Golden Globe Race 2026, week 10 (8 to 13 November): the whole fleet on the map, with the skippers’ own voices.
A steadier week after the storms. The middle of the fleet sailed from the Thirties into the Roaring Forties, and four more boats passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope: Ertan Beskardes on Monday, Etienne Messikommer late on Wednesday, Henry Wootton three hours after him and Daniel Pinsky on Thursday evening. Henry began the week 57 miles behind Etienne. On Wednesday the halyard of his big Yankee went to the top of the mast, and twice he tried to climb up for it. On Thursday at 0400 UTC the tracker had the two boats 0.4 miles apart on the distance to the finish, and by Friday afternoon Henry was third, 15 miles ahead.
Damien Guillou passed the first Indian Ocean waypoint on Monday evening and ended the week more than 1,200 miles ahead of Ertan, with a deep low forecast to pass south of him at the weekend. Andrea Lodolo, out of the race with a broken knee, was 339 miles from Cape Town on Friday. Etienne held the line from his barograph up to the camera, and Gunnar Christensen shouted as a whale breached behind his boat. Our 3D drawings show the three great capes, the Agulhas Current, and what the sea does when the wind blows against a current.
Made by Mainsail Cuts
https://www.youtube.com/@MainsailCuts
CHAPTERS
00:00 Golden Globe Race Week 10
00:44 Nearly Ten Weeks at Sea
01:29 The Fleet on 8 November
02:07 A Steadier Week
03:19 Reading the Barometer
03:59 Damien at the First Waypoint
04:26 Andrea Sails for Cape Town
05:05 The First Great Cape
06:06 The Agulhas Current
07:29 Isa’s Forestay, Gunnar’s Whale
08:09 The Fight for Third
09:42 Friday: A Low for Damien
10:30 The Standings on Friday
SOURCES BY CHAPTER
Golden Globe Race Week 10
Ertan’s sextant on the live Window: youtu.be/b1_D-s14wms?t=15700
Nearly Ten Weeks at Sea
Guido Cantini’s film of the start: youtu.be/-Jl0bywkKrk?t=10
A Steadier Week
Don on the week’s weather: youtu.be/7xcnLjDsNkM?t=1098
Pär Nyman’s live Window, 9 November: youtu.be/hqNpu3XmNY8?t=10500
Reading the Barometer
Etienne’s barograph on the live Window: youtu.be/6gP4dS_zuTE?t=12410
Damien at the First Waypoint
Don on the waypoints: youtu.be/JouXgFWcjG4?t=1228
Andrea Sails for Cape Town
Don reads out the message: youtu.be/7xcnLjDsNkM?t=655
Andrea’s call with Don: youtu.be/YB3HDQtcXgk?t=607
The First Great Cape
Don on who has been here before: youtu.be/9u1pztB3Eqw?t=367
The Agulhas Current
Don on the current zone: youtu.be/JouXgFWcjG4?t=825
Don on Etienne’s speed: youtu.be/7xcnLjDsNkM?t=1202
Isa’s Forestay, Gunnar’s Whale
Don on Isa’s forestay: youtu.be/7xcnLjDsNkM?t=733
Gunnar and the whale on the live Window: youtu.be/CGfBhIlJDVQ?t=17608
The Fight for Third
Etienne’s call with the race: youtu.be/oeBkc777KXI?t=84
Don on Henry’s halyard: youtu.be/v9Ma4HOoBvs?t=1040
Friday: A Low for Damien
Damien’s live Window, 12 November: youtu.be/XCuuXcxavoE?t=8160
Don’s forecast for Damien: youtu.be/oj9DkKgrLgk?t=387
The footage and the voices are the Golden Globe Race’s own: its live Window, its calls with the skippers and its daily shows. Mainsail Cuts chose the sections and added the narration, maps, weather, 3D drawings and a score.
The race’s videos in this film:
youtu.be/htg7hJavQpY
youtu.be/F0F9LML65OI
youtu.be/b1_D-s14wms
youtu.be/hqNpu3XmNY8
youtu.be/-Jl0bywkKrk
youtu.be/wEBTMJB6vL4
youtu.be/CGfBhIlJDVQ
youtu.be/5I1eExXNd3c
youtu.be/wOdyZrsulLg
youtu.be/W_3oRv9K-TA
youtu.be/6gP4dS_zuTE
youtu.be/YB3HDQtcXgk
youtu.be/oeBkc777KXI
youtu.be/PO4uVYHyvvE
youtu.be/XCuuXcxavoE
Fleet maps: positions and distances from the race tracker, times in UTC; land from Natural Earth (public domain); small islands checked against OpenStreetMap contributors’ data under the ODbL: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
Weather on the maps: wind, wave and pressure data from the weather model at https://open-meteo.com under the CC BY 4.0 licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and drawn by Mainsail Cuts as wind streaks, a wave tint and H and L marks: model weather, not what a skipper reported. The weekend’s low is a forecast. The data’s makers have not endorsed this video.
3D drawings: our own models of a Tradewind 35 and a Cape George 36, from plans and photos, and a globe with land from Natural Earth; simplified in parts. The Agulhas Current’s path follows published descriptions and the waves are our own drawing; neither was measured.
Facts: the race’s daily shows, reports, news posts and skipper pages, and the skippers’ calls.
The Agulhas Current: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agulhas_Current
Pressure and wind: https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/learn-about/weather/how-weather-works/high-and-low-pressure
Closing shot: Damien Guillou’s Window, 9 November.
Thumbnail: Etienne Messikommer’s Bernard on the race’s Window, 10 November, with text added by Mainsail Cuts.
Narration: AI voice (ElevenLabs). Music: an original score by Mainsail Cuts.
#goldengloberace #ggr2026
