Damien Guillou leads the Golden Globe Race after its opening month, with Pat Lawless his nearest rival as the pair move through the South Atlantic towards the Trindade region. Their early separation has been reinforced by contrasting developments elsewhere in the fleet: Selim Yalcin retired on 26 September after an HF-radio failure, while Guy deBoer resumed racing on 5 October following repairs in Lanzarote but can now continue only in the Chichester Class.
Guillou and Lawless have occupied the front of the fleet since departure, according to Yachting Monthly’s round-up. Both had been first to reach the Marina Rubicón film drop in Lanzarote on 16 September, before reaching the south-east trade winds on 28 September. Guillou was confirmed across the equator on 1 October and Lawless followed soon afterwards.
That sequence offers the clearest measure of the opening contest. The leaders have passed through the same early milestones in close order, but the report said Guillou remained ahead as they approached the weather transition associated with the South Atlantic High near Trindade. Lawless could have an opportunity to reduce the gap there, depending on how that transition develops.
Repairs may shape the fight at the front
The leading two sailors are not free of practical problems despite their position. Guillou, sailing the Rustler 36 Solarem, is considering a brief pause at anchor to carry out minor repairs. Lawless has already dealt with an issue involving the steering lines of his Aries windvane self-steering system. He reported that the work took 90 minutes while he was hanging from the stern.
Both men are returning competitors after retiring from the 2022 edition because of self-steering failures. That shared recent history makes the current equipment issues particularly relevant, although the available report does not say that either sailor’s present problem is comparable in scale to the failures that ended their previous campaigns.
Their advantage is also relative rather than decisive. Ertan Beskardes, another veteran of the event, has become the first skipper from the main chasing group to reach the south-east trades. Sailing his Rustler 36 Miss Beagle, previously Jean-Luc Van Den Heede’s winning Matmut, Beskardes has taken the eastern side of the fleet and pursued a more direct route. The report said conditions had begun to favour that choice at the start of October.
Behind him, Mara Lovenskiøld, Andrea Lodolo, Etienne Messikommer and Daniel Pinsky were following broadly similar eastern tracks. A separate north-western group comprising Henry Wootton, Guido Cantini, Isa Rosli, Gunnar Christensen and Pär Nyman remained in unstable Doldrums conditions. Nyman’s position was notable because he had recovered to 11th after starting three days late.
Yalcin retires while deBoer returns in another class
The two most significant changes to the entry list have had different outcomes. Turkish skipper Yalcin headed towards mainland Spain on 19 September after his HF radio failed. He had initially intended to repair the equipment in Cadiz and resume in the Chichester Class, but his team concluded that sourcing, fitting, testing and waterproofing an Icom 801 replacement would require at least four additional days.
With the gap to the fleet increasing, Yalcin chose to withdraw rather than restart in the alternative class. He announced his official retirement on 26 September. The source reported that he had not ruled out a possible return in 2030, but that remains an intention rather than a confirmed future entry.
DeBoer, by contrast, has returned to the water after a lengthy stop in Lanzarote. He had needed structural repairs to a chainplate and hull, replacement running rigging and work to reassemble a Hydrovane bracket. Testing under rig load then revealed significant hull deformation near the mast, adding to the work required.
His restart came with a substantial competitive cost. The stop had created a two-week and 1,500-mile deficit to the rest of the fleet, and his continuation in the Chichester Class makes him ineligible for the main trophy. The distinction matters: deBoer remains part of the voyage, but his return does not restore him to Guillou and Lawless’s title race.
Louis Kerdelhué has also re-established contact with race organisers after missing daily safety messages and faces a small penalty, according to the report. With a long race still ahead, the first month has produced an early lead pair, a pursuing group split by route and weather, and proof that communication, structural integrity and self-steering reliability can alter a campaign quickly.