2027 McIntyre Ocean Globe Race is go! – like it's 1973!
by McIntyre Mini Globe Race 22 Apr 17:03 BST
12 September 2027
Tapio Lehtinen will return for the OGR 2027 with his classic S&S Swan 55 yawl, Galiana, marking his fifth round-the-world race © Ville Norra / Tapio Lehtinen Sailing / Team Galiana OGR2023-24
The Inaugural 2023 Ocean Globe Race (OGR) was a huge success celebrating the 50th anniversary of the world's first fully crewed 1973 Whitbread Race.
220 amateur sailors on 14 classic production yachts and historic Whitbread Race veterans set out to recreate history and relive the way it was in 1973. Without GPS, satellite comms or computers, no high-tech anything except safety gear! Their life defining moments were accompanied by 70's cassette tape music and now the survey results of their uniquely human experience have been released publicly.
The 2023 OGR Crew Debrief of participating sailors is available on the www.OceanGlobeRace.com website. The findings are a fascinating account of individual experiences, the challenge, hardships and fear of gruelling Southern Ocean wilderness legs. The lack of sleep, cramped quarters, basic food and getting on with others in tight spaces is a constant theme. None had regrets. All remember Cape Horn! They tell of the highs and lows that changed their lives. It's a brutally honest human document. They lived a dream but at times they did not realise it.
Four yachts from 2023 have signed up for another round starting from Europe mid Sept. 2027. They are Team Galiana, Outlaw, Explorer and Neptune. Other entrants are eager for this unique opportunity that turns their circumnavigation dream into reality. They join the only amateur crewed 28,000 mile race around the world via Cape Horn and the only one not using autopilots. It's not elite, not professional and raced under strict IRC rules in affordable 48-65ft production yachts, or actual and similar ex Whitbread yachts. Entrants are all private owners. Most have never seen the Southern Ocean before. Only three in 2023! They all live an opportunity exclusive to the McIntyre Ocean Globe, yet available to anyone! You want it-you got it!
While sextants and long range SSB radios remain, significant changes in 2027 are planned! The biggest - YouTube LIVE STREAMING 24/7 from the fleet via the McIntyre "OGR LIVE Window". Using custom hardware and software developed for possible inclusion in the upcoming Golden Globe Race, it allows upload-only streaming where OGR sailors can open their world to followers. No two way communication, just a "Trueman Show" voyeurs delight into the raw beauty and excitement of racing around the world, as it happens, all the way every day.
"The OGR LIVE Window does nothing to change the ethos and 1973 technology experience for the sailors racing, but it opens an amazing experience for followers, able to watch each team real time live at various scheduled times of the day. Any serious action or problem and the BREAKING NEWS drops in over the top and we all watch in awe LIVE! By then we may even be able to link a 360 camera, so plug your virtual reality goggles into a computer and look around in a raging gale in the Southern Ocean..without getting wet!". -Don McIntyre, founder and organizer of the OGR.
A new IRC point score system for each leg will determine the overall winner of the OGR. Both line honors and IRC winners are recognised for each of the four Legs, but there is only one overall winner of the race and that is the IRC winner. Once a week full weather information is available for safety to the fleet, but then it is back to barometer and radio forecasting. Mixed gender crew requirements and at least one under 24 years remain. All dacron sails remain but some special cloth increasing durability will be allowed. Fuel consumption is restricted to 180 liters for the entire race and there after 10 minutes penalty is applied for every liter consumed. A crew member trained as a Cetacean observer must be on each leg to record observations and interactions.
Tapio Lehtinen will return for the OGR 2027 with his classic S&S Swan 55 yawl, Galiana, marking his fifth round-the-world race. Galiana was leading the 2023 race on handicap during the third and fourth legs but suffered from disastrous bad luck, becoming stuck in high pressure alongside other smaller yachts in the fleet—providing a compelling reason to have another go!
As a warm-up for the 2027 OGR, Galiana is in the middle of an 11-month voyage around the North Atlantic, spending the winter in the Caribbean andthe Bahamas. In June, she will participate in the Bermuda Race and return home via Greenland and Iceland to undergo further preparations for the OGR. Want to join Galiana? Visit www.tapiolehtinensailing.fi. You can also follow Galiana's voyage on Facebook here.
Outlaw is a Baltic 55 originally built for the 1985/86 Whitbread, competing under the name Equity and Law. Built in Finland back in 1984 to a Douglas Peterson design, Outlaw is in a remarkable condition considering her age after a massive rebuild to new condition in 2022/23.The Spirit of Adelaide crew feel confident in her ability to carry them safely around the world for a second OGR. The skipper Campbell Mackie raced twice around the world with Sir Robin Knox Johnston's Clipper race before the 2023 OGR. He is not interested in retirement homes as a young 77 year old and is eager for his fourth race around the world.
"The OGR is an adventure that strips life down to its purest form and reminds us what it means to be truly alive. The 1st edition was spectacularly rewarding for those of us who accepted the challenge. So much so that Outlaw has entered the 2027 event, battle hardened and ready for her third circumnavigation. With a solid nucleus already committed we are now recruiting to complete our 2027 crew line up. It's an addictive pursuit, so you are warned!" - Campbell Mackie, skipper of Outlaw.
The "Neptune - Winning with Parkinson's" project is a major sporting endeavor: participating in the 2023 McIntyre Ocean Globe Race and now the 2027 edition, aboard the legendary Neptune, which competed in the second edition of the Whitbread in 1977. Neptune, the god of the sea, inspired many in 2023 with the intergenerational and multidisciplinary crew from Morbihan, whose motto is "Those who dare will live!"
Indeed, Team Neptune included Bertrand Delhom, a sailor living with Parkinson's disease, a first in the history of offshore racing to circumnavigate the globe. Now the NEPTUNE PROJECT has aligned with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in America to launch an international awareness program through its participation in the 2027 McIntyre OGR. Through this adventure, Bertrand and Team Neptune gave hope to the 7 million people living with Parkinson's and changed perceptions of this disease. The story continues.
And one of the new entries for the OGR2027, we have Tuomo Meretniemi, a Finnish sailor and proud owner of Panacea, a 1981 S&S Nautor's Swan 57 (#39), which he has owned since 2012. Over the past decade, Tuomo and his family have sailed around the world, living aboard Panacea from 2016 to 2024 and gaining invaluable long-distance offshore experience. His young crew have a sailing background as senior Sea Scouts who will follow their race and their science program designed together with three major universities in Finland.
"Seventy percent of the Earth is covered by the open ocean, yet very few people truly see it or understand its impact on our lives. I want to give the next generation the chance to experience that view firsthand. Racing in the next Ocean Globe Race will take us to the world's most remote and untamed waters." - Tuomo Meretniemi, owner of Panacea.
The McIntyre OGR is open to any owner, skipper or sailor who wants it badly enough! Private boats, intimate teams. No need to know why, you just need to know it's you. Dream it, visualise it, do it! Right now there are boats available to buy, there are crew vacancies to be filled on GALIANA, OUTLAW and EXPLORER!