Celebrating the successful conclusion of the inaugural Mini Globe Race

Renaud Stitelmann aboard #28 CAPUCINETTE (SUI) won every leg of the race and established the first official race record at 180 days, 11 hours, 25 minutes and 57 seconds. Credit: Rob Havill / McIntyre MGR2025-26 © Rob Havill / MGR

There's something about tiny boats and massive oceans that stirs the heart. Take, for example, the Mini Globe Race 2025, a circumnavigation stage race that began on Sunday, February 23, 2025, on the waters off of Antigua. The "MGR" took a starting fleet of 15 singlehanded sailors, racing aboard 19-foot, mostly home-built ALMA Class Globe 580s, around the world via the Panama Canal and the Cape of Good Hope. While the fleet size eventually shrank by four boats, skipper Renaud Stitelmann, racing aboard his Capucinette, proudly crossed the finishing line on Saturday, March 7, with a total sailing time of 180 days, 11 hours, 25 minutes, and 57 seconds, to take first place.

En route, Stitelmann visited 15 ports in 13 countries, and he averaged 5.54 knots (or a little bit more than 130 nautical miles a day) the entire time he was at sea.

Impressively, he also won every leg of the race.

The route for the 2025 McIntyre Mini Globe Race - photo © MGR2025

Since the weekend, five other skippers— Pilar Pasanau, Dan Turner, Keri Harris, Jakub Ziernkiewicz, and Adam Waugh—followed in Capucinette's wake across the finishing line. (N.B., Christian Sauer, Ertan Beskardes, and the USA's Joshua Kali all have less than 100 nautical miles of racing left at the time of this writing [Monday afternoon, U.S. West Coast time].)

While Stitelmann's time doesn't exactly compete with that of skipper Charlie Dalin, the winner of the 2024-2025 Vendée Globe, who circumnavigated the planet alone and nonstop in 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes, and 49 seconds via the three great capes, it's important to remember that Dalin was racing aboard a foiling yacht that carried more than three times as much waterline as Capucinette.

Charlie Dalin rounds Cape Horn - 2336hrs UTC December 23, 2024 - Vendée Globe Race - photo © Vendée Globe

(Granted, Dalin pulled off his jaw-dropping circumnavigation while treating himself for cancer, but that's an entirely different story.)

And that's to say nothing about operating budgets.

While I'm not privy to the size of the war chests that were employed in winning these two races, there's no question that Stitelmann's checkbook was much, much smaller than the sum that MACIF—Dalin's sponsor—spent on his Vendée Globe campaign.

And this, of course brings us back to the heart-stirring emotions of sailing small, home-built boats across vast oceans: The technology might be downright agricultural compared to modern-generation foiling IMOCA 60s, but one doesn't necessarily need a corporate sponsor to compete in an adventure-minded event like the MGR.

While Mini Globe Race passage times won't exactly be lighting up the World Sailing Speed Record Council's record pages, that was never the point of this everyman race.

The 'MAD BASTARD' himself....Don McIntyre, well known Australian adventurer and founder of the Golden Globe, Ocean Globe and now Mini Globe Races, three of the most unique sailing and adventure events the world has seen in the past 20 years - photo © JJ / MGR2025

"This really is a momentous occasion for these sailors," said MGR founder Don McIntryre in an official event communication. "The MGR is a classic and challenging race and a very real adventure not for the faint-hearted. But it shows clearly that the human spirit has no bounds if the dream is strong enough and a person believes in themselves. Our motto of "small boat-huge adventure" also reflects on the budget. It is not impossible for many sailors and to build is not too big, or too small! It is just right."

McIntryre went on to explain that he worked with Polish designer Janusz Maderski to create the design, which is now being built in some 37 countries. (N.B., Used boats can also be found on the race's webpage, perchance any interested readers are better at trimming sails than building boats.)

ALMA Class Globe 580 one design Yachts are building in 37 countries with nearly 100 active builders. After the third running of the Globe 580 Transat Race and now start of McIntyre Mini Globe Race imminent, interest in this unique class is growing rapidly - photo © World's Toughest Row / MGR2025

Of course, spending 180 days, 11 hours, 25 minutes, and 57 seconds at sea aboard a 19-footer doesn't exactly sound comfortable, but—to be fair—spending 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes, and 49 seconds aboard a foiling IMOCA 60 also doesn't exactly sound like a Caribbean bareboat charter.

Sail-World raises a glass to McIntryre for conceiving of this bold adventure, to Stitelmann for setting the race's first record (and for winning all legs), and to all 15 sailors who heard about the MGR and said, "right, that's for me".

Jasmine aboard #88 Numbatou in the Mini Globe Race 2025-26, still at sea when she received the great news - winner of the Ocean Cruising Club Jester Award 2025 - photo © Jasmine Harrison / MGR2025

While there's no question that we love sailing technology and record-breaking runs at Sail-World, we also understand and celebrate the fact that nautical brass comes in all shapes, sizes, waterlines, and budgets, and we applaud the adventure-minded spirit of this one-of-a-kind race.

May the four winds blow you safely home.

David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor