Global Solo Challenge – Home

Alessandro Tosetti, sailing on Aspra, knew quite well he was headed for a patch of light winds and decided that rather than try to sail around the little wind hole that was coming his way, he’d wait out the passage of the ridge of high pressure before regaining speed on course whilst attending to some crucial maintenance tasks. His genset has stopped working and the problem seems to be with the fuel pump. This is a major concern as despite having some backup means of generating at least part of the power, the onboard generator is Aspra’s primary and most efficient way to generate electricity. The other task relating to the mainsail halyard would require climbing the mast yet, despite the light wind conditions, the ocean swell makes the task unnecessarily dangerous and has been postponed. For the time being Alessandro has run a new dyneema halyard in place of the topping lift. Hence explained the reasons for the slow progress and odd route of lately. Aspra has is now moving along in light winds, due to continue backing and strengthening allowing Alessandro to resume his desire course towards Cape of Good Hope.

One in one out. After a 13-day-long stopover in Cape Town Edouard De Keyser on his SolarWind has left his temporary home. He had been ready for a few days but opted to wait for a favourable weather window rather then head out in strong south-easterly winds. The “Southeaster” can blow strong and for many days under Table Mountain and patience is key. Finnish skipper Ari Kansakoski, who arrived during the night of the 5th of December was in fact forced to wait out for better conditions in Granger Bay on the approach to port before moving to the V&A Waterfront where Edouard had also found mooring during his repairs. It is therefore one in one (temporarily) out for the GSC. Edouard can resume his circumnavigation and will round Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas soon, ticking of the first of three great Capes and officially entering the waters of the Indian Ocean.

Today, around 6:00 AM UTC, David Linger aboard Koloa Maoli crossed the 0° longitude. The American skipper seems to have found favorable winds and is achieving excellent speeds. He reached this milestone after 38 days of sailing.

Ari Kansakoski arrived in the hours of darkness into the famously “windy” Cape Town, often battered by strong and gusty southeasterlies. He opted to shelter in Granger Bay where he was met by many people to assist him to moor safely. Ari will then move to the V&A Waterfront, to clear immigration and customs, near where Edouard de Keyser has been stationed and still is, waiting for a weather window to leave. Ari and ZEROchallenge are well but certainly tested by a difficult night.

Dafydd Hughes and Bendigedig have safely arrived into Hobart. We only have one picture for now taken by Jason Cummings who welcomed him in, he clearly needs some rest and promised to get in touch as soon as he settles. We congratulate Dafydd for his great seamanship not just for sailing halfway around the world on a 34ft Sparkman & Stephens but also for keeping a cool head and taking the hard-to-accept decision that heading to a safe port was the only choice after the failure of his primary self-steering. We look forward to learn more from Dafydd in the coming days.

Finnish skipper Ari Kansakoski on ZEROChallenge is on his final approach to Cape Town to the south of Robben Island. He will be heading towards the V&A Waterfront where Edouard de Keyser has completed repairs to his boat and is due to start as soon as the strong south easterlies which are propelling Ari to Cape town will allow him to leave port safely.

Dafydd Hughes was approximately 15 nautical miles from Hobart at 12:00 UTC, 10 pm local time. Dafydd has turned on the engine and is motoring to destination where he should arrive around 15:00 UTC, or 1 am local time.  A welcome boat will be meeting Dafydd with beers and a hot meal. The organisers wish to thank Jason Cummings for his very kind assistance and Ronnie Simpson for providing such helpful contact. Dafydd is pretty much exactly halfway around the world having covered half of the total 25000 theoretical course, and has been at sea 101 days, half the overall expected circumnavigation time of 202 days that were predicted for his boat which go to show just how well he was doing and how unfortunate was the technical issue that he faced with his autopilot. We look forward to hearing from Dafydd as soon as he has enjoyed his beer, rested and experienced the luxury of a hot shower.