Ertan Beskardes could open real water between himself and the rest of the chasing fleet. Race founder Don McIntyre reckons his easterly line toward the southeast trades could be worth a full day, maybe a day and a half, over his nearest rivals if he crosses into consistent breeze before the calm band behind him spreads any further.
Miss Beagle was doing 4.4 knots for 119 miles in the latest report, and McIntyre thinks the angle he's sailing could pay off twice, once on the clock and again once he's properly established in the trades.
Golden Globe Race 2026: distance sailed
Tracker snapshots, start to Day 27
Source: Golden Globe Race live tracker (Yellow Brick)
Out front, both leaders are still pushing hard. Damien Guillou had Solarem at 7.1 knots, and McIntyre put the performance down to careful preparation, weight management, a clean hull and quick sails rather than any single trick. Pat Lawless is matching the effort if not quite the speed, 6.6 knots on Silvermines Hydro, closing the gap in patches when the trade winds shift his way before Guillou's edge reasserts itself. The next real test for both of them is the South Atlantic high, which McIntyre says could still scramble the picture with one wrong call.
Etienne Messikommer's course had looked odd on the tracker, a visible loop that McIntyre put down to current dragging Bernard backwards while he sat becalmed, not a deliberate change of plan. He's moving again now, 3.3 knots, and spent the dead patch reading and eating rather than fighting it. Guido Cantini has clawed back around 25 miles on him in a day, though the forecast has Guido more likely to stay stuck in the light air after Beskardes, and possibly Messikommer, break clear of it.
Andrea Lodolo and Daniel Pinsky are both stalled further west, Lodolo down to 1.3 knots, Pinsky at 2.8. Lodolo's own broadcast caught the moment honestly. He'd told viewers that morning he thought BiBi had found the trades at last, only to wake from a nap to almost no wind at all and the admission that his plans were "in the water now." McIntyre's read is that Pinsky's more westerly position could mean a tighter, less comfortable angle once he does reach the trades.
Louis Kerdelhué's story has a clean resolution. He's re-established contact and confirmed he's well, the Gunnar Christensen diversion plan worked exactly as intended, and Kerdelhué called race management himself once reached. He plans to return to his Window Live broadcasts on Saturday after a few days away from the camera. Christensen himself, aboard the boat he calls the Mighty Pumpkin, sounded cheerful and talkative on his own broadcast, 116 miles at 4.6 knots, and has finally tracked down the BBC on his radio between sessions teaching himself celestial navigation with a sextant and a dry-erase board. Isa Rosli logged the best run of this group, 112 miles, recovering well from the storm earlier in the week.
Henry Wootton had the roughest day of the bunch, just 2.4 knots, watching boats around him sail away while he sat stuck, with McIntyre suggesting an adverse current may have made it worse than it needed to be. Helga Marie "Mara" Løvenskiold Kveseth has the opposite problem working in her favour, 4.7 knots in breeze that's eluding the slower boats just ahead of her, a real chance to close ground on Wootton, Lodolo and Pinsky. Pär Nyman confirmed he'd needed a break from broadcasting too, rounding a Cape Verde island and back in touch with the rear of the fleet after a run as fast as 6 knots earlier in the day.
Guy deBoer's path back to the race has eased slightly. Race management has waived the mandatory 100-mile sea trial that was previously required before he could restart, though the rig inspection and survey approval still stand. Most of the repair work on Spirit is done, with interior fittings the main thing left before the boat's packed and ready. McIntyre isn't expecting him away before Monday.
