An interview with Guy deBoer about the Golden Globe Race 2026
by David Schmidt 8 Jul 08:00 PDT
July 8, 2026
American skipper Guy deBoer plans to compete in the singlehanded and non-stop-around-the-world 2026 Golden Globe Race © Photo by Anna Suslova / @annasusslova
September 18, 2022, is a day that American solo sailor Guy deBoer is unlikely to forget. DeBoer was competing in the Golden Globe Race 2022, which began on September 4 in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France, and sailing was off the north coast of Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands, near the race's film drop-off gate, in the pre-dawn hours, when prolonged exhaustion, seasickness, and vertigo caught-up. DeBoer accidentally fell asleep sitting upright in the cockpit.
Unfortunately, this coincided with an important windshift that placed him on a dangerous leeshore. Spirit, his Tashiba 36, ran aground on solid lava rock about 165 feet off the shore. Surf was breaking over Spirit, which was lurched-up on the rocks at a 45-degree angle and was taking on water, and while deBoer had made a Mayday call via VHF, he was initially unsure of his precise latitude and longitude.
That's because the "GGR" is a retro race that recreates the experiences of the brave sailors who competed in the 1968-1969 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, which was the first nonstop solo around-the-world race. As such, competitors must race aboard 32-36' fiberglass boats that were designed before 1988 (and were one of at least 20 builds from the same moulds) and that carry full keels and displace at least 13,670 pounds. All navigation must be done via sextants and paper charts, and while each skipper carries two portable GPS-enabled chartplotters, these reside in a sealed box for emergencies only.
Such as running aground.
DeBoer's VHF calls were heard by Kirsten Neuschäfer (the race's eventual winner, and the first woman skipper to have won a nonstop around-the-world race), who relayed them to race headquarters.
Help eventually arrived, but instead of debarking Spirit via a life raft (read: the lava rock made this impossible), deBoer, who was one of just two Americans competing in the GGR 2022, waded ashore in the dark with assistance from first responders.
Fortunately, deBoer, his team, local authorities, and a salvage company saved Spirit from total devastation, but deBoer's dreams of racing alone around the world were over.
Or so it seemed.
DeBoer impressively rebuilt Spirit, and he plans to race the boat in the Golden Globe Race 2026, which is set to unfurl on Sunday September 6, again from Les Sables-d'Olonne.
This time, however, he will be one of five American skippers who are planning to compete.
I checked in with deBoer, via email, to learn more about his Golden Globe Race 2026 campaign.
Can you please tell us about the gravity that's drawing you back to the GGR 2026, given your experiences in 2022?
Something has kept drawing me back to the Golden Globe Race since the moment Spirit went on the rocks after the Lanzarote checkpoint in 2022. I originally came to the GGR because I wanted a different kind of challenge—one built on traditional seamanship, judgment, patience, and self-reliance.
The way my 2022 race ended was incredibly difficult, but it never felt like the end of the story. Rebuilding Spirit only deepened my connection to the race and everything it represents, so seeing us back on the skippers' list feels incredibly rewarding.
What were the biggest lessons that you learned in the 2022 GGR about circumnavigation racing? Also, how do you plan to incorporate these lessons into your 2026 campaign?
Without question, the biggest lesson I learned is that when you're solo sailing near land, shipping lanes, or fishing fleets, you are no longer racing—you are protecting the boat and skipper so you can keep racing once you're safely back in open water.
That lesson is permanently etched into me.
For this campaign, I've developed a Golden Globe tactical handbook that I intend to read every day during the race. Even with an extensive racing background, age has taught me to be honest with myself: I need to be disciplined about how I manage risk, fatigue, and decision-making. The handbook reinforces the principles, strategies, and mindset I believe are important for finishing the Golden Globe Race successfully and, hopefully, contending for the win.
Can you please tell us about the journey that you went on to restore Spirit after the 2022 GGR?
Rebuilding Spirit became an incredible journey of its own. It took six days to get her off the rocks and into a boatyard, and remarkably, within five weeks I had built the mold and fiberglassed the hull; a local craftsman named Ugo did beautiful work on the longboarding and fairing of the exterior hull.
Before sailing became my life, I was a carpenter and cabinetmaker, so restoring the destroyed port-side interior by hand and seeing her whole again gives me an enormous sense of pride.
Aside from boat restoration work, can you please tell us about that sailing that you have done aboard Spirit to prepare for this year's race? How many miles have you logged, and what passages have you made?
Since 2022, much of my time aboard Spirit has been spent rebuilding and preparing her for offshore racing. I've sailed her on a roughly 100 nautical mile round-island shakedown, and my next major step is the 4,000 nm Golden Globe Race qualifying voyage.
I've also stayed active and competitive, including racing with Charlene Howard on her Jeanneau 45 in the 2024 TWOSTAR double-handed transatlantic race, where we won class and overall honors, and competing in both the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac and the Bayview Mackinac Race in 2025.
I'm relying on the upcoming transatlantic qualifying passage, the rebuild process, and decades of racing experience to bring everything together.
What's been a bigger challenge—preparing physically or mentally for this year's race? Also, can you please tell us about how you have been training and preparing yourself for the rigors of the race?
At 70, I have to be very intentional about both the physical and mental sides of preparation, but I'd say the bigger challenge is mental.
Another clear lesson from 2022 was how quickly sleep deprivation and fatigue can affect judgment offshore, so fatigue management has become a serious part of my preparation.
I've had valuable guidance from Dr. Philip Haydon, a neuroscientist and offshore sailor, on sleep strategies for solo offshore sailing, and have been putting these techniques into practice in the lead up to the race. I've also been gradually stepping away from the constant connectivity of technology, so the isolation of the race is not such a drastic change.
Emotionally, rebuilding Spirit helped me process what happened in 2022, and now the focus is on protecting my judgment and staying mentally sharp and resilient all the way around.
What books do you plan to have on your shelf(s) when you cross the starting line? Also, why did you choose these titles?
I'll be carrying about 20 books on board, and I'm looking forward to reading again. After a career in newspaper publishing, it is somewhat ironic that I haven't made much time for books in recent years, but this race gives me the chance to slow down in that respect. One title on my bookshelf will be Adventure Is in His DNA by Dr. William N. Rom, an accomplished physician-scientist and fellow adventurer who was kind enough to give me a copy when we met.
I also plan to take Kirsten Neuschäfer's new book, All Good, K. Since we were competitors together in the 2022 race, it'll be really intriguing to read her perspective on everything that happened on the way to victory while I'm out there chasing the same finish line.
In the 2022 GGR, you were one of only two Americans on the starting line, but this year there are five skippers flying the Stars and Stripes. Has this had an impact—positive or negative—on your campaign this year?
I think the growth in American participation is very positive, especially this year as the country marks its 250th anniversary. When I entered in 2022, I believe I was only the sixth American skipper ever to enter any solo, nonstop yacht race around the world, so now seeing five Americans on the 2026 GGR skippers list alone shows how much interest has grown in just one cycle.
No American has ever won a solo nonstop race around the world, whether in the traditional Golden Globe format or the modern high-performance category, and I'd certainly love to be the first—but I'm also proud to see such a strong Stars and Stripes presence on the starting line.
How has your search for sponsors been going? Also, do you currently have the funding to make it around the world, or are you still seeking support?
Securing sponsorship for an independent American Golden Globe Race campaign is challenging, but we've been fortunate to receive meaningful support from several generous individuals and companies, including Evolution Sails and Gill Marine.
With Liz Emery managing the campaign through Spirit Adventures, the effort has taken on a new level of professionalism and a much stronger platform.
There's still time for a like-minded title sponsor and additional partners to help fully resource the campaign and keep our focus on the historic goal: becoming the first American to win a solo nonstop race around the world.
Is there anything else about your GGR 2026 campaign that you'd like to tell us about?
In this America250 year, we're inviting yacht clubs across the country to send their burgees aboard Spirit for the circumnavigation, to be returned after the race as one-of-a-kind pieces of sailing history. It's a way to unite around American maritime tradition and help build a stronger U.S. presence in offshore sailing.
And for anyone who can make the trip, we'd love to see supporters in Les Sables-d'Olonne, where the GGR festivities begin nearly a month before the race with final preparations, media events, public activities, and skipper-autograph sessions. Hundreds of thousands of people come to take part and see the fleet off—having experienced it before, I can say it is truly extraordinary.