Eleven days into the McIntyre Golden Globe Race 2026, France's Damien Guillou and Ireland's Pat Lawless have cleared Lanzarote and are pulling clear of the fleet. But a fresh weather trap is forming behind them that could split the remaining boats apart.
Guillou, sailing SOLAREM, found himself leading the race for the first time when he reached the Marina Rubicón film-drop buoy at 12:15 local time on 16 September. After his interview with the race team, he anchored for about an hour, a move permitted under GGR rules, and climbed his own mast to replace a sheave in the masthead spinnaker block. Self-reliance is central to the event, and outside help was never an option.
Lawless, aboard SILVERMINES HYDRO, followed roughly seven hours later at 19:15, easing through the film gate at five to six knots with one reef in and his headsail furled. He admitted he was shocked to find himself in second place, having expected all the Rustler 36s to be ahead of him. Both men had mechanical failures end their previous GGR campaigns in 2022, and their return has put them at the front of the very race that once stopped them.
Their advantage traces back to 9 September, when a high-pressure system spread lighter winds across the Bay of Biscay. Guillou's position close to the Spanish coast gave him a good angle around Cape Finisterre, and Lawless was similarly placed to keep his breeze while others further north stalled. Guillou logged 162 nautical miles in one 24-hour period while Britain's Henry Wootton, on PRIVATEER, managed just 24. The gap between the leaders has fluctuated since, narrowing from around 83 nautical miles on 13 September to roughly 50 by the 15th as Lawless clawed back 30 miles in a single day while Guillou battled lighter winds, hand-steering under spinnaker to hold his lead.
Behind them, the chasing fleet is finally finding pace. Italy's Andrea Lodolo, aboard BIBI, leads that group, with Britain's Ertan Beskardes on MISS BEAGLE close behind. Switzerland's Etienne Messikommer and Italy's Guido Cantini have been sailing close enough at times to see each other, and Cantini posted a 163-mile day as the breeze filled in. By 17 September, Messikommer and Israel's Daniel Pinsky, on EXODUS, were just 1.9 nautical miles apart.
American Guy deBoer, whose 2022 race ended when SPIRIT grounded on Fuerteventura after the Lanzarote film drop, has bounced from 27 miles in a day to 177, one of the standout runs of the week. He's now running his backup Windpilot after problems with his Hydrovane mountings, while France's Louis Kerdelhué, aboard IE CHARGE, has also had to improvise a temporary fix to his own Hydrovane fastening to keep going south.
Race founder Don McIntyre said the week captured what makes the event unique. "Damien anchors, climbs his mast, fixes the problem himself and gets straight back into the race. Pat is chasing hard, the boats behind are finally flying, and now another windless trap threatens to split the fleet again," he said.
The concern now is a forecast lull around 20 to 21 September that could stall boats further back, including Sweden's Pär Nyman on LAZY OTTER and Turkey's Selim Yalçın on HELP DISABLED CHILDREN, both of whom had only recently found consistent breeze themselves, while the leaders sail on into fresher air. As McIntyre put it, "Nobody can afford to get comfortable, this adventure is only just beginning."
