On 28 December 2024, a fleet of ALMA Globe 5.80 19ft /5.8mtr plywood home-built yachts will set off from Marina de Lagos, Portugal, for the third Class Globe 5.80 Transat Race. After their ‘warm-up’ leg to Marina Rubicon Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, the fleet will depart bound for Antigua on 11 January. This transatlantic 3600 miles race serves as a qualifier for one of the most audacious solo around-the-world races yet conceived, the McIntyre Mini Globe Race.
Sailing in the footsteps of John Guzzwell and Trekka the first mini yacht to solo circumnavigate in 1955-1959, the course is west-about from the Antigua National Sailing Academy via Panama, Tahiti, Fiji, the Torres Strait, the Cape of Good Hope and Recife, including a number of other ports along the way. The longest legs may take up to 60 days at sea. The McIntyre MGR starts from Antigua on 23 February 2025 and finishes there in March 2026 a 13-month epic over 28,000 miles that will test the sailors and their tiny yachts to the limit and beyond.
“When I first explain to people what is about to happen with the MGR, most shake their head and say impossible, or simply stare in disbelief, so I know this adventure is going to create waves and big stories on and off the water. This is not a Vendee Globe sprint that is certain, but it is an achievable and affordable adventure for special sailors that is set to inspire and amaze many. The entire 15 yacht fleet is worth less than one foil of an IMOCA! yet these ALMA Globe 5.80 yachts are truly capable and proven safe ocean voyagers, specially conceived and designed to race solo around the world just like an IMOCA!” explains Don McIntyre, event organiser.
“All entrants must meet strict entry qualifications, and the safety equipment specifications are exhaustive and worlds best practice with each boat assigned its own individual 24hr a day safety manager to monitor daily progress and manage international logistics.”
The McIntyre MGR promises to be a spectacular event for those following. Like all of Don McIntyre‘s unique human adventure races, including the Golden Globe Race and the Ocean Globe Race. The Mini Globe Race will be well-documented, with weekly written and recorded voice reports and daily updates and LIVE Tracker reviews on the MGR Facebook Page, YouTube, Instagram and MGR website, plus progress of the fleet can be followed on the MGR Yellow Brick YB 24hr tracker.
While the MGR is still looking for a tile sponsor, the Class Globe 580 one design yacht established in 2020, with over 235 participants in 35 countries around the world has secured a unique sponsor for the next five years. In future the 580 will be known as the ALMA Globe 5.80. ALMA was founded in 2007 by a very discreet and generous philanthropist, whose goal is to support those worthy humans who are usually brilliant in their fields but not well known by the masses. Rings a bell? Like Don McIntyre!
The 13 men and two women in the McIntyre MGR represent nine countries, Australia 5, United Kingdom 3, and one each from Germany, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States of America. Four of the Australians have shipped their boats to the start in containers and one is sailing down from the USA. All others have either trucked their boats or are sailing to the start. Neils Kamphuis from the Netherlands is entered in the Globe 580 Transat only. These men and women young and old all have inspiring and interesting back stories and no two are the same.
12 Skippers and their teams have already arrived in LAGOS, the Portuguese home of the ALMA Globe 5.80’s since 2021. Father and son team Mike & John Blenkinsop, hull 99 and 100 built two identical ALMA Globe 5.80’s both shipped in a 40ft container from Queensland Australia, while Dan Turk sailed his “Little Bea” 3600 miles solo across the North Atlantic from Nova Scotia Canada to Portugal for the start and is now ready in Lagos. Teams must assemble in the marina no later than Dec. 17th and more than a few Xmas parties are scheduled prior to the Dec 28 start.
The Race from Lagos to Lanzarote is a 550-mile qualifier for the Globe 580 Transat after an eight day stopover. This is a tradition going back to the original 1977 Mini Transat started in the UK by Bob Salmon and a great way to settle the fleet before the 3000-mile race across the Atlantic to the AntiguaNational Sailing Academy
