Round the world sailing consists in sailing around the globe in one direction or the other. Most sailors prefer to sail from west to east, driven by the prevailing winds and currents. This is the case for the Vendée Globe, the Volvo Ocean Race, the solo round the world race in a multihull by Thomas Coville in 2016 then François Gabart in 2017 or the Jules Verne Trophy, which passed into the hands of Francis Joyon in early 2017. But sailors can also sail around the world "upside down", that is, against the prevailing winds and currents.
This record, called "Global Challenge" is held since 2004 by Jean-Luc Van den Heede . To this day, no crewed record has been approved and only four have become legendary by completing their round the world voyage in reverse. In 2007, Maud Fontenoy tried her luck on Adrien euros, the monohull she bought from VDH after her upside down round the world race euros, but her record was invalidated by the WSSRC which homologates the sailing records. Starting from Reunion Island, she sailed only 12,000 miles instead of the orthodromic distance of 21,600 miles minimum.
Exit from Adrien's port
The course
The Global Challenge consists of beating the record for a single-handed, non-stop round-the-world sailing race, in reverse, i.e. from east to west, by sailing a minimum of 21,600 miles. The majority of the course is sailed against the prevailing winds: down the Atlantic, around Cape Horn, Australia, around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, and up the Atlantic
The precursor in the 19th century
The first was the American Joshua Slocum, in 1895 who took 3 years 2 months and 3 days to finish his circumnavigation on his yawl. A record time due to numerous stopovers in Australia and South Africa. For the anecdote, it is in homage to this "first" sailor of the ocean race that Moitessier named his boat Joshua. In truth, the record is not really homologated since the round-the-world race is done without stopovers...
Adrien's Equator crossing on the 3rd week
In 1970, then in 1994, the record fell into the hands of the British. First Chay Blyth in 192 days, then Mike Golding, in 161 days.
The French take on the world tour in reverse
In 2000, it was Frenchman Philippe Monnet's turn to take on this unique round-the-world voyage. He left Brest on January 9, 2000 and reached the tip of Brittany on June 9 after 151 d 19 h 54 min
Jean-Luc Van den Heede, winner in title
In 2004, it was the turn of another Frenchman, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, to win the challenge after a circumnavigation of the globe in 122 d 14 h 3 min 49 s. He left Brest on November 7, 2003 on his monohull Adrien, and returned to Brittany on March 9, 2004, breaking the previous record of 29 days, 05 hours, 50 minutes and 47 seconds.
Week 12
"Around the world in reverse (non-stop) is the most difficult single-handed event. Words are not enough to say what I feel. My best memory on this course will remain the passage of Cape Horn, crossed in a dreamy way with 40 knots of wind downwind, it was good for the entry into the Southern Ocean. The worst moment was the 30 hours spent in the Doldrums to cover 30 miles. We had to steer and steer to get through. What about the future? I don't really know. I want to enjoy the boat while I still have it, for a year and a half. I'm going to try for small records, I said small, not round the world. We'll see, but for the moment, I don't have a program yet he said upon arrival.
This specialist of round the world races, he had 4 of them at the start, the BOC Challenge in 1986 and in 1995 and the Vendée Globe in 1989-1990 and in 1992-1993, became the new and undisputed euro title holder. He has since added to its list of achievements the 1st edition of the Golden Globe Race in 2018 a race around the world "the old fashioned way".
Victory week 17
VDH's record is well deserved after three unsuccessful attempts. The first one in 1999 was interrupted after a leak on his monohull Algimouss, following a collision with a UFO. The second one in 2001 was stopped after the keel of his monohull Adrien broke off. And finally, in 2003, he dismasted when he was 18 days ahead of the record at the halfway point.
With Philippe Monnet, the former record holder, in 2000
Back to Sables d'Olonne, week 18
