Ten sailors remain in the 2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Race after six of the original 16 starters retired, leaving the fleet with roughly 19,000 miles still to sail to Les Sables-d'Olonne. Attrition on this scale is nothing new. Only one of the nine starters finished the original 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston aboard SUHAILI, while the 2018 edition produced five finishers from 18 starters and 2022 saw just three of 16 make it home.
Three more entrants have left the fleet in recent days, each for very different reasons.
Italian sailor Andrea Lodolo, racing BiBi, fractured his knee after falling from the cockpit through the companionway into the cabin. After consultation with Medical Support Offshore, the GGR's telemedicine service, he chose to sail on to Cape Town rather than abandon his boat. He is sleeping on the cabin sole, taking painkillers, and keeping cockpit trips to a minimum under close medical supervision, with his arrival expected in five to six days. Lodolo had been holding third place and gaining when the injury struck.
American sailor Guy deBoer was evacuated from his yacht SPIRIT by Brazilian Navy helicopter on 8 November after a fall aboard. He is now stable aboard the corvette Barroso, bound for Rio de Janeiro with an estimated arrival of 11 November. SPIRIT remains adrift in the South Atlantic.
Norwegian sailor Mara Løvenskiold Kveseth, aboard SHOWGIRL, has retired after being notified of two suspended disqualification penalties. A GGR investigation found multiple breaches of race rules, including unauthorised uploading of 865 restricted camera card files, breaches of media publication limits, and unauthorised use of Starlink to transmit footage and covert communications to her shore team. GGR suspended the disqualification penalties "in the spirit of the GGR" but reinstated a six-day penalty for unauthorised phone calls, bringing her total penalty to 16 days. Rather than accept the terms, Mara announced her retirement on 7 November. She had been lying fifth.
With the weather settling after a run of storms, the remaining fleet is making steady progress east. Ertan Beskardes aboard MISS BEAGLE holds second, aided by the Agulhas Current. Swiss sailor Etienne Messikommer, aboard BERNARD, has climbed to third after nearly retiring in the Doldrums weeks ago, with Henry Wootton closing from behind. Race leader Damien Guillou, aboard SOLAREM, is pushing into the Indian Ocean, with his Hobart film drop tentatively estimated around 17 December.
With more than half the original fleet already gone and the Southern Ocean still ahead, the ten sailors remaining face the race's hardest test yet: simply staying in it.
