Golden Globe Race: Pinsky is two miles off third place

6 min read

Daniel Pinsky has pulled Exodus to within two miles of third place in the Golden Globe Race 2026. At the 16:00 UTC tracker update on 15 November (Day 71) he had 18,726 nautical miles to go and Henry Wootton on Privateer had 18,724, after the gap between them was 73 miles on Saturday evening. Damien Guillou on Solarem still leads, 1,279 miles clear of Ertan Beskardes on Miss Beagle, who spent the weekend hanging his washing out to dry south of Africa.

Golden Globe Race Day 71 standings

Here is the order at 16:00 UTC on 15 November, with nautical miles to go and the distance each boat covered in the previous 24 hours.

1. Damien Guillou, Solarem: 17,064 to go, 121 miles

2. Ertan Beskardes, Miss Beagle: 18,343 to go, 126 miles

3. Henry Wootton, Privateer: 18,724 to go, 79 miles

4. Daniel Pinsky, Exodus: 18,726 to go, 157 miles

5. Etienne Messikommer, Bernard: 18,779 to go, 80 miles

6. Guido Cantini, Hannah of Cowes: 19,103 to go, 57 miles

7. Pär Nyman, Lazy Otter: 19,174 to go, 105 miles

8. Isa Rosli, Olleanna: 19,533 to go, 110 miles

9. Gunnar Christensen, Pompoen: 19,583 to go, 90 miles

10. Matt Woodside, Tipi Haere: 19,740 to go, 81 miles

The race office counts ten skippers still racing. Andrea Lodolo retired earlier this month and is sailing BiBi to Cape Town, so he is not in this order even though the tracker still lists his boat.

Who is third in the Golden Globe Race?

Right now it is a coin toss. Pinsky made 157 miles in 24 hours, the best run in the fleet, while Wootton managed 79 as a high pressure system left him becalmed and drifting slowly south-east, by his own account. On the 20:00 UTC update on Saturday, Pinsky was fifth and 73 miles behind Wootton. He has since passed Messikommer, who now sits fifth, 53 miles behind him.

Messikommer's day went the other way. By his own message the Yankee halyard on Bernard ruptured and the sail ended up in the water, which he called very disappointing, and he then navigated by sextant and dead reckoning for more than 100 miles. Our earlier pieces on Wootton edging into third and Messikommer toasting the Cape with rum show how long these three have been swapping places.

At the front, Guillou's margin over Beskardes grew from 1,276 miles on Saturday evening to 1,279, so the top two are essentially level with each other.

Beskardes hangs out his washing

Beskardes spent Sunday doing laundry in the Southern Ocean, and it made for good viewing. Cushions, socks and trousers all went out to dry in a patch of sunshine at about 43 degrees south, and he was pleased to be in what he called normal human clothes for the first time in a long while. His new waterproof trousers, he said, are not as waterproof as the label promises, so a second dry pair is the answer, with a third layer saved for the cold night. Coffee and a chocolate in the cockpit followed, which he admitted might be extravagant and then had anyway.

The tidy-up also turned up his Window Live schedule, which had been ripped off the wall in the rough weather. He taped it back up with tape pinched from work, where it is used for making medals, and owned up to falling asleep during an overnight live and said sorry.

Between the chores he took sextant sights through the morning and worked out a position of roughly 43 degrees 30 minutes south and 35 degrees 10 minutes east at 10:30 UTC. He told viewers that 43 degrees south is the furthest south he has ever been, a personal record by his own reckoning. He also fixed a broken washboard with screws and Sikaflex during the rough weather and reckons the repair is stronger than the original. Our earlier piece, Beskardes counts birds after the storm, has more on his week.

Christensen blames the barnacles

Gunnar Christensen on Pompoen was asked how he came to lose 300 miles to the mid-pack in eight days, and his answer is gooseneck barnacles. He said the boat's bottom has grown a big beard that he has cleaned twice already and that keeps coming back. His scrub brush is lost and his raft has a hole, so another clean is not easy, and he said he would not mind being stuck in Hobart.

He washed his hair with a bucket of freezing water and reported that it was cold. Lunch was chilli con carne again, because that was what was in the pack, and a possible dorsal fin was spotted and politely ignored. By evening the wind had died to a greasy swell and the sails had stopped slapping, which he was glad about. It is a long way from the skipper who mistook a dolphin for a penguin, but the wildlife is still turning up.

Guillou sees the wave coming

Out in front on Solarem, Guillou described a wave that hit the boat the day before. He saw it coming through the porthole and had time to lie down on the floor before it struck. This morning a similar wave met the boat at just the right angle and did nothing. He has rigged a tarp inside so that a wave coming through the companionway does not soak the cabin, and the birds are still keeping him company.

Elsewhere, Cantini rounded the Cape of Good Hope that morning and was bobbing around at 40 degrees south in the not-so-roaring forties. Pinsky is excited about the new leg towards Tasmania, Woodside called it a make and mend day, and Rosli reported that his repaired staysail is now a polka dot sail.

Golden Globe Race weather outlook for the fleet

This is our own read of the PredictWind ECMWF and GFS wind maps, with times as shown on the maps, so treat it as a rough guide. On Monday 16 November the back of the fleet sits under a band of light air, 5 to 12 knots, around 35 degrees east, with 25 to 35 knots further south on both models. By Wednesday 18 November both models build a deep low to the south-west of the fleet, and westerlies of 30 knots or more spread east through the sailing band. The models disagree a little on how deep the low gets. Entrants get no weather routing under the race rules, so how the skippers use it is their own call.

What to watch next

The next tracker updates will show whether Pinsky or Wootton holds third, with Messikommer 53 miles behind in fifth. The boats in the light air near 35 degrees east have a few quiet days before the Wednesday low arrives.

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