GLOBE40 Leg 4 Update: Leaders cross the antimeridian
by Sirius Events 7 Jan 09:33 GMT
7 January 2026
Belgium Ocean Racing breaks the Class 40 24 hours record © Jean-Marie LIOT / Globe40
Today at 06:45:31 UTC and 06:50:19 UTC, the two leaders of the GLOBE40, BELGIUM OCEAN RACING - CURIUM and CREDIT MUTUEL, crossed the antimeridian, giving the former a 4'48" advantage.
What is the antimeridian? The antimeridian is the meridian opposite the Greenwich Meridian, located near London and the prime meridian at 0° longitude. The Earth, round as we know, is divided into 360 meridians, imaginary circles that pass through the two poles, and 24 time zones, like the 24 hours in a day, each 15° longitude apart. West longitude runs from 0° to 180° west, east longitude from 0° to 180° east, with the antimeridian forming the boundary in the middle. In short, when the competitors cross the antimeridian from west to east, they will "lose" a day and set their watches back 24 hours.
Crossing the antimeridian also means that the competitors in the 2nd edition of the GLOBE40 have already completed half of the round-the-world course, given that when they set off for the prologue in Lorient, they were close to the 0° meridian of Greenwich. In this fourth leg to Valparaiso, the two leading Class40s are currently almost at the 50° south latitude limit. They have already covered 1,890 nautical miles since leaving Sydney on Thursday, February 1st, at an average speed of 13.06 knots over the surface.
An extraordinary human adventure in the truest sense of the word, this edition and this fourth stage are also a pioneering experience for the new generation of Class40s, the scows, with speeds never before achieved. It opens a new horizon of ocean racing for the Class40 series, which is taking its place among the great epics around the world.
Track the fleet via www.globe40.com/cartographie