First qualifier underway from Marina de Lagos Portugal to Rubicon Marina Canary Islands
# Marina de Lagos, Portugal. Dec 30th 2024 – Against all odds – Sailing history is about to be made! Small boats, huge adventures…. Another grand McIntyre Adventure !
# After years of building in backyards and garages around the world and frantic final preparations, safety checks and briefings at Marina de Lagos Portugal, ten men and two women sailors set sail on Saturday 28th Dec. on the first stage of a 28,000-mile solo odyssey around the world onboard ALMA Globe 580 home-built plywood 19ft yachts. Four more will join Antigua.
# After a few days of high winds and sea, the Mini’s sailed down the river of the classic port city of Lagos past a small cheering crowd and out onto a blue sea and sky to a beautiful sunny day. A light southerly sea breeze at the start caused some frustrations but the atmosphere was electric. Sailors, family, friends and locals all contemplating and trying to imagine what lay ahead. By late afternoon the wind swung and the sailors set a course South. Without exception, spirits ran high after years of anticipation!
# At first glance the idea seems simply impossible, even crazy! But these are not ordinary little plywood boxes. And, these men and women, young and old, from all walks of life and diverse professions are far from normal sailors. They all dream big and take risks, but every one of those risks has been mitigated to an extreme level. The sailors understand what lay ahead. The biggest attraction is the unknown and that defines a true adventure!
#The first night out saw Dan Turk on “LITTLE BEA” lose all power and Jasmine Harrison on NUMBATOU challenged with the boat rounding up and losing control at one point and then being hit on the head by the boom, but all is OK! Today wind and sea conditions are moderating with most settling into 100-120 mile days.
# First stop 600 miles SSW from LAGOS is Marina Rubicon, Canary Islands with an ETA of January 3rd 2025 – All those arriving are then Qualified to enter the Globe 580 Transat. They stop for one week before setting out on January 11th bound for the National Sailing Academy in Antigua, 3000 miles to the west. Those that survive this 33-day Transatlantic crossing are then “Qualified” to enter the McIntyre Mini Globe Race (MGR).
We have all been dreaming about this day since 2019 when we first launched the idea and now here we are. This is a world first Solo circumnavigation race in MINI’s but it is much more than that. It is a rich human story, people living their dreams and proving something to themselves and in the process inspiring many. To this day I am stunned with the build quality of their 580’s, their determination and passion and sheer guts to have a go! I am truly proud of each and every one of these amazing skippers!
Don McIntyre Alma Globe 580 Founder and MGR organiser
# Only one of the sailors in this Globe 580 Transat qualifying race will stop in Antigua. The remaining 11 are entered in the MGR, but first must get to the other side of the Atlantic! The Atlantic for most would be enough, but some dreams are just too powerful. Only time will tell. Four more Globe 580 sailors are joining the MGR fleet in Antigua for this historic voyage making 15 entries setting out around the world.
# In the past few years, ten other Globe 580’s have successfully completed non-stop solo Transatlantic voyages, including from Canada across the North Atlantic to Portugal encountering 70kt winds and 5-6mtr seas, proving their ability. Yet can these little yachts make it all the way around the world over the next 15 months. Only time will tell and many will be watching and holding their breath. One thing is certain, it will be an arduous journey, a race of attrition where only those with the toughest minds and well-prepared little yachts are likely to finish.
Well known Finnish sailor Tapio Lehtinen and veteran of the 1982 Whitbread, 2018 and 2022 Golden Globe and also the recent fully crewed McIntyre Ocean Globe Race has one of his young circumnavigating crew Viivi Moisio building an ALMA Globe 580.
The Globe 580 is a fantastic concept – probably the best that has happened in the front of democratization of offshore/ocean racing since the British JOG class /initiative in the 1950’s.
It will be interesting to follow the McIntyre MGR and even more interesting to see what kind of sailing careers will be started within the 580 group. On the other hand, it will be such an experience for the participants, that it does not need to lead anywhere, it can be the climax of one’s sailing career.
Tapio Lethenin said.
# Once in Antigua, 15 Sailors are expected to attempt the solo west about circumnavigation, starting February 23rd 2025 in their ALMA Globe 580 yachts. Full Entrant profiles list HERE.
# The MGR follows in the footsteps of the late John Guzzwell (Patron of the 580 Class). He was the first to attempt a solo mini yacht circumnavigation in 1955 onboard his 20ft self-built timber TREKKA. He completed the voyage in 1959. The MGR is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of his epic adventure told in his book “ Trekka Round the World” which continues to this day inspiring many sailors to great voyages.
# The next 15 months will take sailing to a new level. 100ft foiling ULTIM Trimarans circumnavigate solo in 41 days. Vendee Globe IMOCA’s solo sailors fly at 36kts and travel over 600 miles a day. The world at 4 kts in an ALMA Globe 580 seems a much bigger place and lets you smell the roses!! Entrants become one with the oceans and themselves, just as Bernard Moitessier and Joshua Slocum did in days gone by. This adventure is not a brutal push battling the seas, but rather a romantic voyage in the extreme, sure to deliver amazing stories.
# Australian adventurer Don McIntyre launched the concept of this affordable “build it yourself” Mini www.ClassGlobe580.com at the start of Covid in 2019. He built 580 Hull No.1 ‘TREKKA II” and raced it solo across the Atlantic in 2021. Built from euro 300 plans, or as a flat pack plywood kit, the idea has attracted 239 interested sailors building in 37 countries with many planning to enter the 2029 edition of the MGR or the next 2026 Globe 580 Transatlantic solo, or in the new two-handed Class which runs every two years.
#The McIntyre Mini Globe Race is one of three original and unique around the world races organised by Don McIntyre. All three focus on the HUMAN story rather than Speed, Money and Technology. The first was the solo non-stop Golden Globe Race in 2018 and 2022 from Les Sables d’Olonne France followed by the fully crewed McIntyre Ocean Globe Race from the UK in 2023. All three run on a four-year cycle.
