RETRO WHITBREAD IN 2023

The spirit of the Whitbread Round the World Race is back with the announcement of the 2023 Ocean Globe Race, a retro event starting from a European port in September 2023 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original race.

Organised by Australian adventurer Don McIntyre along similar lines to the highly successful 2018 Golden Globe Race (which he also founded), the 2023 Ocean Globe Race (OGR) will follow the original Clipper ship sailing route around the globe, just as the Whitbread Race did in 1973.

The course traces the classic four-leg route from Europe to Africa and on to Australasia, then back via a South American port: 27,000 miles and seven months passing under the three great Capes.

The final course will be published in late 2020, together with the Final Notice of Race. Cities in the UK, Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil are being invited to bid to host the ports of call.

This retro race will be sailed on yachts similar to those entered in the first Whitbread, with technology limited to what was available to those 1973 pioneers. That means no hightech materials, computers, satellite systems (including phones and GPS), as well as mobile phones. Navigation will be limited to sextant plots on paper charts, communications via SSB and VHF radios, and music will be played on cassette tapes.

Entries are limited to ‘approved’ fibreglass production yachts designed prior to 1988, from 47ft (14.32m) to 66ft (20.11m) LOA segregated into two groups:

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ADVENTURE 47 to 56ft (14.32-17.06m) & SAYULA 56-66ft (17.07-20.11m) classes. In addition, original entries from the first three Whitbread Races (1973-4, 1977-8 and 1981-2) together with ‘class-surveyed’ production sail training yachts up to 68ft (20.73m) make up a third FLYER Class.

The fleet is limited to a maximum of 30 yachts and the Race will be sailed under the International Collision Regulations. Each yacht must also include at least one woman and youth crew aged under 24 at the start of the race.

 For further information visit:

www.oceangloberace.com/

or email Don McIntyre at

don@goldengloberace.com