All News & Thoughts

Perfect Duo👍

Bijna thuis.... zag je al voorbij Selsey Bill schuiven via marinetraffic ... nu bijna bij Beachy Head... goede laatste mijlen naar Scheveningen gewenst

Thanks for the tracker Golden Globe Race !

G.G.R GIANTS...

Now THAT is a photo!!! 👍👍

Less a question than a comment: in many ways, these last 3 sailors have had a rougher go considering they have now been at sea much longer than VDH and Mark. Psychologically, they must have had greater challenges, i.e., food, water, goose barnacles, storms, equipment, and just pure time in isolation. All 5 are extraordinary sailors and individuals, but the long haul has to be even more wearing! Bravo!

1.) When you meet the person responsible for your mickey-mouse antifouling, what will you say to him ? 2.) and what would you really want to say? ps. 3. ) Have you named any of those barnacles and do you talk to them?

What book are you currently reading? And what books do you hope to read for the remainder of your journey?

Having been away from home for such a long time what creature comforts ie your music, books, food, photos gives you the greatest lift when you need it ? ☘️⚓️☘️

What has been his favorite stretch or section of ocean so far and why? Does he think he will come back in the 2022 GGR.

I love your comments about your environment (nature, etc.). Will you publish a book about your adventure in the GGR? Did you try to cook those f* (sorry) bernacles? ;)

How does it feel to finally be in the Atlantic and how does it compare with the southern ocean?

Le "voyage" de Tapio sera relativement long encore jusqu'aux Sables. Bien qu'il ait bien préparé sa logistique, est-il certain de ne pas manquer de nourriture ou d'eau potable jusqu'à l'arrivée ? Bon courage à lui, et bravo pour sa constante bonne humeur !!!

Is there any meals (food) or drinks you are dreaming of to have. Wish you strength and health to complete the race. You are a big inspiration for me! R. Lars Lindh NJK

What does he think now about his choice of boat, would he chose a different one, and does he think the Gaïa could be more competitive (with proper antifouling and more time to prepare) with for example the Rustler ?

Does he have a realistic expectation of when, all being well, he will finish?

Riittäväthän eväät ja vesi? Älliä ja huumoria piisaa, sen tiedän

Did you have a role model that inspired you to sail and at what point in your sailing career did you realise you were now an accomplished sailor?

Hi Tapio. If you are not entering GGR 2022, would you consider applying your intellect and wisdom on the Race Committee (PS: I hope you do sail though, this time without barnacles and with a motor)? Don’s Herculean race management effort won’t be able to be repeated as he is a competitor.

Love this boat shape.

Sur cette photo, le bateau semble surchargé.

Vappusaunaan kaivariin perkele?

How do you like your Windpilot Pacific ?

As it should be. Getting them to perform pirouettes in mid-Atlantic is about as far from the spirit of the original race as you can get. I'm sure neither RKJ nor Moitessier would have stood for that.

I'm not sure I agree on this one by getting the time added at the end allows him to dodge the possibility of being caught up and then having to fight in the same weather system to the Finish... if he's short on food that's his problem he can take the time during his penalty to fish and good luck to him but he cheated... he should serve his penalty as it was first laid out in the notice of race and that would allow Istvan the possibility to catch up and would make it a very exciting finish while remaining true to the original rule. He is getting an advantage by being allowed to take off now and having his timeout at the end is how I see it...

So good news! I was so afraid and i know that he is fighting now more than before because he is in the ege of his food and it is so stressful!. All the love ja thanks for this decision...

Finally, common sense prevails. Let's hope his food holds out long enough to be fit enough to sail to the finish line. 🙏🙏

So good to hear that he doesn't have to retire from the race! I was already afraid of that. Fingers crossed for Uku! I guess it must be mentally very hard for him right now out there... Wish him strength!

A fair decision (just my opinion)

Good call Don. You’ve done well. Let’s get him home!

Good call, safety first. Go and finish the race. That is a very very big triumph. Go Uku!!

Respect of the rules + common sense = good decision 👍

Good old fashioned common sense. At last.

Uku Randmaa ... navigating is necessary but eating also !

The right call and an awesome spin around the planet!

Good decision Don

Excellent decision - IMHO! God speed!

However, that said, overly harsh decision compared to others made earlier in the race.

Good call, thanks.

In the circumstances an appropriate decision. Well done GGR team.

Phew! The cloud on our day just lifted!

Voilà une sage décision de la GGR de donner priorité à la sécurité de Uku. ☺️

Thank you for him, Don .

Bonne initiative, la course continue...

Congratulations to Uku!

Yes good decision👌

Thats so good news👍👍

Good decision

I think you’d have to be pretty naive to believe Uku is the only one....this seems overly harsh given his food situation and expected conditions. Have to wonder why others have not been punished as harshly. Uku is a good man, a brilliant sailor and is as honest as the day is long. This sucks big time.

to the letter of the notice of the race No.s 1,2,2 should be disqualified as all received weather reports especially prepared for them. Especially prepared because not in that exact form available from public sources. After a group of radio amateurs published and translated the weather reports given to Jean-Luc, Don commented here that descriptions of weather systems on basis of publicly available sources was OK. So we are stuck with very different interpretations of the rules. The given penaly appears unfair if no prior warning or guidance was given by GGR on where the limits are. It is also dangerous in winter on the Atlantic. The first to blame here i.m.h.o. is the organisation.

Hi Don McIntyre, I was a member of Igor Zaretskiy team and helped him with HAM radio. We met in Le Sables and you seemed to be adequate man. Now I look for the HAM radio with Uku and wrote almost all radio communications with him. I did not listen Weather Routing during last week and don't understand your penalty to him. Could you please give me the evidence of it? I want to understand your decision.

amazing. I had no idea.

Don, you did not get any avidanse against Uku and decide to penalty him. Who was HAM radio operator gived him Routing? Where is record of it?

I thought VDH and Slats had been in contact with Ham operators and were warned but weren't penalised? Penalties need to be evenly applied, regardless of reputations. With a major Atlantic storm in the area a TIME BOX is putting this sailor at unnecessary risk

Sailors need accurate weather to stay safe not to gain an advantage. All this could have been avoided. Nostalgia is not a good enough reason for a sailor not to have all the information he needs to stay safe.

All this talk about the liability of weather forecasters is absurd. There is clear and ancient nautical tradition in practice and law that puts sole responsibility on the skipper for navigational choices. No matter how clear the information or recommendation is, it is the choice of the skipper to follow or ignore it. He's on the scene and can see weather in a way that computers cannot. Don has repeated this many times. And in fact the GGR has indeed recommended routing to individual skippers when it believed safety was an issue. It is also silly to believe that this kind of thing gives a huge advantage one way or the other to the participants. When Jean-Luc was closing the French coast, his team recommended that he head south to avoid bad weather. People on this list excoriated the GGR for not offering the same advice; yet it turned out the GGR forecast was better than his team's and changing course would not have been necessary after all. Weather is not, still in this age, anything like an exact science.

Can’t believe this. I don’t see Uku acting like he had any routing the past few days.. if he had, he would have hit the engine to get out of the windhole..

That’s too bad. I think now Tapio is the only racer who can finish clean.

Compared to VDH penalties this is quite unfair. Same mistake but 72 h vs 24 h???

72 hours for someone with very little food is a long time hungry!

Ridiculous. They should disqualify all competitors!

Cela est vraiment dommage ! 72 h, c'est très long surtout dans la situation dans laquelle se trouve UKU à l'approche de la tempête. 😕

Too complicated for such old school event.

We make mistakes. And learn from them. You’r the man, do it right! 🇪🇪

Huge penalty :(

It is part of the game; let them listen to the radio amateurs!

My calculations say Uku is 385 nm ahead, Istvan will only travel 252nm at his current speed in 72 hours so Uku can still be third unless Istvan speeds up a lot, still a tight race for third spot.

Unfortunate for Uku, but the rules is the rules.....

Look like message hasn’t got through to Uku. As of 04:00 20th Feb UTC his boat is still tracking north of the position 4 hours before.

Phew - it’s now 08:00 UTC and Uku’s turned south😓.

Wow. Well, you did listen to the conversation he had so it is not rumor. Feel bad for Uku, but....

Ham radio operator “a lot more than likely” following the race will of known they were putting him at risk of this penalty - do they deserve a mention.

Ah uku pity you nearly there eh , Long penalty 72 hours

on attend la version anglaise si pas dfrançais

Looking forward to the English version

I'm sure it will make it's way into my shop in time. Bookmark in Falmouth. I actually shook his and Susie's hand last Friday. So much admiration for them both.

That’s amazing mark !!

Y aura-t-il une version française ? ☺️

Mark, I do hope your book (English) will be available as an ebook on Amazon, so we can buy and download immediately, as not much chance book shops will stock stock in far flung countries! 👍

Can't believe it's out so soon

I bet it was a very emotional meeting between Susie and Mark.Friends for life.

Brave quest, amazing people in the GGR,, fabulous to see in Kingston Tasmania, even more fantastic to see home safe and smiling faces.

Great photo, congrats Mark and so nice to see Susie with a big smile.

Why are five of them being held up by string? 🙂

Émouvante photo de voir Susie et Mark. Une très belle rencontre.

Bien vu l escale au Royal yacht club de Falmouth. ..l escale préférée de la Celtikup oceaniques. .

Good to see Susie Goodall smiling!

Say hi the the mob in ST Mawes

nice smile from Susie.

How fabulous Susie Goodall and Mark Slats have met up again 😉👍

wonderful GGR sailors 🤩👍

Great picture! Great lady and guys! 😍

Cheers to the gang 🥂✨

Hoe was het met Susie. Zo jammer wat er gebeurd is.

Bises Susie.

Bravo Susie !

Quel plaisir de voir Susie ! 👏

👍

Oh, Susie ...! 😍😍