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The Global Challenge 2004/05
Portsmouth-Kap Hoorn-Kapstadt-Portsmouth
Amateure - 03.10.2004 - 17.07.2005
Oceanracing 2004
The Global Challenge 2004/2005
The worlds toughest yacht race
Imagine being numb with cold. Imagine biting 70mph winds that sting your face as you lumber about the deck rollercoasting its way over 50-foot waves. Imagine hanging on for your life as a wall of freezing water crashes on top of you. Imagine doing this for five weeks at a time. Welcome to Global Challenge, the world’s toughest yacht race.
On Sunday 3rd October 2004, 12 identical 72ft ocean racing yachts will sail from Portsmouth, ready not just to survive those conditions, but to race through them. Each yacht will be crewed by 17 ordinary men and women led by a professional skipper. Most will want to be in the team that wins the Princess Royal Trophy but every single crew member will be setting out to push themselves to the limit and to have the adventure of their lives.
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It’s tough because they race ‘the wrong way’ around the world - against the prevailing winds and currents. En route they’ll stop in Buenos Aires, Wellington, Sydney, Cape Town, Boston and La Rochelle before returning to Portsmouth ten months later. Conditions will range from the calms and energy-sapping heat of the doldrums to the icebergs, storms and monumental seas of the southern oceans.
Global Challenge is more than just a yacht race. It brings together the business community, a major charity – Save the Children, the media and tens of thousands of supporters as well as the crews. Over 120 organisations participate in the event through sponsorships and partnerships. Spectators from around the world visit the ports of call and track the event on the race website and through coverage in the world's media. In the BT Global Challenge 2000/01 the race website had half a billion hits.
On 3 October 2004 the fleet will leave the UK and head out into the North Atlantic and across the Equator to Buenos Aires in Argentina. From here they sail south, round the notorious Cape Horn and into the Southern Ocean to battle through the Roaring Forties to Wellington in New Zealand.
Wellington is the longest stopover on the race so that crews can recuperate after an arduous 40 days at sea and to allow the yachts to be taken out of the water, repaired and prepared for the second part of the Southern Ocean. The crews take advantage of the long break and spread across the North and South Island to make the most of this fabulous country.
Nicknamed the 'Directors' leg' as many of the Yacht Sponsors’ senior executives take part, Leg 3 is a sprint to Sydney, Australia. Then the fleet batten down the hatches to go back into the Southern Ocean heading for the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Town – ‘tavern of the seas’.
From Cape Town to Boston is the longest leg. It’s indexly downwind and warm through the Atlantic Ocean, but requires concentration and smart tactics. Leaving Boston, the yachts depart for the UK, with a short stop to regroup in La Rochelle in France, before the final sprint to the finish line in Portsmouth. After a 29,000-mile journey, the whole fleet should arrive back in the UK on 17 th July 2005.
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