Golden Globe Race: Beskardes counts birds after the storm

Damien Guillou leads the Golden Globe Race by 870 nautical miles from Ertan Beskardes at the 00:00 UTC tracker update on Sunday 8 November 2026, Day 63 of the race. Guillou's Solarem covered 145 miles in 24 hours, while Miss Beagle managed just 50 as a calm settled over the South Atlantic behind a storm. Since Friday afternoon the gap at the front has grown by 120 miles, and several boats behind Beskardes covered more than twice his 50 miles.

Here is how each skipper's distance sailed has built since Les Sables d'Olonne:

Who is leading the Golden Globe Race?

Guillou has 18,449 miles to go and has sailed 8,697. Beskardes is second with 19,319 miles to go, and Etienne Messikommer is third in Bernard, a further 447 miles back. The best run of the day belonged to Pär Nyman, who made 165 miles in Lazy Otter.

The race office says Guillou came through the worst of a weakening weather system with seas still running at five to six metres but easing, and that he has cleared the main Agulhas current. We looked at his earlier brush with heavy weather in After 8,000 miles, the Southern Ocean bares its teeth. The race office also shared a short clip of Guillou showing how he cooks at sea, so he found time for the galley as well.

Miss Beagle slows to 50 miles in the calm after the storm

Beskardes has had a rough couple of days, and his own recordings explain the number. He describes a storm that blew above 40 knots with seas of about six metres, a cockpit that filled several times and three reefs in the main. At one point he went forward in the waves to deal with a sail. This is the same sailor whose sextant got a vote of confidence from a passing ship, as we reported in a passing ship backs Beskardes' sextant, and he appeared to take the latest setback in his stride.

Then the wind left. By the next day the water was warm, the sun was out, the cockpit was dry and he called it the happiest point of his day. He counted eight or nine birds circling the boat, watched an albatross glide past close enough to admire, and treated himself to an orange soda with a stroopwafel and some olives, which he judged a rather extravagant snack for out there. A beer went up to the shore team as well.

The calm brought chores. He tidied the cockpit and found a few rusted fittings, then worked out that a solar panel had stopped charging. His plan is to swap in a 50 watt panel and rewire the other. He was clearly delighted when he sorted out the wiring polarity. In the light air the boat sat too close to the wind for the self-steering gear, and he pleaded with the breeze for a few more knots, joking that the boat had simply wanted a sleep and thanking it for stopping.

The peaceful day came at a price. The race office has flagged currents near Miss Beagle that can almost cancel out progress at these speeds. Beskardes still has 447 miles in hand over Messikommer, although that cushion could shrink quickly if the calm persists, and the margin to Guillou is the widest in our recent tracker snapshots.

Wootton holds fourth as Pinsky closes

Henry Wootton holds fourth in Privateer with 19,823 miles to go, 16 ahead of Mara Kveseth in Showgirl. Earlier this week a single mile split them, as we described in fourth place comes down to one mile. Daniel Pinsky is closing on both: his Exodus made 144 miles in the last 24 hours against 132 for Kveseth and 127 for Wootton. He is 48 miles behind Kveseth and 64 behind Wootton, and the fastest of the three.

Pickles, a pigeon mug and a big night for Pompoen

Gunnar Christensen's recordings from the afternoon of 6 November are a lesson in keeping the galley under control. His tuna cans were too big, he had far too many pickles to get through, and he described himself as a saucy guy. His morning coffee comes in a pigeon mug, and he told the camera he is too cautious to win races but also not in the habit of breaking things.

That night the weather arrived. The race office says waves were breaking over Pompoen overnight and Christensen found it tougher than anything he had faced, so he called race management for reassurance about what lay ahead. The tracker has him at 131 miles in 24 hours, 11th on the leaderboard.

Across the fleet

Isa Rosli's Olleanna made 154 miles. In a message on 5 November he said he had flown his A3 spinnaker and varnished the windvane and tiller, both covered in autographs, and that it was so calm he could see the stars reflected in the ocean. Guido Cantini, 136 miles in Hannah of Cowes, offered his own weather report on 4 November: in this part of the world the lows are sunny and the highs are cloudy and rainy.

Nyman has been up the mast again, using his mast steps to make the climb easier, according to the race office. Matt Woodside's Tipi Haere has not updated on the public tracker since 14:45 UTC on 7 November. The race office says his backup unit reports every 12 hours and that no distress alert has been raised.

The race office has confirmed that Andrea Lodolo's campaign in BiBi is over and that he is heading for Cape Town, about 1,000 miles away. The tracker still lists him as racing, in seventh. Our separate report covers the situation aboard Guy deBoer's Spirit, where, according to the race office, a Brazilian Navy corvette was expected to reach him at about 06:00 UTC on 8 November.

What to watch in the Golden Globe Race this week

Westerlies like that could give the chasing boats a faster passage east, though the seas will build with them and not every skipper will meet the strongest air. Entrants are not allowed weather routing, so every call on sail and reefing stays with the skipper on deck. The things to watch are whether Pinsky can reel in Kveseth and Wootton, how quickly Miss Beagle finds wind, and whether the fastest runs of the last day were a blip or the new pace.

Follow the whole race on our dedicated Golden Globe Race 2026 page.