Kevin Farebrother - Golden Globe Race

OUT 2018

Kevin Farebrother (53)

Australia

Suhaili

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Name Kevin Farebrother

Born March 6th 1968

Nationality Australian

Country of entry Australia

Race GGR 2018

Boat Class Suhaili

Kevin Farebrother, a fireman from Perth, West Australia, is an adventurer at heart, with three successful assents of Mount Everest. On his last climb, this former 23 SAS Soldier took with him a copy of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s book A world of my own, and says: “The story of winning the first Golden Globe Race in 1969 was far more scary than anything I’ve experienced climbing Everest!”
Kevin had previously owned a UFO 34 yacht and bought Don McIntyre’s Tradewind 35 Silver Heels to do the GGR which he has renamed Sagarmatha, and shipped to the UK.

Farebrother says of the GGR: “The Race is a chance in a lifetime that will test mind and body to the limits. The challenge is being alone for such a long period with no one to bounce off thoughts and ideas when the going gets tough.”

Boat [Suhaili]

RACE NO 13

Name Sagarmatha
Type Tradewind 35 Masthead sloop
Designer John Rock
Builder Tradewind Yachts (NL)
LOA 35.01ft / 10.67m
LWL 25.82ft / 7.87m
Beam 10.50ft / 3.20m
Draft 5.51ft / 1.68m
Displacement 19442 lbs / 8819 kgs
Sail area 725sq. ft / 67.35sq. m

Kevin Farebrother bought Don McIntyre’s Tradewind 35 class yacht Silver Heels in 2016. He has renamed her Sagarmatha, which is Nepalese for Mount Everest. He sailed her the 6,000 mile distance from Sydney around the top of Australia to Perth where he prepared the yacht for the Race during 2017. Sagarmatha joined Mark Sinclair’s rival Lello 34 Coconut on the same ship bound for London. Kevin planned to base himself in Les Sables d’Olnne to make final preparations.

Skipper Updates

July 16th 2018 12:00 AM

Kevin Farebrother has officially retired from the #GGR2018. He has been frustrated over the past week unable to get into a routine and does not feel comfortable about continuing. He is planning to sell the boat and probably get back up into the mountains. He has no regrets about being involved with the #GGR2018 and loves all the emotion and freindships that came with that, but knows now it is not for him. WE will miss his dry Aussie humor for sure!!..

July 11th 2018 12:00 AM

Kevin has been reporting some problems getting his wind vane self steering unit to work. The need to depower, especially the mainsail, when running on a Tradewind, to get wind vane self steering to work is at odds with the desire to pile on the canvas. To press on he has been hand steering and is suffering severe fatigue. He has reported halucinations and it highlights how finding the balance is so important to success in the Golden Globe.

July 6th 2018 12:00 AM

Southern Ocean might be more to his liking

Kevin has been bringing up the back of the fleet but is very much in touch. The light winds are tough work for adventurers but if he can hang in there the Southern Ocean might be more to his liking.

May 3rd 2018 12:00 AM

Australian fireman Kevin Farebrother made headlines in Les Sables d’Olonne at the end of April when rescuing a young deer that got into difficulties in the marina. “I was working on my boat when the Springbok swam passed. It was tired and needed to get out but got its legs stuck between the rocks and couldn’t move. Eventually, I got a rope around and dragged it up to where I could get hold of him properly. We put him on the grass and held him until the animal rescue section of the fire service arrived and took him to the vet. It’s since been released so a happy ending.”

“My boat preparation is going well and I’ve had some great support since arriving in France. I intend to spend May testing the boat and practicing my celestial navigation.
The race is stirring up a whole range of emotions. I wake up different every day, anxious, excited or scared, but I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead. I’m not doing this race for the love of sailing but more to feed my passion for adventure, pushing myself to the limits, and to show that ordinary people can do extra ordinary things.

This is a true old-fashioned test of endurance and strength of mind. I think it will be harder than any of my climbs up Mount Everest. That’s a question many people ask and hopefully in a year’s time I will be able to give a truthful answer.”

April 5th 2018 12:00 AM

Kevin Farebrother’s Tradewind 35 Sagarmatha was offloaded in La Havre in March and transported by road to Les Sables d’Olonne ready to be relaunched and have her rig stepped on Kevin’s arrival from Australia at the beginning of April 2.
“I’m planning to get the yacht ready during April and spend much of May test sailing her out in the Bay of Biscay. I want to get my food supplies from the UK and plan to fit in a trip to visit family in the North East some time in April or May.”