On 19 March 2023, the 1st edition of the GLOBE40, a new great planetary adventure offered to Class40 racers, ended in Lorient in a day full of emotion. Barely two and a half years later, on Sunday 31 August, 9 teams will take the start of the prologue of the 2nd edition of the GLOBE40, 8 of which are destined to complete the grand tour. For these 37 skippers who have been registered for the various stages to date, of 12 different nationalities,  it is the great dream around the world, a project that exceeds everything in duration, commitment, requirements and their mere presence on the starting line is already a success: 8 projects each with a strong personality, a determination to go all the way,  and a high level of technical and sporting preparation. The result is a technological evolution that could be summed up in a single telling figure: the title holders, the Dutchmen Frans Budel and Ysbrand Endt aboard their Class40 N°44 will be able to look with envy at this new starting line, the most recent of which is Ian Lipinski’s n°202 CREDIT MUTUEL:  An image of the progress made by the event in 2 years, the challenges of this new edition and its tremendous potential for the future, symbolising the concept of an accessible round the world race. But above all, 8 beautiful stories from each of these projects will be offered over the next 8 months.

 A word for those who are not leaving: although they are seriously committed to the purchase of a Class40 dedicated to the project, the VOGUE AUTOUR DU MONDE (Class40 n°101 – Stéphane Hunot and Benoit Lequin) and ESATCO teams of Nicolas Guibal (Class40 n°141) have very recently had to give up, having been unable to complete their budget; their slumps, which have even been produced, are waiting for them for the 3rd…

 🇪🇸Hola España! And the GLOBE40 is pleased to greet the host country of the Grand Départ in Cadiz by inviting Spanish skipper Aina Bauza Roig and her French co-skipper Axelle Pillain, winners of the 3rd edition of Cap pour Elles, a programme to increase the number of women in ocean racing, to the prologue on their Class40 n° 175 ENGIE – Dessine – moi la High – Tech; a great showcase in an event where a quarter of the skippers and project managers are women and where several up-and-coming skippers will be present such as Amélie Grassi, Djamila Tassin, or Julia Virat.

 AND THE STORIES …

🇦🇹No.93: WILSON AROUND THE WORLD : Lisa Berger /Jade Edwards – Liney: who’s Wilson? This is the story of an Austrian skipper who, after her mini-transatlantic race in 2023, said to herself that she could not stop there with ocean racing and that the dream of sailing around the world was a must. Of course, the n°93 is old, but with a great reputation (winner of the CIC Normandy Channel Race with Sam Goodchild) and especially with Jade’s experience as a professional boater in Wales has undergone a complete refit of almost a year. These two are really keen and “we may be one of the oldest boats, but knowing that anything is possible in these long offshore races, it only strengthens our motivation to do well and go fast”. And who is WILSON in all of this? a beautiful sensitivity of its skipper to give a name and a soul to these few tons of resin, and it is said that Lisa’s dog who has been a hit on social networks could well try to get on board too.

🇨🇦No.128: WHISKEY JACK is back! Mélodie Schaffer and her incredible team of returnees from the 1st edition! potpourri from all the other teams: the American Craig Horsfield, the Dutchman Ysbrand Endt (reigning winner), the Australian multihull champion Paul Stratfold and in the middle of all this cosmopolitan aeropage a mountain guide, recent and passionate ocean racer, Julia Virat. This is the story of a Canadian skipper, muse of the 1st edition, who has won the admiration of all in 2022/2023 by her determination, and by her tenacity overcoming multiple difficulties on a project and a boat that has experienced just about every possible and imaginable damage. And who on a beautiful evening in Canada’s biggest club in Toronto ended up being rewarded as Canadian Rolex Sailor of the Year, ahead of the Canadian Sail GP team. She is back with a more structured project but probably with no less desire for the one who holds the record for the 24 hours at sea in the event and won a leg. The only problem in all this is that we will have to review all the schedules because the effusions of farewell at the pontoon, from Melodie to the other teams at each start are anthology moments of which the photographer Jean-Marie Liot never misses a crumb.

🇫🇷No.139: FREE DOM: Thibaut Lefevere / Maxime Bourcier / Victor Jost / François Martin: the Indian Ocean is coming to the GLOBE40! This is the story of a skipper, Thibaut Lefevere, a business manager living in Reunion Island, who after a first successful experience in a Transat Jacques Vabre, returns to work on the beautiful island in the Indian Ocean but matures an even crazier project: to sail around the world! and succeeds in convincing his partner again, an extraordinary radio station,  FREE DOM, in quasi-monopoly on the island and to whom everything is told, in Creole very often, to commit to the adventure. And who also gets it into his head to convince the organizer to make a stop on the island, a great first, and who in the end says yes. In short, the “intense island” will produce an “intense” team and most certainly an “intense stage” with a great program of animation with the color and warmth of this part of France, this magnificent piece of the end of the world, battered by cyclones like recently Cape Verde, and which is immersed in European, African, Indian cultures,  Chinese…

🇧🇷No.151: BARCO BRASIL: José Guiherme Caldas / Luiz Bolina; from high-flying medicine to ocean racing! It is the story of an Angolan who became a Brazilian and one of the most famous neurosurgeons in Brazil and in the world, arranging international conferences and personal physician to President Lula of Brazil. And who has always chosen the sea as an antidote to his other life in hospitals: an already renowned offshore racer, he won in particular Cape Town / Rio and the Refeno, the biggest offshore race in Brazil between Recife and the Fernando de Noronha archipelago. So gradually the ambition rises and we sell the Class40 n° 107 to buy the 151 to be competitive on the GLOBE40 because there comes a time when the offshore racer can only be satisfied by climbing the ultimate step, the round the world race. A project prepared for a long time, a break in a busy life, personal accomplishment, passion for racing… Mr. Professor, we won’t ask you if you have passed the “First Aid” certificate… and behind this project a strong desire to communicate on a project in the colors of the country to popularize racing in Brazil, the Barco Brazil; and the colors are warm, as should be the stopover in Brazil in Recife, in the heart of the Northeast.

🇬🇧No.152: JANGADA RACING: Richard Palmer / Rupert Holmes: from the Solent to the world tour. This is the story of a citizen of His Majesty tenor of IRC sailing, champion of the RORC 2022, winner of the Transat du RORC, current Vice-Commodore of the famous RORC with his friend Rupert Holmes, regular journalist of Yachting World, 1st world nautical magazine in the world in circulation, excuse me, and who could have travelled the Solent in all directions and lined up the Fastnets until the end of his nautical days;  and instead the team is taking on an incredible new challenge, to move to Class40, cross the Channel to see what these Frenchies are doing on their funny machines and above all to go around the world. It’s a good thing a new more or less serious event has just ended, brought back all his teams. so we buy the 152 in 2023, a very efficient Class40 Tyker, and we start in Class40, in particular on the Normandy, a somewhat brutal experience the 1st time, the event does not let itself be coaxed like that, with a real satisfaction for the second, “finisher” of a particularly severe 2025 edition. But a good experience to take while waiting for the Southern Ocean, on a boat that, like most of the other competitors, will also have spent a long winter in the yard with a high level of preparation.

🇧🇪No.187: BELGIUM OCEAN RACING – CURIUM: Jonas Gerckens / Renaud Dehareng / Benoit Hantzberg / Djamila Tassin: Belgium takes on the world! This is the story of a Belgian skipper, Jonas Gerckens, to whom ocean racing has brought a mixture of great satisfaction but also hardship in adversity; from the one he experienced in a Route du Rhum forced to retire following a powerful infection he made a very beautiful film, no doubt with as much content as the story of a victory,  how to cope, rebuild and move forward. and there another story is intertwined, that of a brilliant business leader, Renaud Dehareng, developing a cutting-edge company in nuclear medicine, Curium, and which is on the front page of international business magazines… but one is also passionate about the sea and ocean racing; and when one meets the other it makes the Belgium Ocean Racing team and as we are afraid of nothing we go around the world so as not to do like the others on the classic circuits. other ingredients are added to this cuisine, such as the talented Belgian-Spanish Djamila Tassin, recent owner of a Class40, and the pro skipper Benoit Hanztberg, a sailboat by trade. A project conceived as a quartet, acknowledging the arrival of the famous scows on the GLOBE40 with the n° 187, already giving the race management headaches to estimate the level of increase in average speeds between the two editions. Quickly, in any case, something like the 24-hour Class40 record in the South Ocean, unless we choose to be cautious in order to last. Yes, but what will the others do? Travelling of course but also a lot of racing on the programme.

🇩🇪No.189: NEXT GENERATION BOATING AROUND THE WORLD – Lennart Burke / Melvin Fink: when Germany discovers a passion for ocean racing. This is the story of two young skippers, 26 and 23 years old, who, after an already rich course offshore (Mini-Transat, Jacques Vabre, CIC Normandy), have the opportunity, 4 months before the start and exactly before the closing of registrations, to embark on the great challenge around the world. With the ambition to follow in the footsteps of a great alunomy – although still young – Boris Hermann, who truly “thrilled” Germany with his exploits around the world. It is the ambition to be the youngest crew in a round the world race and to think “socially” and “not only to sail for victory but also to show what is possible when young people choose to lead, to persevere, and to dream on a global scale”. A challenge that seems to excite the German crowds because these young skippers are also very good communicators and capable, as in recent weeks – even before the start – of generating several million views on their social networks. The race will also be there between 8 projects that not only have great stories to tell but also know how to tell them in a modern and attractive form.

🇫🇷No.202 – CREDIT MUTUEL – Ian Lipinksi / Antoine Carpentier / Amélie Grassi ; “last but not least” the number of the Class40 is causing a stir: 202 .. barely 10 numbers from the last Class40 launched in 2025. But what was going to do in this mess? After years of collecting victories (Mini-Transat in prototype and series – Transat Jacques Vabre – CIC Normandy – 2nd in the Transat CIC) a leading racer decides to abandon his little comrades to their usual games and tell another story. Another story? A round the world trip, designed as a sporting adventure, the reflexes will always be there, but also family, personal… as if his passion for gliding had led Ian to look down on things… Look at the essentials and come back with an experience as an ocean racer around the world and having gained depth on all the other levels. As for the boat, after revolutionising the market with the first scow – the 158 in 2019 – this new design has proved on the last Normandy after fine-tuning work that it is indeed in the top tier of the Class40.Little playmates such as Antoine Carpentier – not enough space for the list of winners – and Amelie Grassi – recent winner of the Fastnet in the final VSR – should not lower the level of the crew.

THE PROGRAMME OF THE PROLOGUE IN LORIENT

Monday 25 August : arrival of all the Class40s – pontoon A – Lorient la Base in front of the Harbour Master’s Office

From Monday 25 to Friday 29 : equipment inspection

From Tuesday 26 to Friday 29 : reception of 300 children and accompanying persons from the leisure centres of the municipalities of the Lorient agglomeration

Thursday 28th : Brittany Sailing Valley webinar “the new ambitions of the Class40”

Friday 29 : safety briefing

Saturday 30 : start briefing

The programme for the start on Sunday 31 August:

            – 11.00 / 11.20 individual start from Lorient La Base of each competitor –            musical accompaniment by the Bagad of the City of Lorient (to be confirmed)

– 12.00 pm: symbolic start on the Scorff in front of the Hôtel de l’Agglomération – start parade One by one under the veil

            – 12.45 / 13.00 at the exit of the channel meeting with the YAKA PADDLE event at Larmor PLage – 400 paddles greet the departure of the “tourdumondeistes” with a globe    6 m giant (to be confirmed)

-14.00 – start of the race under the Courreaux de Groix – coastal course and mark at        pass at the Pointe du Talud and then the Pointe de Pen Men on the port side

and 900 MILES before the tapas…

Forecast arrival in Cadiz Thursday 4 / Friday 5 September

Opening today, August 21st, of the VIRTUAL REGATTA round the world race:

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