Guillou and Lawless break clear as the rest of the fleet stalls in a windless high

The 2026 Golden Globe Race has split properly now. A high-pressure system parked across the Bay of Biscay has Damien Guillou and Pat Lawless racing away in the last useful breeze, while most of the fleet sits becalmed behind them, three days after conditions first turned tactical out of Les Sables-d'Olonne.

Guillou, aboard Solarem, covered 162 nautical miles in the last 24 hours at an average of 6.5 knots. He closed the Spanish coast before dark to fix his position visually off Cape Finisterre, then switched to dead reckoning and rounded the headland overnight while the rest of the fleet stood off. He sails without a wind instrument by choice. Lawless, on Silvermines Hydro and steering with an Aries windvane, is chasing hard on 134 miles for the day, about 38 miles behind on the water.

The group behind them is still racing, just with less to work with. Ertan Beskardes (Miss Beagle) sits third on a 100-mile day, ahead of Andrea Lodolo (Bibi), who cut sharply south to stay in the breeze for 104 miles. Etienne Messikommer (Bernard) and Guido Cantini (Hannah of Cowes) spent the night close together, talking tactics by radio near Finisterre and choosing caution over speed in the dark; Messikommer's tracker figure understates his real position, after his overnight report went missing. Daniel Pinsky (Exodus) and Louis Kerdelhué (IE Charge), still nursing a temporary windvane fix without further trouble, logged 94 and 82 miles.

Further back, boats are going nowhere fast. Guy deBoer (Spirit) is sitting near dead centre of the high, managing just 57 miles. Isa Rosli (Olleanna), Matt Woodside (Tipi Haere) and Gunnar Christensen (Pompoen) are all under a knot. Henry Wootton, one of the fleet's pre-race favourites aboard Privateer, has had his worst day of the race so far at 24 miles. Helga Marie "Mara" Løvenskiold Kveseth (Showgirl) and Selim Yalçin (Help Disabled Children) are stuck in the same patch. Pär Nyman, finally away aboard Lazy Otter after his delayed start was covered here, is roughly 100 miles behind Yalçin and starting the long chase.

Race organisers expect Guillou to open a lead of up to 180 nautical miles over the back of the fleet within a day, with Lawless 60 to 75 miles adrift of him. The mid-fleet should get moving again tomorrow, and a second high is already building further back to bring in the north-easterly trades. First boats are still on track for Lanzarote's Marina Rubicón around 15-16 September. Nyman will be lucky to see it before the 20th.