Oceanracing Profisegler, Mike Golding/ECOVER
Mike Golding/ECOVER
2012 6th Vendee Globe
2011 9th Transat J.Vabre
2009 Teilnahme bei Extreme40
2008 Vendee Globe(Mastbruch)
2007 5th Transat J.Vabre
2006 5Oceans Mastbruch
nach Rettung Alex Thompson
2005 3rd Vendee Globe
2005 IMOCA World Champion
2004 IMOCA World Champion
2004 1st The Transat
2003 3rd Transat J.Vabre
2003 4th Rolex Fastnet Race
2003 3rd Calais Round Britain Race
2002 2nd Route du Rhum
2001 2nd Transat Jacques Vabre
2001 3rd EDS Atlantic Challenge
2000 7th Vendée Globe
Portrait
Mike Golding – ECOVER
THE WORLD CHAMPION
ONE OF THE FAVOURITES WITH AN OLD SCORE TO SETTLE, HE’S READY FOR BATTLE
Nationality: GBR
Age: 50: 27 August 1960
Place of birth: Great Yarmouth
Current residence: Warsash, Southampton
Marital status: Married to Andrea
Children: Son, Soren, 3
Originally a firefighter with the Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service, Golding made his name in sailing back in 1992 when he skippered a team of amateurs around the world westabout against the prevailing winds aboard the yacht Group 4 in Sir Chay Blyth’s first British Steel Challenge. He followed this up with a decisive race win in the same event four years later. In between these two events Golding had slipped in a third passage on this same tough westabout round the world course this time sailing his Challenge 67 yacht singlehanded without stopping. In doing so he became the first person to better Chay Blyth’s 292 days record for this passage, setting a new time of 161 days. Golding remains the only person to have sailed non-stop around the world in both directions – eastabout and westabout. Mike Golding ECOVER
Mike Golding ECOVER
Following his BT Global Challenge win, Golding embarked on his first Open 60 campaign with the support of Group 4 boss Jørgen Philip Sørensen. Team Group 4 won the first leg of the 1998/9 BOC Challenge (predecessor to the Velux 5 Oceans) only to run aground while rounding the top of New Zealand on the subsequent leg. He scored several podium positions in transatlantic events before disaster struck again in the 2000/1 Vendee Globe, when, just eight hours out from the start, his Team Group 4 was dismasted. Nonetheless, in a characteristic display of will power, Golding persevered, rerigged his boat and set sail eight days behind. He ultimately finished seventh recording the fourth fastest time.
„One of my skills is that I can make myself do what I don’t want to do. You know what you want to achieve and you are prepared to do everything to achieve it“
In 2001 Golding got his first backing from the Belgium ecological cleaning products manufacturer Ecover and association that allowed Golding to launch his second new Open 60 under their colours in 2003. In his new Ecover, a design by Owen-Clarke, Golding won both the Défi Atlantique and historic The Transat race in 2004 making him favourite for line honours in the Vendee Globe later that year. During this event his fast crossing of both the South Pacific and the Indian oceans led to two new ocean records. He moved into the lead briefly coming up the South Atlantic, only to break three halyards, which he feels cost him the race. But this was nothing compared to the loss of his keel just 50 miles from the finish line. Incredibly, Golding was able to complete make it to the finish line to take third position.
Golding was a pre-race favourite for the Vendée Globe 2000/1. Tragically, within eight hours of the start ‘Team Group 4’ was dismasted. After returning to the start in Les Sables d’Olonne, Golding’s team worked round the clock for eight days in order to successfully restep the spare mast before the deadline. In an amazing display of grit and determination he fought his way back up through the 24 boat fleet and after 102 days at sea finished 7th on the water and recorded the 4th fastest time for the race.
Summer 2001 brought the EDS Atlantic Challenge a new style 5-leg event for fully crewed Open 60 Grand Prix yachts. Golding signed a new sponsorship agreement with Ecover and for the first time Golding raced the boat with a full crew. A consistent performance throughout the 7 weeks of the event gave Golding and ‘ECOVER’ 3rd place overall. In the 2001 Transat Jacques Vabre, Golding and his co-skipper Marcus Hutchinson finished 2nd behind ‘Sill’ and ahead of British rival ‘Kingfisher’.
The boat underwent a serious refit and the true test of the new configuration came during the infamous Route du Rhum in late 2002. In a race of attrition, Golding and fellow Briton, Ellen MacArthur, broke away from the pack, getting hundreds of miles ahead of the fleet, swapping the lead for a great deal of the race. In the final stages, Golding suffered two blown spinnakers and after a hard-fought race finished a close 2nd out of the 59 starters. In an extraordinary show of British dominance, both British skippers broke the existing record (set by Yves Parlier) by more than two days and for the first time in the 24-year history of the race, arrived ahead of the multihull fleet.
SKIPPER HISTORY
British Steel Challenge 1992/3 – second place.
Record for fastest crewed west-about circumnavigations with stops
Group 4 Global Challenge
1993/4 beat Sir Chay Blyth’s world record for single-handed, non-stop around the world against prevailing winds and tides by 125 days, held the record for 7 years
BT Global Challenge 1996/7 – first place. Won five out of six legs
Transat Jacques Vabre
1999 – third place (Co-skipper – Ed Danby)
2001 – second place (Co-skipper – Marcus Hutchinson)
2003 – third place (Co-skipper – Brian Thompson)
2005 – fourth place (Co-skipper – Dominique Wavre)
2007 – fifth place (Co-skipper – Bruno Dubois)
2009 – 3rd place ( Co-skipper – Javier Sanso)
Vendée Globe
2000/1 – seventh place.
Set course record for 4th fastest time despite dismasting & restarting race eight days after fleet
2004/5 – third place.
Completed the race without a keel, following total loss of his keel 50 miles from finish line.
2008/9 – retired. Dismasted whilst in the lead on Day 37 of racing, in the Southern Ocean.
EDS Atlantic Challenge 2001 – 3rd place
Route du Rhum 2002 – second place. Broke event monohull record by two days
Calais Round Britain and Ireland
2003 – third place
2005 – second place
Défi Atlantique 2003 – first place
The Transat
2000 – third place
2004 – first place. Set new east-west transatlantic record
SNSM Record 2006 – Winner
Crewed from Saint-Nazaire to Saint-Malo
Record holder in the Open 60 IMOCA Class: 1 day 8 hours 48 minutes 35 seconds
SNSM Record 2008 – 7th
The Velux 5 Oceans 2006/7 – retired from race following rescue of fellow competitor, Alex Thomson, and subsequent dismasting in the Southern Ocean
The Transat Ecover B to B 2007 – Retired due to a number of technical issues
JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race 2008 Winner – IMOCA Class
Artemis Challenge
2008 3rd place
2010 1st place
Year 1989
2nd British Steel Challenge
Past round-the-world races:
1992-3 Global Challenge, 1993-4 RTW westabout solo, 1996-7 Global Challenge, 2000-1 Vendee Globe (7th), 2004-5 Vendee Globe (3rd)
Other sports: Mountain biking
Other interests: Family, music, reading
Most frightening moment: Southern Ocean knockdown on Challenge 67 and losing his keel 50 nautical miles from finish of Vendée Globe
Greatest achievements: Winning BT Global Challenge, finishing 3rd in 2004-05 Vendée Globe
THE BOAT
Boat history: 1st Transat 2004, 3rd Vendée Globe 2004-5, Designer: Owen Clarke Design LLP Builder: Southern Ocean Marine Launched: June 2003 Construction: Pre-preg/wet-preg carbon/Nomex sandwich Type: Open 60 Beam: 5.7 Displacement: n/a Movable ballast: Canting keel Board: Twin asymmetric Rig type: Rotating mast Mast height 26m Upwind sail area: 260sqm Downwind sail area: 500sqm Recent mods: New keel Aug 06, ballast divided Sponsors: Ecover
www.mikegolding.com
