Damien Guillou's lead over Pat Lawless is out to 60 nautical miles now, six days into the 2026 Golden Globe Race, after both boats found the breeze that's starting to pull the front of the fleet away from everyone behind. Guillou, aboard Solarem, covered 156 nautical miles in the last 24 hours at 6.3 knots, holding the edge he opened earlier in the week. Lawless, on Silvermines Hydro, isn't far behind on pace, 147 miles, still tracking a direct line south for Lanzarote.
Golden Globe Race 2026: distance sailed
Tracker snapshots, start to Day 5
Source: Golden Globe Race live tracker (Yellow Brick)
Andrea Lodolo, sailing BiBi, holds third comfortably. Her four-hour average of 7.2 knots was the fastest reading in the fleet through the report, part of a 161-mile day that backs up the move on Beskardes earlier in the week as more than a one-off.
Etienne Messikommer's Bernard and Guido Cantini's Hannah of Cowes are still racing each other as much as the field. Messikommer took eight miles out of Cantini over the day, 160 to 152, boat speeds nudging past nine knots at times on the GGR's onboard footage. Both are working the stronger offshore breeze, and that split from the inshore route is doing real work further down the fleet. Daniel Pinsky, tracking closer to the coast, is sailing in noticeably less wind, something like 15 to 18 knots against the 25 to 28 Messikommer and Cantini are getting, and his 145-mile day reflects it.
The number of the day belongs to Guy deBoer. After days stuck in the light patch that cost him early on, he's sailing his Tashiba 36 Spirit straight through the middle of the fleet, 177 nautical miles in 24 hours, the best run anyone posted. His current heading will run him back into softer wind if he holds it much longer, so treat this as a sharp correction rather than deBoer settling into the front group.
Isa Rosli and Gunnar Christensen are both making ground without doing anything spectacular, 109 and 103 miles. Henry Wootton is finally finding rhythm on the inshore track at 151 miles. Matt Woodside's low figure on the tracker, just 64 miles, is understood to be another position-reporting glitch rather than his real pace.
At the tail, Selim Yalçin logged just 39 miles and is now roughly 450 miles behind the leader, still fighting for breeze. Pär Nyman's boat speed is improving but hasn't turned into real distance yet after an extended calm patch. Race organisers say his patchy tracker updates are a watch item, nothing more.
Guillou and Lawless should hold the better breeze for another 48 hours. The chasing group faces a softer patch over the same period that could push their deficit out toward 240 nautical miles. Guillou is provisionally tracking for the Lanzarote film gate around midnight on 15 September, Lawless expected through early the following morning.
