Sixteen classic yachts and their skippers go on public view at Les Sables-d'Olonne this week, as the McIntyre Golden Globe Race fleet opens for inspection ahead of the September start.
Mayor Nicolas Chénéchaud will formally welcome the competitors at the GGR Pavilion at 14:30 on Saturday, 22 August. No pass is required, and visitors can wander the public marina pontoon daily between 10:00 and 19:00 to see the yachts up close and meet the sailors as they finish their preparations.
This is a working marina, not a polished boat show. Crews are testing gear, stowing provisions and ticking off last jobs before setting out on more than 28,000 nautical miles solo, non-stop and without outside assistance. Navigation will be by sextant and paper chart only, aboard traditional long-keel yachts built to the spirit of the original 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.
The public welcome follows the SITraN Challenge Prologue, a three-day systems test that doubled as a fundraiser for the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience. French skipper Damien Guillou took the win aboard the Rustler 36 Solarem, ahead of British sailor Henry Wootton on the Cape George 36 Privateer and Italy's Andrea Lodolo on the Rustler 36 BiBi.
Seven boats failed to round a virtual waypoint correctly during the prologue. Some navigators entered 46.30°N instead of the specified 46°30′N, a gap of roughly 12 nautical miles, while others simply passed the wrong side of the mark, one by just 25 metres. No protests were lodged, and with the event run purely as a training exercise, no penalties were applied.
Seven yachts also transmitted through the new GGR Live Window during the prologue. The one-way satellite system, built with Swedish partner TriPeak, streams video and boat data ashore with no return link to the skipper. Minor glitches came up during the test, but the trial was judged a success. Guillou has since signed Solarem up for the race proper, taking the number of participating boats to eight.
American-Irish sailor Colm Walker arrived on 17 August aboard his Tayana 37 Mo Chuisle after an 8,000-nautical-mile delivery from the US west coast via the Panama Canal. Facing extensive deck leaks and repairs he couldn't complete in time, Walker has withdrawn from the 2026 race and is now aiming for 2030. Mo Chuisle will stay on display at the marina.
Formal safety and equipment inspections follow on 26 and 27 August, covering emergency gear, rigging and compliance with the race's traditional-technology rules. Two yachts have already had to replace failed long-range HF/SSB radios, the kind of fault the process is designed to catch before the fleet meets the Southern Ocean.
The Parade of Sail gets under way at 14:00 on Sunday, 6 September, with boats departing the Vendée Globe Marina at two-minute intervals from 14:30 before heading down the Les Sables-d'Olonne channel and out towards Cape Horn.
