Damien Guillou leads the Golden Globe Race by 1,282 nautical miles at the 20:00 UTC tracker update on Tuesday 10 November 2026, Day 66 of the race. His Solarem has 17,685 miles to go against 18,967 for Ertan Beskardes in Miss Beagle. That looks far bigger than Monday's 890 miles, but only because the tracker recalculated Guillou's remaining route after he passed the first southern waypoint. Between our two snapshots he sailed about 177 miles to Beskardes's 109. Next comes a strong westerly band that our reading of the forecast puts across the southern half of the western fleet area on Thursday 12 November.
Here is how each skipper's distance sailed has built since Les Sables d'Olonne:
Golden Globe Race 2026: distance sailed
Tracker snapshots, start to Day 66
Source: Golden Globe Race live tracker (Yellow Brick)
Who is leading the Golden Globe Race?
Guillou is first, Beskardes second on 18,967 miles to go, Etienne Messikommer third on 19,299 and Henry Wootton fourth on 19,333. The overlay on Guillou's live feed at 17:01 UTC on Tuesday put Solarem at 44.19 south, 43.53 east and sailing at 8 knots. His own recording says he cut sail three times overnight and is down to two reefs, and that he has passed the first of the waypoints spaced about 1,000 miles apart along this leg. He would rather not dip further south than he has to, because a strong north or north-east wind could make the next waypoint awkward to reach, and he says tomorrow's weather is anyone's guess. We reported on his passage of the Cape in Golden Globe Race: Guillou slips past the Cape of Good Hope.
Meanwhile Guillou cooked himself a beef bourguignon, reckons he has been eating a lot of sugar and has probably lost a little weight anyway. He is rising around 3.30am, when the sun on the deck feels good, and he was pleased to have finally dried the mat that had been sitting in cabin condensation. He worked out that four years ago to the day he was arriving at Cape Town in the previous race.
Can Wootton catch Messikommer for third?
Wootton made 167 miles in Privateer against 155 for Messikommer in Bernard, and the gap for third has shrunk from 47 miles to 34 between our snapshots. Daniel Pinsky made 159 in Exodus and sits 134 miles behind Wootton. We covered Bernard's earlier run in Golden Globe Race: Bernard flies, Pompoen hunts for sun, and Wootton's charge in Wootton's 156 miles tighten the Golden Globe Race chase.
Messikommer took his fortnightly phone call with the race office on Tuesday with three reefs and a storm jib set, a rising sea and the Cape of Good Hope expected within a day or two. He knows Wootton is closing, since the two chat on the HF radio twice a day, and he is determined not to be an easy overtake, even though Wootton's Cape George 36 is theoretically a touch faster. He has food for about 300 days, he says cheerfully, while he believes Wootton's larder is slimmer and so Wootton has to be quick. Straight after the call a big wave sent his chocolate flying, and he paused mid-sentence to rescue a coffee, his hair soaked in salt.
How is Pompoen getting on?
Gunnar Christensen made 75 miles in Pompoen, and the overlay on his feed at 14:52 UTC on Tuesday put him near 38.09 south, 4.09 west and sailing at 4.2 knots. After a pair of fast days by his own account he has fixed a troublesome battery cable, met his first albatross and mistook a rain squall for a whale. He has a woolly thermal suit he can joke about, a weekly bucket bath to look forward to, and a growing craving for a cheeseburger.
Across the fleet
Beskardes made 97 miles in Miss Beagle in light air. In one recording he counts 18 miles in four hours in about 4 knots of breeze, with an albatross for company. Guido Cantini made 126 in Hannah of Cowes and now sits sixth, and Pär Nyman made 144 in Lazy Otter in seventh. Nyman's galley saga continues: some badly peeled eggs went straight back into the pot, and he has been tucking into sweets and dried mango. Isa Rosli's Olleanna made 118 miles in eighth, and Christensen is ninth.
Andrea Lodolo has retired and is making for Cape Town aboard BiBi, so his stale tracker position does not count in the standings. Matt Woodside's Tipi Haere is tenth, although his figures are still settling after the change of tracking feed. We covered the race office's latest word on both boats in Golden Globe Race: a sextant, spuds and a helping current.
What to watch in the Golden Globe Race this week
Our rough reading of the PredictWind forecast covers only the western part of the area. At midday UTC on Wednesday 11 November there are patches of light air to the north-west of the Cape, westerlies and north-westerlies of 15 to 20 knots through the middle, and 25 to 35 knots in the south. On Thursday 12 November both models we compare, PredictWind's own and GFS, show a band of westerlies of 25 to 35 knots or more over the southern half and the centre, easing to 10 to 20 knots with lighter patches on Friday 13 November.
That is our own reading, and entrants are not allowed weather routing, so every call on sail and reefing stays with the skipper on deck. The boats nearest the Cape are the ones to watch on Thursday, Wootton has 34 miles to find on Messikommer, and the tracking map above shows Guillou far to the east in a band of 25 to 35 knots.
Follow the whole race on our dedicated Golden Globe Race 2026 page.
