I started sailing dinghies when I was 6 years old with my father. When I was 13 years old my father purchased a Sailor 23’ “White Roma” lifting keel yacht, which was based at Whitby on a drying mooring. The majority of sailing was in the local area but we did several passages up the Humber River, as it was placed in dry storage over the winter in Wakefield. 

When I was 16 years old this yacht was replaced with a new Macwester Whight 32’ ketch, “Huckleberry Friend”. We sailed this yacht from Littlehampton where it was built to South Ferriby on the Humber River. This was a locked entrance and we both gained experience in coping with the strong tidal currents of the Humber. “Huckleberry Friend” had twin keels and we maximised this in our cruises. We sailed to Wells and Brancaster on the East Anglia coast and made two fortnight long cruises to Holland crossing the North Sea to Imuijden, travelling up to Amsterdam and through to the Inland sea and up to the Friesen Islands. For the majority of these cruises there were just the two of us. The highest winds we experienced were Force 7.

I had a break from sailing whilst I went to medical school. When I joined the Royal Navy I managed one trip on their fleet of Nicholson 55’s when we went from Gosport across to Cherbourg, over to Alderney and back via Dartmouth in a Force 7-8. 

I spent a year at sea with HMS Hecate, an ocean survey ship, as Ships Medical Officer completing a 3 month tour in the North Atlantic up to the Artic Circle and Northern Iceland and a second 4 month tour to the South Atlantic visiting the West Coast of Africa, Ascension Island, St Helena and eventually reaching Uruguay. We experienced several Force 9-10 storms during this period.

In 1987 my father purchased a Hallberg Rassey 9.4, “Ellos Star”, which he based at the Hamble. We sailed extensively in the Solent for a few years before he moved it down to Spain. Due to work commitments I was only able to sail once in the Mediterranean with him.

He returned to the Solent after a few years and berthed “Ellos Star” in Lymington and we continued to explore the Solent. After he had sold “Ellos Star” the two of us went on a sailing holiday to Croatia and sailed a Feeling 32 which I skippered. He purchased his final yacht in 2000, which was a LM 29 motor sailor that he had berthed in Christchurch. The vast majority of my sailing up to this point was just with my father. We rarely had any other crew with us and shared helming and navigation.

In 2000 I had sufficient time to commence studying for my Yachtmaster exam. I gained initially the Day Skipper shorebased course at night school followed by the Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased course the following year. I also gained my VHF short range licence.

In 2003 I gained my Day Skipper practical qualification with Devon Sailing on a Hallberg-Rassy 34 and a Hallberg-Rassy 36. In order to gain large boat experience my partner Shirley and I spent 2 weeks cruising from Barcelona to Gibraltar in a Hallberg-Rassy 49 with a Yachtmaster Ocean Instructor. As there were only the 3 of us on board we worked a two-watch system whilst at sea with the instructor doing one watch and myself and Shirley doing the other. This enabled us to gain experience and confidence in managing larger boats as I helmed the yacht into most of the anchorages and marina berths.

In 2005 we purchased our first yacht “Baboujai”– a Feeling 44 lift keel sloop. Shirley and I picked the yacht up in Les Sables-d’Olonne and sailed it two handed back to the UK via the north coast of Brittany and the Channel Islands to our home port of Lymington. That first season we completed two cross channel trips.

We sailed most weekends during the season exploring the Solent, each year we took two 2-3 week holidays exploring the Channel Islands and the North Coast of Brittany. We utilised the advantages of the lift keel to explore small ports usually not suitable for 44’ yachts. On average we sailed around 700 miles a year. In total over the 5 years we owned her we sailed about 3,500 miles, the majority of this has been completed with just the two of us.

I passed my RCA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore qualification in April 2007.

In 2011 we purchased “Lazy Jack” (LJ) a 19 metre aluminium Gerald Dystka designed Aerorig sloop previously owned by Gordon Brown who had completed a 5 year circumnavigation in her with just his wife for crew. We continued to cruise around the south coast, Channel islands and France moving to a berth at Portland for 2 years before sailing to Gibraltar in 2013 for me to take up a post with the local Health Service. We lived onboard LJ in Queensway Marina regularly cruising up the Costa coast. 

I maintained and serviced all the systems and upgraded her ready for the commencement of our planned world voyage due to commence in May 2018 when I retired. Subsequently we had to alter our plans, so I returned to Cartagena with a friend and sailed LJ back to Gibraltar. I returned to part time work in Gibraltar taking the opportunity to sail LJ singlehanded for short voyages. I was in the UK for the Covid pandemic and it became clear our plan for a world cruise would have to be cancelled. I sailed LJ back to the UK with a friend in 2021 non stop, 1,200 miles in 7 days due to covid restrictions and put her up for sale. In 2023 she sold and I started to look for a suitable yacht to enter the GGR 2026.

The Boat

“Annie Jo” a Biscay 36 sloop came up for sale in Falmouth. She had an unusual history – moulded in 2002 and hand built by a local joiner and finally finished when purchased by a local Rigger, Ben Carne in 2021. She had been coded for charter but due to pressure of work, Ben decided to sell her. She is the last built Biscay 36 and is like a new boat and has been strongly built and fitted out to a high standard.

Annie Jo is berthed in Plymouth and I am preparing her for a solo Plymouth Azores non stop singlehanded voyage next June. I have commissioned the yacht surveyor involved with her original build to oversee and advise on the changes required to bring Annie Jo up to GGR standard. I have a three year plan with a major refit this winter and a further refit during winter of 2025 when I will bring her into the sheds at Plymouth Yacht Haven.

I have completed around 2,500 sailing ocean miles and over 10,000 sea miles of coastal, cross channel and Med Sea sailing.

Sailing Experience

Approx. 8,000 nm. Preparing for 2,000 solo ocean miles from San Francisco to Hawaii and back to San Francisco in 2025. Also San Francisco to Alaska and then back in 2025, east coast USA to Canada and back, and east coast USA to France in 2026.

Why the GGR?

When I crossed the Atlantic 25+ years ago on friend/mentor Captain Dan Harper’s 1985 Ron Holland Swan 42, I mentioned to Dan my desire to do Cape Horn with him. Dan Harper (founder of Siren Marine, who sadly passed too young and unexpectedly recently) was a little taken aback by my statement. “Do you have any idea how serious that is, Steve?”, was Dan’s response. We’ve been in touch ever since and he was helping me look for my first boat, and said we’d find it sailing his Swan 42 to Australia for an America’s Cup racing competition he wanted to do, I believe, with his boat, Corban.

When he passed, his family offered me the Swan 42 free of charge because of our friendship. Unfortunately, the boat got caught up in inheritance/legal issues so it never happened. Sadder is that I lost my mentor and friend. If I made it into GGR, I would be sailing to make him proud, as well as my brother, a fantastic sailor, also taught to sail by Captain Dan Harper.

Finding a copy of Alfred Lansing’s Endurance on a shelf in my parents’ garage 30+ years ago (given to my dad by a friend years before) and reading it from start to finish without stopping, left a very big impression on me. Shackleton became my instant hero, and, as it turned out, Captain Dan Harper felt the same way, and he eventually even made it to where Shackleton was buried on South Georgia. I hope to do the same.

My Dad, the ultimate optimist and hard-working grinder, and a young 90 year old who would literally be bored to death with retirement, has often said, “Steve, you’re always involved in the relentless pursuit of the impossible. If you can’t fix it or MacGyver it, it can’t be done”. My Mom, defined by the words printed on the Nike T-shirt I got her years ago, Pure Energy, is filled with endless caring and love. Her stamina, discipline, and determination are a marvel to me. She always has a plan, structure, and order. Consequently, she cringes every time I mention a new adventure, worrying incessantly that I won’t come back. A few years ago, a local Aspen, Colorado newspaper reporter once asked me about Everest and if I was afraid of dying, and my answer was simple, “I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of not living”.

GGR seems like the ULTIMATE TEST and one I don’t take lightly. I’ve never shied away from tough challenges and risk, like climbing and summiting Mount Everest and taking my snowboard along for the descent. Another Everest, or Never Rest, has been helping my Dad start and bring to market two Silicon Valley companies, LYTEN and Tibaray, to change the world of clean energy and stop cancer in its tracks. Taking on GGR seems almost unfathomable to me, considering the sailing pedigrees, far greater than mine, of so many of the skippers and past entrants. But GGR Founder, Don McIntyre, inspired me early on to “keep the dream alive” with his positive messages about GGR and its history, like, “It is for ‘those who dare’, just as it was for Sir Robin”.

Also in Don’s words about GGR: My dream to sail solo around the world was born of inspiration gained while following the solo voyages of Francis Chichester, Robin Knox-Johnston and Bernard Moitessier, and reading about Chay Blyth, Blondie Hasler and others from the ‘Golden Age’ of solo sailing. That was an exciting period!

Another message from Don about Sir Robin: That same year, Robin was asked: ‘What would you say to sailors thinking of circumnavigating?’ His response: ‘My advice to them would be quite simply this. If you’ve got the idea, and you want to do it, then do it. Don’t let ANYTHING get in the way. Far too many people sit in yacht clubs talking about it but then never do it. DO IT! You’ll never regret it.’ He’s right of course. 

Best and worst aspects

I only see the best so far. I have been captivated from the moment a fellow Cal Sailing Club member mentioned it in a post.

The Boat

Stephen’s preferred boat for GGR 2026 is a Cape George 36 for its stoutness, power, and fine lines.

Sailing Experience

Josh is a professional sailor with a background in performance sailing and composites. Josh started sailing at a young age with his family, spending the summers on his grandfather’s boat Shana, a Cape Dory 36, plying the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay near his homeport of Rock Hall, Maryland. Just across the bay from Annapolis, Maryland, Josh was heavily influenced by the sailing culture and took quickly to it. When he graduated from highschool, Josh started sailing professionally first on gaff-rigged topsl schooner before moving on to performance boats a few years later. These days you’ll find Josh racing the likes of Gunboats, VO65’s, TP52’s, Swans, Mini 6.50’s, Nacra 17’s, often on the team as the composite specialist. He also spends a lot of time sailing his own little full keeled cruising boat that he enjoys more than the rest. Josh has competed in regattas all over the world and was the team manager for Elliott Smith in the 2022 edition of the GGR. Josh has tens of thousands of offshore miles including the required solo mileage.

Why the GGR?

I have always had a dream to sail around the world. After being involved in GGR 2022, that dream has only grown. I want to watch the albatross soar overhead. I want to hear the roar of the Southern Ocean. I want to feel so alone that I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel that this is where growth happens. Outside of our comfort zones is where we truly discover who we are. I desire to compete in the Golden Globe Race because I want to sail solo around the world and show everyone that really anyone is capable of it. I know from past experience that competing in the Golden Globe Race is not only about sailing solo, nonstop, around the world, but getting to spend time with family beforehand, engaging with the local community, refitting a boat, finding sponsors and so so much more. Getting to make a whole new family on the dock in Les Sables d’Olonne before departing into Biscay. And influencing thousands of people all around the world to do better. This is why I want to compete in the Golden Globe Race.

Best and worst aspects

I think the best part will be seeing years of hard work come to fruition. And the worst part will be leaving my family on that dock in September.

The Boat

Pole Pole is an Endurance 35. Heavily built with a balanced and manageable sail plan, Pole Pole will take Josh around the world in 2026. You can find Pole Pole, Josh, and his team in Palma de Mallorca over the next three years where Pole Pole will be getting a bit of a face lift!  

Links

Instagram: www.instagram.com/mysailboatandme/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jmaoceanracing/

Sailing Experience

10,000 sailing miles plus 26,705 solo rowing miles (Guinness World Record!).

Why the GGR?

Throughout my life, the slower that I covered a given distance, the more joy and wisdom that I gained from that experience. Walking or running instead of driving the same, gave me satisfaction. Completing a solo circumnavigation by human power was a life changing experience. Bicycling across continents or rowing across the oceans meant foregoing engines and sails, relying on commitment and brawn as much as proper preparation. It was a life lesson to find myself surrounded by caring individuals who upheld my journey as they appreciated the commitment and the sweat equity that it took for me to reach their community. Had I arrived in a fast vehicle or on a fancy yacht, I would have been just another tourist.

I find it meaningful to turn long journeys into pilgrimages toward wisdom. Golden Globe Race offers me the opportunity to challenge myself by giving up modern conveniences while facing the immense power of the southern oceans. When we strive to sail in the manner as had Sir Robin, peeling away modern crutches including GPS, chart plotter or water maker, what remain are the seamanship and the desire to prove worthy of this extraordinary challenge to sail nonstop around Antarctica before returning to the welcoming community of Les Sables d’Olonne. This arduous and self-imposed path will test me and require me to grow into the worthy sailor that the ocean will grant passage.

Best and worst aspects

The best part is the hope and anticipation of being part of something larger than life. The worst part is the possibility that I may be biased and alone in this excitement, falling short of making the start line.

The Boat

Clara is a Biscay 36, originally Sloop rigger but now cutter, built in 1976 at Emsworth Yacht Harbour from moulds by Robert Ives, to the design of Alan Hill. Acquired in the spring of 2019 in good cruising condition, the rig was changed from Sloop to Cutter, the wheel steering replaced with tiller steering and the structure substantially reinforced. Clara was sailed by Simon Curwen in the 2022/23 GGR.

Links

Website: www.erdeneruc.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/erden.eruc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erdeneruc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erdeneruc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/erdeneruc

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@erdeneruc

Sailing Experience

Around 40,000 miles in all kind of boats.

Why the GGR?

This is the most demanding race and is the only one where you are really sailing by yourself. No electronics, no GPS and no celular phones make this challenge totally different than the rest of the sailing races. This is real sailing where you decide everything without any external help

Due to slow boat speed and celestial navigation this is the longest sailing race ever. Modernity and technology are out of this event and this is why everything depends of you and your ability to know the limits of you and your boat. 

Best and worst aspects

I cannot find any bad aspect to this race. Sailing for seven or eight months will be an absolute delight. It doesn’t mean that I won’t feel any solitude. 

Breakages are just the consequence of bad decisions or bad luck. They are just stumbling blocks that you have to accept.

The Boat

I am looking for an Endurance 35 because I really think is the best boat of all the boats that are allowed  in the GGR. It is not the fastest one, but in this race speed is not the most important aspect. 

Endurance is a fantastic and very strong boat. I will bring it to Mallorca to work on her during 3-4 months to get her ready to sail. Belliure and Stratimer are the two options I want to choose. 

Hydrovane self-steering, eolic generators and solar panels will be my choice.

Technical specifications here: sailboatdata.com/sailboat/endurance-35-belliure/

Sailing Experience

Hi y’all, I am an award-winning filmmaker, TV producer, writer and USCG certified Captain. I have over 11,000 nautical miles of Pacific Ocean beneath my boat and I sailed more than 9,000 of those miles solo. I didn’t grow up sailing, I grew up landlocked in Little Rock, Arkansas, but after college I moved to Rockaway Beach, NY and got turned on to sailing. I fell madly and deeply in love with it to the point of obsession. I started sailing every chance I got; delivering boats, racing boats, and I became a skipper for an international charter company. I eventually bought my own boat, Juniper. She’s a 34 ft. Ta Shing Panda and she’s haunted by a dead man’s ghost. 

For the past four years I’ve been sailing Juniper across the Pacific. I started my voyage in San Diego and sailed solo to Hawaii. It took me 23.5 days to get there. Prior to that journey I had only sailed solo for 6 hours and I’d never been alone in the ocean at night. In Hawaii I picked up two mermen and together we sailed down the Hawaiian chain and onward to French Polynesia. From there I sailed solo to Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands. 

Beyond sailing, I am also an ethnographic filmmaker. My last film, Sailing A Sinking Sea, is about the mythology of a nomadic seafaring community in Thailand and Myanmar that all survived the Indian Ocean Tsunami. It premiered at SXSW, won the Singapore Film Festival and screened at the Smithsonian Institute. I am racing to raise awareness about indigenous communities whose homes are in jeopardy due to rising sea levels. 

I love the sea because she keeps me wide-eyed, honeycombed and wild and I am excited to be a part of the 2026 Golden Globe Race! 

Why the GGR?

Why on earth did man want to walk on the moon? Why does a bird have wings? Why does grass grow green? The answer is not simple. Because this race sounds really romantic to me. Because solo sailing is the dreamiest. Because I like to push myself inside the depths of my soul. Because I need a new challenge. Because the race is all I have thought about and dreamt about since I first learned about the race – it’s like I’m possessed. Because I love to have some big adventure to sink myself into. Because I like to feel my fate in the teeth of every known and unknown God. Because I like to push myself beyond my current limits until I can grow tree high. Because the heart of nature is my greatest teacher. Because I am on a never-ending hunt for self-reliance. Because I love to get lost and found in the wilderness of waves. Because I can’t think of anything more poetic I’d rather do. Because I’ve always wanted to sail around the world guided only by the sun and stars. Because I grew up landlocked and the sea has always been a mythical thing for me. Because the thought of the race is simultaneously electrifying and terrifying. Because crossing the finish line would feel like a fairytale. Because the idea of this race was like some song stuck in my head that wouldn’t shut up until I sang along.

Best and worst aspects

Best = The challenge of it 
Worst = Not being able to write regularly to my sailing blog

The Boat

Links

Website: www.wildernessofwaves.com / www.oliviaowenswyatt.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/olivia.o.wyatt

Instagram: www.instagram.com/wildernessofwaves/