“Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.”
October 20, 2021
AHOY FRIENDS!
Greetings from Pennsylvania, where Mia, Axel and me are having a restful time with family after a very hectic fall. Boat show just ended in Annapolis and in two weeks I head back to ICEBEAR in Lanzarote. But for now, we relax!
I'll get straight to the point - we've decided to pull the plug on OGR. We will NOT be doing the race on ICEBEAR as planned in 2023.
The decision was pretty simple, and very personal — I finally came to terms with the fact that family is more important to me than a round-the-world race, and after a summer away from Axel & Mia for 8 weeks, I've decided 8 months is just too long. I think we would have done a hell of a job as a team, and I'm pretty disappointed to be giving up on my dream like this, but this feels right, and I've always followed my gut. The crew have all been informed, as have the organizers, and thus far, everyone has been super supportive.
Instead, we’ll continue to do what we do best — take like-minded people on amazing offshore adventures on our two boats — and I’ll rotate in on 2-3 month passages, returning home in between. Mia will head back to sea too, in February, for the first time since Axel was born.
There’s more to the story, and for history’s sake, we’re going to leave the OGR page here as a ‘what-if’ reminder, but that’s the end of the line for 59º North in the OGR.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN…
What better way to challenge ourselves than a retro round-the-world adventure in the spirit of the original Whitbread Race from 1973, in a kick-ass Swan 59, navigating by celestial and taking photos on film!? We can’t think of anything…join us as race crew or volunteer shore support for the adventure of a lifetime! Read the story below on the background of our involvement and scroll down to learn how you can get involved.
While not required, it’s highly recommended you hit ‘play’ on the song below, and listen to the wonderful Storm Weather Shanty Choir while you read the rest of this page…puts you in the right mood ;)
So, What’s the OGR?
Almost 50 years ago, in 1973, the first-ever crewed, big boat, round-the-world yacht race was run, some five years after the famous single-handed and nonstop Golden Globe Race in 1968. The Whitbread, it was called, and was run in four legs. Well, after successfully running a ‘retro Golden Globe’ in 2018, 50 years after that races origin, founder Don McIntyre wanted to give the Whitbread the same treatment with the Ocean Globe Race. In Don’s own words:
“The Ocean Globe Race (OGR) is a fully crewed retro race in the spirit of the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race to mark the 50th Anniversary of the original event. It’s an eight-month adventure around the world for ordinary sailors on normal yachts. Racing ocean-going GRP production yachts designed before 1988, there will be no computers, no satellites, no GPS, and no high-tech materials. Sextants, team spirit and raw determination alone in the great traditions of ocean racing are allowed on this truly human endeavor. These will be real heroes pushing each other to the limit and beyond – in a real race! Following the success of the 2018 Golden Globe Race, the concept of retro fully crewed, traditional ocean racing around the Globe has returned!”
Read the inspiring backstory to Don’s recreating this iconic race here in his ‘Back to the Whitbread!’ column.
INTRUM JUSTICIA in the Southern Ocean during the 1993-1994 Whitbread. Image courtesy & copyright Rick Tomlinson.
OGR 59 north Race Team
OGR RACE TEAM
We’ll sail with up to 12 crew on each leg of the OGR, made up of a combination of our 59º North core team & paying crew (you!). We’ll sail with a mixed team — men & women — and will certainly have every age group represented, as is usual in our normal offshore passages.
Think you want to join the race crew? Fair warning — we haven’t established the bunk prices yet, but it’ll be expensive, a HUGE commitment, and a major challenge. Each leg will be +/- 8,000 miles of sailing, almost entirely in the Southern Ocean, and be a 4-6 week commitment. You can apply for individual legs or the entire circumnavigation!
Four spaces will be reserved for full round-the-world crew, while the other 4 spaces will be for ‘leggers’. In total, we have 20 crew spaces available for the race.
4.5 QUALIFICATION TO ENTER (OGR NOTICE OF RACE)
Generally, Skipper or Chief-Mate MUST sail the entire race.
ADVENTURE Class: Minimum 6 crew.
SAYULA Class: Minimum 8 crew.
FLYER Class: Min. on application
CLASSIC Challenge: Maxi: 12 crew // Whitbread 60: 8 crew
All entrants must have onboard for each leg:
One RYA (or equivalent) Ocean YachtMaster and One YachtMaster
A mixed-gender crew
One crew 24 years old or under.
One crew member with 25,000 total logged ocean sea miles.
All crew MUST have a minimum 1,500 ocean miles or 1000 ‘recent’ (within 12 weeks of boarding) miles on the entered yacht.
PRE-RACE TRIAL: 50% of the crew (including the YachtMaster Ocean andYachtMaster) registered for the first leg must complete an ‘approved’ 1,500-mile non-stop ocean voyage, together in the entered yacht, after March 1st 2023. (sailing plan to be approved before trial and tracking required).
All crew must undertake an approved medical/survival training course and undertake a comprehensive personal medical examination.
Maximum 70% crew swap at any stopover.
Maximum 33% of crew classified Professionals. (A sailor in any capacity between the age of 24 & 70 who is paid, or has been paid anytime to go sailing. Any sailor who has been paid to race a sailing yacht, or who has worked in an active capacity in a race related industry such as sailmaking, yacht design or coaching is considered Professional. Voluntary work introducing youngsters to sailing or delivering yachts is not considered professional in this context. Individual cases should apply to the race committee for a ruling).
Whitbread 1989-1990 entry ROTHMANS rolling downwind in the Sydney-Hobart Race. Image courtesy & copyright Rick Tomlinson.
DRUM in the 1985-1986 Whitbread. Image courtesy & copyright Rick Tomlinson.
OGR Team Roles
Each paying crew will be assigned a specific role that they will be responsible for. One of our 59º North team will be ultimately responsible for the organization & training of each area, but the crew assigned will be responsible onboard the boat for that leg. We will provide pre-race training and guidance, and will assign roles based on personal interest, skill levels and where we need people.
ONBOARD ROLES
Note that many of these roles will rotate on each leg as our ‘legger’ crew rotate on and off the boat. The watch leader roles will be reserved for RTW crew.
Starboard Watch Leader: RTW Crew
Port Watch Leader: RTW Crew
Rigger & Sailmaker
Doctor
Electrician
Shipwright
Radio & Comms
Photographer
SHORE ROLES
These roles will be filled by volunteers around the world and will be lead by one of our 59º North staff. You may apply for these roles via the Volunteer Form above.
Team Manager: 59º North Staff
Shore Support & Volunteer Lead:
Media:
Logistics:
Sponsorship & Fundraising:
Shore Comms (Radioshack):
Provisioning Support:
We’ll also need leaders of the shore teams in each stopover port (which will be announced in September 2021). These people will need to be local in the stopover port and help us find housing for the staff & crew, and figure out logistics for parts, provisions, services, etc. to make each stopover as efficient as possible.
Cape Town Lead
Australia Lead
Auckland Lead
S. America Lead
Stay Informed
Subscribe to our Hold Fast newsletter below for updates on the OGR as our team comes together!
ICEBEAR is headed around the world, and the hard way. Come fall 2023, 59 North’s Swan 59 will be at the starting line of the inaugural Ocean Globe Race, bound for the Southern Ocean and Cape Horn. Sailing in the OGR feels like a logical evolution of our business model of ‘sharing the high seas with those wise enough to seek it out,’ and it’s an appropriate step up in challenging ourselves more and more each year. After a successful season in the High Arctic on ISBJORN, our Swan 48 in 2018, and a planned return trip to Svalbard in 2021 on the 59, a proper doubling of the Horn seems a no-brainer!