down the sails and slowed down the boat as quickly as possible and luckily after a few attacks they went away… This was a scary moment.”

The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup 2022-23 – 23 June 2023, Stage 3 onboard Team JAJO. Gibraltar Strait Orca encounter.

The attack is of little surprise to sailors who have been monitoring the spate of encounters between orcas and yachts both in the area around Gibraltar and up Portuguese and Spanish Atlantic coasts. 

Since the summer of 2020 a pod of whales has been repeatedly swimming up to sailing yachts, aggressively nudging the boats, biting and hitting the rudders and keels. Many yachts have suffered severe damage, and in some incidences – though thankfully limited to a handful cases – the damage has caused the yachts to sink. So far three yachts have sunk off the Iberian coast, fortunately with all crew safely rescued, though encounters have been reported by over 100 other yachts over the past 18 months.

Last month it was revealed that some researchers believe the same female orca, nicknamed ‘White Gladis’, began the pattern of behaviour, which has now been adopted by the local killer whale population. Mature females have the highest status and importance within the whales’ social groups.

Researchers have also identified that a group of juveniles are leading their own attacks. However, scientists studying the whales have no clear answer as to why their behaviour has changed.

In a previous incident, orcas hitting the rudders of a Lagoon 45 catamaran off the Spanish coast. Credit: Halcyon Yachts

Orca attacks spreading?

Until now the incidents have been limited to the Spanish and Portuguese coasts, but earlier this week a sailor reported that his seven-tonne steel yacht had been rammed whilst sailing off Shetland in the North Sea.

Dutch sailor Dr Wim Rutten, a 72-year-old retired physicist, was sailing solo from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway, and was trolling with a single fishing line for mackerel at the time.

He told the Guardian that an orca repeatedly hit the stern of his yacht and swam behind the vessel “looking for the keel. Then he disappeared … but came back at fast speed, twice or thrice … and circled a bit.”

This would be the first reported incident of similar behaviour spreading to other local orca populations. Dr Conor Ryan, a scientific adviser to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust , who has studied orca pods off the Scottish coast, told the Guardian: “I’d be reluctant to say it cannot be learned from [the southern population]. It’s possible that this ‘fad’ is leapfrogging through the various pods/communities.”

Orcas circle a Sun Odyssey 40 yacht. Photo: Martyn and Zoe Barlow

Pacific sinkings following whale collisions

Entirely unrelated to the spate of attacks by orca whales in the Northern Hemisphere, there have also been two reported sinkings caused by yachts colliding with whales mid-Pacific in the past couple of months.

Just yesterday, eight Danish sailors were rescued by a fishing boat mid-Pacific after their 51ft Beneteau Oceanis Lulu sank following a collision with either one or two whales, the Danish Armed Forces confirmed in a statement on Thursday 22 June.

After abandoning the yacht, the crew took refuge in their liferaft and raised the alarm via sat phone. An international search and rescue co-ordinated by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu, Hawaii saw the crew safely rescued by a fishing vessel before being transferred to a container ship, now headed for Tahiti.

This follows the March rescue of four American sailors , who were also recovered from their liferaft after their Kelly Peterson 44 Raindancer sank rapidly following a collision with a whale 1200 miles from French Polynesia. It’s unknown whether whales intentionally collided with yachts Lulu and Raindancer , or if they are purely coincidental. 

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Latest News: Pen Duick VI Man Overboard Crew Recovered at Start of McIntyre Ocean Globe Race

days hrs mins secs

× The live OGR tracker and app will be available from 1 August 2023. In the meantime, we are including a link to the live tracker page of the Golden Globe Race as an example. This is the 2022 edition but all of the features are still active if you have never seen a live map before. You can play/experiment with the top bar features and if you look at the sliding bar at the bottom you can actually replay the video of the race tracker from start to finish. We will have tutorial videos later on how to get the most out of this live tracker.

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Alone on the Ocean, With 400,000 Friends

As Cole Brauer sped to the finish of a solo race around the world, she used Instagram to blow up sailing’s elitist image.

Before she could begin the Global Solo Challenge, a nonstop solo race around the world, Cole Brauer had to sail First Light, a 40-foot yacht, from Rhode Island to Spain. Credit... Samuel Hodges

Supported by

By Chris Museler

• Published Feb. 29, 2024 Updated March 7, 2024, 8:01 a.m. ET

Video dinner parties, spa days, stuffed animals, favorite hoodies and cozy, colorful fleece blankets. Cole Brauer’s Instagram feed hardly feels like the work of someone racing a 40-foot sailboat around the world in the Global Solo Challenge. But Ms. Brauer, 29, is not an average ocean racer.

In 2022, Ms. Brauer had tried out for another competition, the Ocean Race, which is considered the pinnacle of professional ocean racing. Sailors in that race are highly trained, wear matching foul weather gear and have corporate sponsors. And most of them are men. Ms. Brauer, who had sailed thousands of miles on high performance ocean racing boats, felt she was ready to join their ranks.

But after competing in trials in France, Ms. Brauer was told she was “too short for the Southern Ocean” and was sent on her way.

In spite of her small stature — she stands 5 feet 1 inch — Ms. Brauer rounded Cape Horn, Chile, on Jan. 26, the last of the three great capes of her journey to finish the Global Solo Challenge. It is a feat most of the Ocean Race sailors picked instead of her have never even attempted. And despite being the youngest competitor in the race, she is ranked second overall, just days away from reaching the finish line in A Coruña, Spain.

Along the way, her tearful reports of breakages and failures, awe-struck moments during fiery sunrises, dance parties and “shakas” signs at the end of each video have garnered her a following that has eclipsed any sailor’s or sailing event’s online, even the Ocean Race and the America’s Cup, a prestigious race that is more well known by mainstream audiences.

“I’m so happy to have rounded the Horn,” Ms. Brauer said in a video call from her boat, First Light, after a morning spent sponging out endless condensation and mildew from its bilges. “It feels like Day 1. I feel reborn knowing I’ll be in warmer weather. The depression you feel that no one in the world can fix that. Your house is trying to sink and you can’t stop it.”

Shifting gears, she added, “It’s all getting better.”

Ms. Brauer’s rise in popularity — she has more than 400,000 followers on Instagram — has come as a surprise to her, but her achievements, combined with her bright personality, have struck a chord. And she has set a goal of using her platform to change the image of professional ocean sailing.

“Cole wants to prove you can go around the world and watch Netflix every once in a while and wear your pajamas,” said Lydia Mullan, Ms. Brauer’s media manager. “As for her mental health, she’s really creating a space in her routine for herself, to create that joy she hasn’t seen in other sailors.”

Four months after she began the Global Solo Challenge, a solo, nonstop race around the world featuring sailboats of different sizes, Ms. Brauer is holding strong. Sixteen sailors began the journey and only eight remain on the ocean, with the Frenchman Philippe Delamare having finished first on Feb. 24 after 147 days at sea.

Ms. Brauer, who was more than a week ahead of her next closest competitor as of Thursday morning, is on track to set a speed record for her boat class, and to be the first American woman to complete a solo, nonstop sailing race around the world.

Her Authentic Self

Ms. Brauer has been happy to turn the image of a professional sailor on its head. Competitors in the Ocean Race and the America’s Cup tend to pose for static social media posts with their arms crossed high on their chests, throwing stern glares. Ms. Brauer would rather be more comfortable.

She brought objects like fleece blankets on her journey, despite the additional weight, and said solo sailing has helped give her the freedom to be herself.

“Without those things I would be homesick and miserable,” she said of her supply list. “We need comfort to be human. Doing my nails. Flossing. It’s hard for the general public to reach pro sailors. People stop watching. If you treat people below you, people stop watching.”

Other female sailors have noticed the same disconnect. “The year I did the Vendée Globe, Michel Desjoyeaux didn’t mention that anything went wrong,” Dee Caffari, a mentor of Ms. Brauer’s who has sailed around the world six times, said of that race’s winner. “Then we saw his jobs list after the finish and we realized he was human.”

Ms. Brauer, as her social media followers can attest, is decidedly human.

They have gotten used to her “hangout” clothes and rock-out sessions. Her team produces “Tracker Tuesdays,” where a weather forecaster explains the routes Ms. Brauer chooses and why she uses different sails, and “Shore Team Sunday,” where team members are introduced.

“In the beginning I looked at what she was doing, posting about washing her knickers in bucket and I was like, ‘No! What are you doing?’” Ms. Caffari said. “I’ve been so professional and corporate in my career. She’s been so authentic and taken everyone around the world with her. Cole is that next generation of sailor. They tell their story in a different way and it’s working.”

Finding a Purpose

Ms. Brauer was introduced to sailing at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Those days of casual racing on the turquoise waters of Kaneohe Bay informed her vision of an inclusive sailing community. That image was shattered when she came to the mainland to try her hand at professional sailing.

“When I came to the East Coast it was so closed off,” she said of those early experiences. “I couldn’t get a job in the industry. Pro sailors were jaded. They didn’t want anyone to take their job. It’s a gig-based economy. Competition, we’re pinned against each other, especially women in high-performance sailing since there are fewer of us.”

“This whole process of being a pro sailor over the past five years, I feel mentally punched in the face and my legs kicked out from under me,” she added. “I screamed and I cried. Without those experiences I wouldn’t be as mentally tough. It made me callused.”

A big break happened when she landed a gig as boat captain for Michael Hennessy’s successful Class40 Dragon. The boat was a perfect platform to hone her ocean sailing skills as she ripped up and down the East Coast delivering it to races, often alone, pushing Dragon to its limits. Her Instagram posts of those adventures drew attention, and she was invited to tryout for the Ocean Race, a fully crewed race around the world in powerful 65-footers.

“I was crushed,” Ms. Brauer said of being rejected after the trials.

Ms. Brauer, though, found a new purpose. After months of living in her van and working on Dragon, she found a benefactor in F.K. Day, the president of World Bicycle Relief and the executive vice president of SRAM Corporation, who, along with his brother Lincoln, agreed to buy a boat and fund a massive refit for the Global Solo Challenge, which was only three months away.

Conducting the hurricane of activity last summer in Newport, R.I., Ms. Brauer knew this was her moment to shine. But representatives for her new sponsors had reservations about her bold social media experiment.

“I got a massive pushback: ‘How can you be so vain. This isn’t important. We don’t want to pay for this,’” she said. “I said none of this is going to matter if the world can’t see it.”

Her boat was covered with cameras her shore team could monitor, with technology allowing for constant recording that could be used to capture unexpected twists. Ms. Brauer got some immediate traction, but nothing prepared her for the numbers she would hit once the race began.

“We were taking bets in Spain,” said Ms. Brauer, who had to sail First Light nearly 3,000 miles from Newport to Spain as a qualifier for the race. “There was a photo of me excited we hit 10,000 followers. Ten thousand for a little race? That’s massive.”

A few months later she has 40 times that count.

A Dangerous Journey

Only a handful of solo ocean racers have been American, all of whom being male. Now Ms. Brauer has a larger following than any of them, pushing far beyond the typical reach of her sport.

“This is a really good case study,” says Marcus Hutchinson, a project manager for ocean racing teams. “For me she’s an influencer. She’s a Kardashian. People will be looking for her to promote a product. She doesn’t need to worry about what the American sailors think. That’s parochial. She has to split with the American environment.”

Unlike her peers, Ms. Brauer is happy to do some extracurricular work along the way toward goals like competing in the prestigious Vendée Globe. “I’m part of the social media generation,” she said. “It’s not a burden to me.”

The playful videos and colorful backdrop, though, can make it easy for her followers to forget that she is in the middle of a dangerous race. Half her competitors in the Global Solo Challenge have pulled out, and ocean races still claim lives, particularly in the violent, frigid storms of the Southern Ocean.

“She was apprehensive,” Ms. Caffari said of Ms. Brauer’s rounding Cape Horn. “I told her: ‘You were devastated that you didn’t get on the Ocean Race. Now look at you. Those sailors didn’t even get to go to the Southern Ocean.’”

The question now is how Ms. Brauer will retain her followers’ desire for content after the race is over.

“She will be unaware of the transition she went through,” Mr. Hutchinson said. “She’s become a celebrity and hasn’t really realized it.”

Ms. Brauer, however, said she received as much from her followers as she gave them.

“They are so loving,” she said. “I send a photo of a sunset, and they paint watercolors of the scene to sell and raise money for the campaign. When I start to feel down, they let me stand on their shoulders.”

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A record on the high seas: Cole Brauer to be first US woman to sail solo around the world

In a sea of male competitors, Cole Brauer is the only woman in an around-the-world solo sailing competition that's quickly coming to a close. Later this week, the 29-year-old from Long Island, New York, is expected to cross the finish line in waters off the coast of Spain.

At that point, she'll become the first American woman to sail solo nonstop around the world.

Friends, peers and sailing enthusiasts have been cheering Brauer on since last October, when she embarked on her more than four-month journey. Her boat First Light, a special model of racing sailboat called a Class40, is expected to return to the race's starting point of A Coruña, Spain, on Thursday, according to organizers of the Global Solo Challenge.

Brauer said she anticipates arriving in Spain late Wednesday night or early Thursday.

"For the next two days or so it's a completely moving target," Brauer said in a video posted to her Instagram on Monday in the evening, her time.

The latest official race update on Brauer said she was off the west coast of the Azores on Saturday.

"Long anticipated Cole Brauer has been able to avoid the light winds of the Azores high and slingshot east," race organizer Marco Nannini wrote online, adding, "She’s now sailing on course at constant speeds above 10 knots average."

Nannini told USA TODAY he wanted to organize the Global Solo Challenge to "create a platform for sailors like Cole to showcase her skills and move on to a pro sailor career."

Over the past several months, Brauer has been keeping her more than 400,000 Instagram followers updated − and entertained − with videos from onboard First Light. The trip has been extremely challenging and physically exhausting, Brauer said in one video from December.

In the post, she describes how frustrated she felt when she had to fix and replace different parts of the boat.

"I don't want you guys to think I'm like Superwoman or something," Brauer said. "Right now I've been feeling just broken," she added, describing how she had to fix the boat's autopilot system after injuring her torso against the side of the boat's hull amid intense waves.

Who is Cole Brauer?

Brauer is from Long Island and competed for the University of Hawaii sailing team. She went to high school in East Hampton, New York, her university team website says. She is the youngest of more than a dozen sailors, or skippers, in the Global Solo Challenge.

The professional sailor lives in Boothbay, Maine, and during the spring and summer, she can be also found in Newport, Rhode Island, gearing up for races, the Newport Daily News reported last year .

Brauer has sailed on First Light, a 40-foot yacht, for over five years, the outlet reported.

"I always said I wanted to race around the world in this boat," she told the newspaper.

From above and below First Light's deck, Brauer has been sharing aspects of her journey with followers and die-hard sailing fans.

On New Year's Eve, she donned a dress and danced at midnight , and in another post, she showed off how many pull-ups she can do.

As the only woman racing solo, nonstop around the world in the first Global Solo Challenge, Brauer said she's determined to prove there's nothing women and girls cannot accomplish.

"I push so much harder when someone's like, 'No, you can't do that,'" Brauer told NBC Nightly News . "And I'm like, 'OK, watch me.'"

On her profile page on the Global Solo Challenge website, Brauer says she wants to send a message to the sailing community that it's time to leave its male-dominated culture in the past. In the profile, Brauer takes aim at a lack of equal pay and what she describes as harassment in the sailing industry.

"Just as well as this community has built me up it has broken me and my fellow female teammates down. I am doing this race for them," Brauer said.

Brauer and her spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

How long has Cole Brauer been at sea?

Brauer has been sailing for over four months after departing on Oct. 29.

She is expected to finish in second place in the race, behind a sailor who departed about a month before she did.

The start times differed because that first place boat, Phillipe Delamare's Mowgli, is much slower, Nannini said, explaining the race's staggered start times.

"The format means that if you enter on a slow, small boat you can still win, which makes it much more inclusive than an event where a bigger budget is a definite advantage," he said.

France's Delamare will win first-place prize money of 7,500 euros (about $8,140), and the second and third-place finishers will win 5,000 euros (about $5,430) and 2,500 euros (about $2,710) respectively, Nannini said.

How dangerous is Cole Brauer's sailing race?

A medical team including a nurse and a physician trained Brauer and sent her on her journey with medicines and medical supplies, in case of any health issues, according to her Instagram account.

Early in the race, Brauer administered her own IV with a saline solution after she became dehydrated, according to one video posted to her social media.

Brauer's most serious health scare happened in early December when she said gnarly ocean conditions caused the boat to jolt, throwing her across the inside of the boat and slamming her hard against a wall.

Her ribs were badly bruised as a result, and her medical team told her to alternate between taking Advil and Tylenol, Brauer said on Instagram.

"Rigging up a sleeping seat belt has been added to my priority list," she said in the post's caption. "I know I'm very lucky that this wasn't a lot worse."

What is the Global Solo Challenge?

The inaugural Global Solo Challenge is a nonstop sailing race in which competitors departed last year from A Coruña, Spain.

The race encompasses nearly 30,000 miles and takes place mostly in the southern hemisphere.

After leaving waters off the coast of Spain, sailors travel south and around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. The race then includes the two other capes that together make up the famous three great capes: Australia's Cape Leeuwin and South America's Cape Horn.

About half of the other competitors dropped out of the race, according to racing data posted online by the Global Solo Challenge.

Delamare finished the race late last month after embarking on his journey in late September 2023, according to race data.

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Sailor Cole Brauer, 29, Becomes First U.S. Female to Race Solo Across the Globe

"Thank you to everyone that came together and made this process possible," Brauer wrote on Instagram on Thursday

COLE BRAUER OCEAN RACING

Sailor Cole Brauer is making history!

On Thursday, Brauer, 29, from Long Island, New York, shared a post on Instagram marking her big finish after she became the first U.S. female to race solo around the world.

"Amazing finish!!!! So stoked! Thank you to everyone that came together and made this process possible. 😭😍🌈," a post on the account was captioned alongside a pic showing her standing on the side of her yacht First Light while waving sparklers in Spain.

Brauer popped a bottle of champagne in another Instagram Story photo, which the Regatta Rescue account captioned, "She's back!!"

Brauer's media manager Lydia Mullan also kept followers updated on Instagram , writing on the sailor's account while documenting the historic finish, "Cole's back on dry land!! THANK YOU ALL for tuning in, for being here with us for the past four months, for being such amazing supporters of this campaign. We love you."

Cole Brauer Ocean Racing/Instagram

Of the 16 skippers in the inaugural Global Solo Challenge, Brauer was the only female and the youngest. At 5 feet, 2 inches and 100 lbs., she was also the smallest.

“To make it out here as a hundred-pound girl is a dream come true,” she told PEOPLE last month.

Brauer and First Light set sail from A Coruña, Spain, on Oct. 29, 2023. She traveled down the west African coast, rounding South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, before heading to the Indian Ocean, where she rounded Cape Leeuwin in Australia before setting out across the Pacific toward South America. Brauer covered 27,000 miles in the race in just over four months.

On Jan. 26, she hit what is considered the “Everest” of her career by rounding Chile’s Cape Horn, surviving the notoriously deadly Drake Passage, the turbulent strait connecting the Pacific and Atlantic between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, just above Antarctica.

While speaking to PEOPLE last month, Brauer recalled the moment 15-foot waves crashed over the deck of her 40-foot racing yacht in the Indian Ocean.

She explained how the usually trustworthy boat’s autopilot feature had broken down, forcing her to steer the shaky tiller with her legs while also manning the lines of two sails with each arm. “I'm trying to get rid of the sails because I can't control the boat,” Brauer recalled of the harrowing experience in December.

“But I can't leave the helm,” she went on. “It's like driving a car on the highway and you don't have an accelerator or brakes. All you've got is this loose steering wheel. I was free-falling down waves, going so fast, I hit the maximum speed I've ever hit on this boat, just flying and then free-falling.”

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The incident became more challenging due to her suffering a possibly cracked rib.

“Every movement is this shooting pain,” she remembered, adding that it took her "two days to resolve the issue," but she "fixed it" eventually.

“It’s not like you can quit,” she said. “You're in the middle of the ocean. There is no quitting. No one's going to come and save you. So it’s like, ‘Suck it up. Fix the problem.’ In the end, it's just you. You have to keep moving forward.”

Sailors rescued east of Bermuda after racing yacht struck by lightning

PORTSMOUTH, VA (WITN) - Two sailors are safe thanks to the Coast Guard and a nearby ship after their racing yacht was struck by lightning in the Atlantic Ocean.

Coast Guard officials say that they responded to an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) from the two sailors on the 19-foot French Racing Yacht Sogestran Seafrigo LHOR One around 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The Coast Guard said that they sent an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Elizabeth City to help the boat, and alerted other nearby ships using the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER).

The Coast Guard plane arrived at the boat which was 1726 miles east of Bermuda around 4:45 a.m. and was able to direct a 505-foot Reefer ship, the Frio Ionian, to where the yacht was at.

The Frio Ionian crew arrived at 10 a.m. and were able to rescue two men, 20 and 24 years old, from the Sogestran Seafrigo LHOR One. The two men said that their boat started taking on water after a lightning strike reportedly caused a hole in the hull.

According to the Coast Guard, the Sogestran Seafrigo LHOR One was sailing from Guadeloupe to France. The yacht was returning to France after finishing first at the Royal Ocean Racing Club Caribbean 600 Class 40 in Antigua.

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Sailor Cole Brauer makes history as the first American woman to race solo around the world

Aboard her 40-foot racing boat First Light ,  29-year-old Cole Brauer just became the first American woman to race nonstop around the world by herself.

The New York native pulled into A Coruña, Spain, on Thursday after a treacherous 30,000-mile journey that took 130 days.

She thanked a cheering crowd of family and fans who had been waiting for her on shore.

“This is really cool and so overwhelming in every sense of the word,” she exclaimed, before drinking Champagne from her trophy.

The 5-foot-2 powerhouse placed second out of 16 avid sailors who competed in the Global Solo Challenge, a circumnavigation race that started in A Coruña with participants from 10 countries. The first-of-its-kind event   allowed a wide range of boats to set off in successive departures based on performance characteristics. Brauer started on Oct. 29, sailing down the west coast of Africa, over to Australia, and around the tip of South America before returning to Spain.

Brauer is the only woman and the youngest competitor in the event — something she hopes young girls in and out of the sport can draw inspiration from.

“It would be amazing if there was just one girl that saw me and said, ‘Oh, I can do that too,’” Brauer said of her history-making sail.

It’s a grueling race, and more than half of the competitors have dropped out so far. One struck something that caused his boat to flood, and another sailor had to abandon his ship after a mast broke as a severe storm was moving in.

The four-month journey is fraught with danger, including navigating the three “Great Capes” of Africa, Australia and South America. Rounding South America’s Cape Horn, where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet, is often likened to climbing Mount Everest because of its perfect storm of hazards — a sharp rise in the ocean floor and whipping westerly winds push up massive waves. Combined with the frigid waters and stray icebergs, the area is known as a graveyard for ships, according to NASA. Brauer  said  she was “so unbelievably stoked” when she sailed past Cape Horn in January.

Marco Nannini, organizer of the Global Solo Challenge, said the comparison to scaling Mount Everest doesn’t capture the difficulty of the race. Sailing solo means not just being a skipper but a project manager — steering the boat, fixing equipment, understanding the weather and maintaining one’s physical health.

Nannini cited the relatively minuscule number of people who have sailed around the world solo — 186, according to the International Association of Cape Horners — as evidence of the challenges that competitors face. More than 6,000 people have climbed Mount Everest, according to  High Adventure Expeditions .

Brauer stared down 30-foot waves that had enough force to throw her across the boat. In a scare caught on camera, she badly injured her rib   near the halfway point of the event. At another point, her team in the U.S. directed Brauer to insert an IV into her own arm due to dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea.

She was able to stay in constant communication with members of her team, most of whom are based in New England,   and keep herself entertained with Netflix and video calls with family through Starlink satellites.   That’s also how Brauer was able to use Zoom to connect with NBC News for an interview, while she was sailing about 1,000 miles west of the Canary Islands.

While Brauer was technically alone on First Light, she had the company of 450,000 followers on Instagram, where she frequently got candid about life on an unforgiving sea while reflecting on her journey.

“It all makes it worth it when you come out here, you sit on the bow, and you see how beautiful it is,” she said in an Instagram video, before panning the camera to reveal the radiant sunrise.

Brauer grew up on Long Island but didn’t learn to sail until she went to college in Hawaii. She traded in her goal of becoming a doctor for life on the water. But she quickly learned making a career as a sailor is extremely difficult, with professional racers often hesitant to welcome a 100-pound young woman on their team.

Even when she was trying to find sponsors for the Global Solo Challenge, she said a lot of people “wouldn’t touch her with a 10-foot pole” because they saw her as a “liability.”

Brauer’s message to the skeptics and naysayers? “Watch me.”

“I push so much harder when someone’s like, ‘No, you can’t do that,’ or ‘You’re too small,’” Brauer explained.

“The biggest asset is your mental strength, not the physical one,” Nannini said. “Cole is showing everyone that.”

Brauer hopes to continue competing professionally and is already eyeing another around-the-world competition, but not before she gets her hands on a croissant and cappuccino.

“My mouth is watering just thinking about that.”

Emilie Ikeda is an NBC News correspondent.

Watch CBS News

Maine sailor Cole Brauer​ now first American woman to race solo around world after finishing 4-month journey

By Laura Haefeli

Updated on: March 7, 2024 / 10:53 AM EST / CBS Boston

BOSTON - Cole Brauer , a 29-year-old sailor from Boothbay, Maine, is now the first American woman to race solo around the world. 

Brauer finished second in the Global Solo Challenge , one of the most extreme sailing events in the world. She arrived in A Coruna, Spain Thursday morning, according to her Instagram page. She was the youngest skipper and the only woman in the race.

"Amazing finish!!!! So stoked! Thank you to everyone that came together and made this process possible," she wrote.

"It hasn't really hit me yet. Everyone's so excited, but for me it hasn't really sunk in that I now hold these records," Brauer later said in a statement. "It just feels like I went for a little sail, and now I'm back."

Brauer has been away from home for four months and was one of ten people in the grueling race. She spent 130 days at sea.

"The goal of this was always to be the first American woman to race solo around the world," Brauer told WBZ-TV in an interview last month.

About halfway into the race, a massive wave crashed on top of her 40-foot-boat and Brauer slammed into the walls of her vessel. She ended up with bruised ribs and still had two months to go. She had cameras on board which allowed a medical team to watch her constantly.

Brauer admitted the journey was lonely, but said she was able to balance the chaos with beautiful, peaceful sunsets and seeing wildlife at sea.

"So excited to like have a cappuccino and a croissant, cannot wait," Brauer told WBZ-TV about her plans when she was finished.

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New York skipper Cole Brauer, 29, becomes first US woman to sail solo around the world

She sailed her way into the history books. 

Cole Brauer, a 29-year-old skipper from Long Island, tearfully reunited with her family and drank champagne from her trophy after arriving in Spain Thursday morning, becoming the first US woman to sail solo around the world.

Brauer’s journey spanned over 130 days as part of the Global Solo Challenge, a daunting 26,000 nautical miles long race that began in October off the coast of A Coruña, located in northwestern Spain.

“I can’t believe it guys. I sailed around the world,” Brauer said as she approached the finish line in an Instagram live video. “That’s crazy. That’s absolutely crazy. This is awesome. Let’s just do it again. Let’s keep going!”

She’s also the lone woman in a field of 19 sailors, seven of whom remained in the race following a handful of withdrawals or abandonments. 

“This goal has always been to be the First American Woman to Race Around the World,” Brauer said, according to her sailing profile . “With this goal, I hope to show that this very male-dominated sport and community can become more open and less ‘traditional.’ “

Brauer documented the treacherous trip daily aboard her beloved racing boat, “First Light,” a 40-foot monohull sailboat that typically holds a one or two-person crew, for her 459,000 Instagram followers.

The race path took Brauer down the western coast of Africa before she sailed into the Southern Ocean in early December, where she’d overtake second place in the challenge.

She often showed fans her peaceful mornings and on-board workout sessions in the Atlantic Ocean. But didn’t shy away from being transparent about her hardships at sea. 

In December, Brauer suffered a rib injury when she was violently thrown across the “First Light” because of broaching, which is when a boat unintentionally changes direction toward the wind, amid the rough waters near Africa. 

“Solo sailors, you have to be able to do everything,” Brauer told NBC on March 3 . “You have to be able to get up even when you’re so exhausted and you have to be able to fix everything on the boat.”

She reached the Pacific Ocean on December 29 and traveled past the southernmost point of South America and back into the Atlantic on January 27.

As she missed the holidays back home, Brauer decorated “First Light” with decorations fit for the occasion — pumpkins and ghosts for Halloween, a small felt Christmas tree, and broke out a dress and champagne for New Year’s Day. 

Brauer marked her 100th day at sea on Feb. 5.

She told the outlet that she started to feel the boat “deteriorating” and “starting to break down” as she made her final push through the Atlantic. 

She deliberately slowed her arrival time near the finish line to coordinate with the “first light” — when light is first seen in the morning — in honor of her boat’s namesake.

“I’m glad that out of all times, I’m coming in at first light,” Brauer said. “It’s only necessary.”

As she crossed the finish line, Brauer held two flares above her head to signal an end to her over four-month-long campaign.

French skipper Philippe Delamare, who started the race a month before Brauer, won the Global Solo Challenge on Feb. 24.

He spent 147 days and 1 hour traveling around the globe.

Brauer grew up on Long Island and graduated from East Hampton High School in 2012.

She was introduced to sailing when she attended the University of Hawaii in 2014 and later found her footing in solo sailing.

Polish skipper Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz is the first woman to sail solo around the world, traveling 31,166 nautical miles from 1976 to 1978. 

In 2005, Dame Ellen MacArthur sailed 27,354 nautical miles in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes 33 seconds, which, at the time was the fastest solo circumnavigation around the globe.

Brauer hopes to serve as the same inspiration as the sailing pioneers. 

“I push so much harder when someone is like, ‘you can’t do that.’ And I’m like, ‘OK, watch me,’ she told NBC. “It would be amazing if there was one other girl who saw me and said, “Oh, I can do that too.”

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Welcome to Portland Yacht Club

Portland Yacht Club is Oregon’s oldest yacht club and was founded in 1908 as the Willamette Motor Boat Club, and remains today as the premier club in the greater Portland area.   Located on NE Marine Drive on the banks of the Columbia River, the club offers open moorage for sailboats, boathouses for powerboats, and open docks for both.  The moorage facilities include private fuel dock and pump-out station. Club members have access to the Willow Bar Outstation located 12 miles downstream on Sauvie Island.   The Clubhouse facilities include the outdoor patio, main bar, grand ballroom and adjacent dining room with food and beverage service offered six days a week.  In addition, the club’s frequent activities include a full range of events, many of which are family oriented.

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8 Yacht Clubs and Marinas in the Philippines to Moor Your Boat In

FoodfindsAsia.com | 8 Yacht Clubs and Marinas in the Philippines to Moor Your Boat In | Filipinos’ history as a maritime people date back to prehistoric times. In fact, the Philippines’ basic sociopolitical unit today, the barangay, traces its etymological origins to the balangay , the ancient outrigger boats that were used by precolonial Filipino communities to explore and conquer islands this side of the Pacific. As a people belonging to a seafaring culture, it’s no wonder that modern Filipinos are taking a retrospective look at their glorious past as Austronesian mariners and are developing a renewed love for the ocean and marinas as present-day yachtsmen.

Today, Philippine marinas look to accommodate more and more yachts and other pleasure watercrafts as the years go by. In 2017, an ASEAN Briefing op-ed piece named the Philippines as a country with high potential in yacht industry growth. The natural beauty of the Philippine islands and its fantastic bays, combined with a growing interest in leisurely sea travel, can explain the spike in yachting activities throughout the country.

Are you part of the demographic that’s become enamored of the yachting lifestyle? Do you want to know where in the country you can berth your watercraft? Leading sailboat and motorboat authority Europa Yachts is happy to enter the conversation, and recommends the following locations for discovering the Philippines through yachting. Here is a short list of clubs and marinas in the country, organized by island region.  

Manila Yacht Club and Marina, Manila, Metro Manila

Established in 1927, the Manila Yacht Club and Marina is one of the oldest yacht clubs in all of Asia, and is nestled in the scenic Manila Bay. It is also near other well-known landmarks in the city, such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the headquarters of the Philippine Navy, and the US Embassy. Facilities in the marina include a launching ramp and a fueling center, and the club itself is host to a restaurant and gorgeous function rooms. The Manila Yacht Club only welcomes visitors who arrive by boat, and it charges an initial security deposit of USD 750 upon arrival. Club membership is mandatory for medium and long-term mooring of boats.

Subic Bay Yacht Club, Zambales

The Subic Bay Yacht Club, which was founded in 1998, upholds itself as the country’s premier yacht club. It operates in the deepest bay in the country, and can host vessels well beyond 50 meters in length. Already benefitting from the innate beauty of the Zambales mountains surrounding it, the club hosts a number of other attractions, including its luxury accommodations, swimming pools, and its own movie theater, bowling alley, and nightclub. Those who venture outside of the club’s premises can also shop for well-priced imported goods at the Subic Freeport Zone, engage in water sports , or sign up for diving excursions.

Punta Fuego Yacht Club, Batangas

Peaceful Punta Fuego is a mecca for those who love the sport of sailing. As per its official website, the Punta Fuego Yacht Club aims to serve “a dynamic and vibrant community of boat enthusiasts and yacht owners.” This it does by playing host to a diverse population of watercrafts, from large catamarans and mono-hull yachts to small boats. Non-members of the club may use the berths for up to 3 weeks, and can refuel at the marina’s fueling station. The yacht club offers other amenities such as locker rooms, shower rooms, Internet facilities, a chart room, and a restaurant called Barracuda Bar, which serves delicious fares. Outside of the yachting crowd, Punta Fuego Yacht Club also caters to those wishing to celebrate weddings, conferences, and corporate events in their opulent quarters.

Puerto Galera Yacht Club, Oriental Mindoro

Further south, yachtsmen may moor at the Puerto Galera Yacht Club in Oriental Mindoro, an island location that’s home to tourist attractions like the Sabang Wreck dive site, lively beachfront resorts, and the Malasimbo Music Festival. Puerto Galera Yacht Club has been in operation for almost thirty years and lends services such as refueling provisions and yacht repairs from its marina. Boat owners also enjoy optimal convenience if mooring here, as they can also shop for spare parts in the nearby Batangas port.

Busuanga Yacht Club, Puerta del Sol Bay Marina, Palawan

Beautiful Palawan is a bucket-list destination for many, especially those who dream of cruising its crystalline waters. Accommodating the yachting community in this island province is the Busuanga Yacht Club, which promises secure mooring amidst breathtaking white-sand beaches. Here, each vessel will benefit from a typhoon-safe harbor, easy refueling, and direct access to transportation hubs like the New Busuanga Airport. Adjoining this marina is the Puerta del Sol Bay Resort, which offers luxurious accommodations to visitors. When not atop the deck of a boat, travelers can also explore the lagoons and freshwater lakes of Coron, go shipwreck diving, or relax in the hot springs of Maquinit.

Iloilo Sailing Club, Arevelo, Iloilo City, Iloilo

Iloilo Province is home to some of the country’s most beautiful old-world architecture, a flourishing ecotourism industry, and delectably fresh seafood cuisine. What will round off an unforgettable visit to Iloilo, however, is an excursion to the Iloilo Sailing Club on a leisure watercraft. The club accepts visitors and encourages membership in the case of medium and long-stay mooring. It also hosts a number of amenities and activities, including a dinghy storage, a beach bar and restaurant, and classes for those who want to learn about sailing. In recent months, the Iloilo Sailing Club has also been a convenient meet-up point for big maritime events, such as the Iloilo-Guimaras Paraw Regatta and the Seafarers’ Job Fair.

Cebu Yacht Club, Mactan Island, Cebu

The historic Mactan Island in Cebu was the site of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s arrival in the Philippines. Now known as a commercial hub that hosts a prolific furniture and musical instruments industries, Mactan is also the location of the Cebu Yacht Club, an institution that is beloved by the locals. Aside from being an ideal spot to restock on much-needed fuel and supplies, the Cebu Yacht Club is also a trusted club to commission for boat repairs. There’s a good vibe in this club for everybody, as it sports both luxury accommodations and a waterfront strip of restaurants that laid-back diners can frequent. MINDANAO

Holiday Oceanview Marina, Samal Island, Davao del Norte

The Holiday Oceanview Marina is a major attraction of Samal Island in Davao del Norte Province, one that welcomes Filipino and foreign yachtsmen alike to moor within its premises. The space is quite roomy, in fact, with 56 berths that can fit vessels up to 15 meters in length. The club also has a boat ramp that can accommodate boats up to 18 meters in length. The well-guarded and weather-safe marina is a gateway to some of Mindanao’s finest attractions, such as the Pearl Farm, Hagimit Falls, and Giant Clam Sanctuary.  

There’s no better way to discover the Philippines from end to end than getting onboard a seaworthy vessel and going on a long cruise, with stops in some of the most beautiful places in the country. Find a safe harbor in any of these major clubs and marinas, and participate in the renaissance of sailing in the Philippines.

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