Checking in with Erden Eruç about preparations ahead of 2026 Golden Globe Race
by David Schmidt 1 May 16:00 BST
May 01, 2025
Erden Eruç aboard CLARA, his Biscay 36, during his 4,732 nautical mile solo qualification passage ahead of the 2026 Golden Globe Race © Erden Eruç Collection
Adventures come in all sizes, scales, speeds, and price tags. My longtime friend and sometimes shipmate Erden Eruç (pronounced "Air-dan Air-rooch") should know. The Turkish-American sailor and ocean rower commands 18 entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, including that of the first person to complete a human-powered solo circumnavigation (read: rowing across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans and biking across Africa, Australia, and North America), and was a 2024 inductee in the Guinness Hall of Fame. If this resume sounds borderline superhuman, the guy also speaks multiple languages, holds an undergraduate degree in engineering, two master's degrees and an MBA, has climbed multiple big walls in Yosemite, and—most importantly—has been married to his wife Nancy (a very cool lady) for almost 22 years.
Most recently, Eruç has turned his attention to the 2026 Golden Globe Race, which starts in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France in September of 2026, and takes participating singlehanded skippers around the three great capes—the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, and Cape Horn—before returning to Les Sables-d'Olonne.
The twist? The race is designed to replicate the trials and tribulations faced by the sailors who participated in the 1968-1969 Golden Globe Race, which was the first singlehanded circumnavigation race. As such, 2026 GGR sailors must use older boats, sextants (read: no electronic navigation), and other period-appropriate equipment.
The speeds might be a lot slower than that of a Vendée Globe effort aboard a state-of-the-art IMOCA 60 foiling monohull, but—given the 2026 GGR's course, lengthy exposure time, the vessels and equipment involved—there's no question that the adventure quotient is as high (or higher) as the much more expensive Vendée Globe.
Given that Eruç has faced serious storms offshore and alone aboard his ocean rowboat, there's also no question that my friend has the right kind of head space to take on a race of this magnitude.
Eruç purchased CLARA, the Biscay 36 that skipper Simon Curwen sailed to line honors in the 2022 GGR (Curwen was first skipper home, but a pitstop in Puerto Montt, Chile to repair his windvane system relegated him to the GGR's Chichester Class), so he has a proven steed.
I recently caught up with Eruç, via email, to learn more about the state of his campaign. (N.B., this is the third interview with Eruç that Sail-World has published in his run up to the 2026 GGR's start—the others can be found here:
Part 1
,
Part 2
)
Can you please catch us up with your GGR 2026 preparations and campaign, since we last spoke about it for Sail-World?
My good sailing vessel CLARA remained at Lagos in southern Portugal after my solo sail there from Lorient last summer.
During the autumn months, I went through a period of frustration in registering CLARA to my name and finding proper insurance. She was previously registered in the UK by Curwen. Not being a UK resident, I could not renew [her there]. I looked at Polish registration, which can be done for a fee, but had stipulations like proof of VAT payment.
Since the vessel was hardly ever going to be in the U.S., instead of pursuing a state registration, I found that registering the vessel with the USCG National Vessel Documentation Center was possible.
I now have an Official Number for CLARA and a newly assigned Hull Identification Number; this vessel built in 1976 came without a HIN. CLARA is finally a U.S.-flagged vessel and her declared port of registry is Bend, Oregon.
What have you been working on in terms of boat preparations in the past 10 months? Any big projects?
I returned to Lagos just before Christmas and continued servicing CLARA. Essential maintenance included polishing the fuel, replacing filters, installing a new water separator with an integrated lift pump, replacing the shaft seal, and pressing grease into the feathering propeller. I received a new blade jib that can be reefed to J4 size, as my last sail in the total of nine allowed.
The way that the Watt & Sea hydro-generator was previously installed on CLARA's overhanging transom pushed the unit toward the hydrovane blade, destroying its turbine. To prevent this, I obtained new mounting brackets from Hydrovane to keep the hydrogenator properly aligned with the wind-vane post.
We also installed the equivalent of 350Wp walk-on solar panels on deck, which proved quite effective. I hardly need to use the hydrogenator anymore.
You recently completed a 4,700 nm solo passage aboard CLARA. Was this your longest solo passage on a sailboat to date, and what were some of the highlights of the trip?
My 39-day solo voyage from Gran Tarajal on the island of Fuerteventura back to Lagos covered a distance of 4,732 nautical miles. This was indeed my longest solo sail, which met another GGR qualification requiring each skipper to complete a minimum of 4000 nautical miles on the same vessel entered in the race, using wind vane and traditional methods including celestial navigation.
After preparing CLARA at Lagos in January, I launched with my longtime friend John Climaco, with whom I had climbed the northwest face of Half Dome in the Yosemite Valley back in 1989. We sailed down to Gran Tarajal to find fellow GGR skipper Pat Lawless who kept his vessel there. I had met Pat in person during the 2022 GGR closing ceremonies in June 2023.
I relaunched solo from Gran Tarajal then rounded Cape Verde Islands clockwise. My original thought was to rise north far enough to catch the westerlies, passing north of the Azores. The March weather patterns proved that it was still too early for such plans. I turned east passing south of the Azores while 50 knot winds—gusting to over 60 knots—swept across the archipelago. The winter lows born out of Bay of Fundy were still marching east across the Atlantic. Two of those lows merged later to cover a large area forcing me to pass south of Madeira also; remnants of the same system helped me route northeast back to Lagos.
I spotted land from 12 nautical miles then at about 7 nautical miles a large menacing raincloud formed over Lagos, producing an offshore squall. I furled my headsails and decided that I could be forereaching to stall for time until those dark clouds moved on. I did not want to enter the marina under strong winds.
As I was reefing my mainsail, I noticed that the chainplate for my port-side aft diagonal shroud had lifted off the deck at an angle. There had been a leak under that during the whole voyage, and I thought that I could refresh the caulking once ashore to stop the leak. When I rushed down below, I found that one of the two bolts holding the chainplate had broken. Had I been sailing with a broken chainplate the whole time? I immediately dropped the mainsail to take any remaining load off the mast. I felt fortunate as I could have dismasted far offshore!
I changed my plan and decided to proceed under engine despite the squalls to drop anchor by the beach. I could always enter the marina the following morning in calmer conditions. I assembled my heavy Fortress Danforth anchor, flaked the rode line and attached an eight-meter heavy chain at the working end, which I would raise to the foredeck through the sail locker hatch.
By the time I motored up toward the marina, the squall had moved on and the sheltered entrance was calm to navigate. I was able to dock without any incident.
Did you approach the passage in race mode, or more in cruising mode?
I was cruising more than racing... Overall, I did not push CLARA or myself beyond reason. During the race, I will of course be more competitive, adjusting sails frequently or changing them depending. On this voyage, if the boat was moving, I was happy to rest and read in the cabin. I also dedicated time to perfecting my [celestial-navigation] sight reductions.
I was however prepared to test all of my sails and systems during this voyage; I was satisfied with these new configurations. I had installed new cheek blocks midship to thread the guy line when using the symmetric spinnaker. This gave me better control over the spinnaker pole placement.
I had also installed a three-foot strop to my anchor roller with a snap shackle to hold the tack of my asymmetric spinnaker. CLARA came with a closed bow pulpit which extends over the bow. As per race rules, I cannot modify the bow pulpit or add a bowsprit which would change the sail plan. I had an ATN-Tacker to accompany said strop, which is a U-shaped plastic device with straps and clips. The device hugs the furled genoa and the clips attach to the snap shackle, for the straps to keep the tack close to the centerline of the bow.
Based on what you learned on your 4,700 nm passage, what do you see as your current strengths and weaknesses? And how are you planning on addressing any weaknesses before the start of the GGR 2026?
CLARA is now undergoing a refit. We [pulled] the mast [and] inspected the sheaves and the standing rigging. There is slack in all the rivets on the boom, so they were replaced. The chainplates [were] redesigned to have four through-bolts instead of two welded screws. Although this will introduce more moving parts, I will be able to monitor for leaks, then either tighten or replace said bolts. The chainplates as I have them now, have two screws welded at fore and aft edges and are held down by nuts below deck. A broken screw offshore means a failed chainplate, which is unacceptable.
My strengths are my ability to handle solitude and difficult seas with ease. I function well alone and make few, if any, errors. This voyage exposed me to Force 6-7 sea state and more than once, I reduced sail to allow storm conditions to subside. Considering that CLARA will require a steady hand at the helm throughout the race, I think I will do well.
How's your celestial navigation coming along? Also, have you been comparing your celestial positions with position information from your GPS/GNSS? If so, how are you feeling about your results and progress so far?
I found the celestial navigation part of this voyage most appealing to my engineer's mind. It gave me a routine and a meaningful task to accomplish. It soon became my leading concern: getting correct sights, always looking for openings in cloud cover which could possibly expose a celestial body, minding details like the time of day, ensuring error-free calculations, and meticulously plotting the results.
Only then did the universe share the secrets to its machinations.
I was fascinated by my ability to gaze at the skies then to point to a spot marked on paper bearing my lines and scribbles, to be able to say "that's a fix, that's where I am."
Honestly, it had a feeling of magic to it. My ability to use celestial navigation to make sense of the world that I conjured up by dead reckoning was immensely gratifying. I was allowed to verify my location using GPS and I used apps on my smartphone to doublecheck my work. I regularly could determine my position to within a 10M radius. During the race, GPS devices and smart phone will be in a sealed container, available for use in an emergency.
I have full grasp of celestial navigation methods using a variety of celestial bodies including the sun, the moon, planets and stars. I could complete my calculations and sight reductions without error; if I had any errors, I could catch them quickly to correct my work.
The only problem was the unreliable plastic sextant that I was using. I had bought it used from a Facebook CN group. It was cheap for good reason; it turned out that the teeth of the arc near 0.0 and very likely those of the tangent screw, were stripped. So, try as I did, it would not hold calibration for index error. I could not fully trust my sextant readings.
Reading about this, more than one supporter of mine offered to contribute monetarily to my campaign for a new reliable metal sextant. My friend and shore team leader Mark Miller, a retired NOAA Commander, offered his quality metal sextant to the cause. Mark is a retired NOAA Commander and founder of Greenwater Marine Sciences Offshore (gmsoresearchvessels.com), [which is] leading the effort to establish a globally-dispersed fleet of affordable research vessels. I will take his sextant and a new plastic one on the race. The latter will be most useful in foul weather, to preserve the metal one from salty spray.
What other sailing do you have planned for 2025? And will this be solo or crewed?
I will be the skipper on a J/111 delivery from Waikiki to Seattle after they complete the Transpac race. We already have a solid team of four (including me) to accomplish this task.
Looking ahead at the next 16 months, what are the biggest items on your to-do list? And how are you feeling for time, given the race's September 2026 start?
I think I will make the start line without any issues. I chose to pay a premium for CLARA so that I would have possession of a vessel to meet the race requirements this early in the process. My calendar of tasks is definitely more relaxed than some of the 28 declared skippers in the race.
As for my task list, first and foremost, I must find ways to be more effective to bring better visibility and proper sponsorship to my GGR campaign. I must recruit a Team Manager, a mandatory requirement in the NoR, who will be the point person to maintain smooth communications with the Race Committee. Lack of funding is weighing on me.
One of the certification requirements is STCW Medical Person in Charge, which I will obtain this fall. I also intend to apply for RYA Yachtmaster Ocean certification now that I have a documented passage using celestial navigation.
I plan to apply for a long-term EU visa through the summer of 2027 before I return to conclude work on CLARA, then stay in the EU zone to meet the race calendar.
I will install jib tracks on CLARA; there are none. This will improve my options when sailing to weather.
My high-frequency radio needs a ground plate, its antenna will go up on the backstay once the mast is stepped. Then we will test and certify the system for performance.
My WeatherFax unit needs to be installed and tested. This is one of the older technologies that we will use for forecasts to remain retro.
I will gather all equipment listed on the NoR, update subscriptions to satellite tracking and communication devices, send my liferaft, EPIRB, and PLB to be serviced, and replace my flares. Any item with an expiration date will be marked through June 2027 or later.
I will complete the above work by the end of [next] April, gather most of the victuals, and launch from Lagos during the first week of May. I will transfer CLARA to southern UK first before continuing on to the west coast of France. All skippers must gather on August 10 [2026] at Gijon on the north shores of Spain, which is the Host Port for the Prologue Race. We will then be bound by race village activities and race calendar until the actual race start from Les Sables d'Olonne on September 6th, 2026.
If all goes well, I should complete the race eight months later in April of 2027.
Is there anything else about your GGR 2026 campaign that you'd like to add, for the record?
Our audience will find links on my website introducing my GGR campaign and our fundraising efforts. While we are looking for strong sponsors, I can register much progress by individual contributions by crowdfunding: www.gofundme.com/f/2026-GGR
For reference and further information, please see: www.erdeneruc.com and goldengloberace.com