Golden Globe Race

Les Sables-d’Olonne welcomes the McIntyre GGR fleet as the final countdown begins

The public is invited to meet 16 skippers and view their classic yachts from 22 August, following Damien Guillou’s SITraN Challenge victory and the fleet’s first multi-boat GGR Live Window test.

Official Public Welcome: Saturday, 22 August 2026 at 14:30, GGR Pavilion, Place Vendée Globe, Port Olona. Open to everyone; no pass required.

Key points

• Mayor Nicolas Chénéchaud will officially welcome the 16 remaining McIntyre GGR skippers at 14:30 on Saturday, 22 August. The public marina pontoon and GGR Pavilion will be open daily from 10:00 to 19:00.
• French skipper Damien Guillou won the SITraN Challenge Prologue aboard the Rustler 36 Solarem, ahead of Henry Wootton’s Cape George 36 Privateer and Andrea Lodolo’s Rustler 36 BiBi.
• Seven yachts transmitted through the one-way GGR Live Window during the prologue. Guillou has now joined the programme, bringing the 2026 race total to eight participating skippers.
• American-Irish skipper Colm Walker has withdrawn from the 2026 race after an approximately 8,000-nautical-mile passage. He plans to return in 2030, while his Tayana 37 Mo Chuisle remains on display at the marina.

LES SABLES-D’OLONNE, France – 21 August 2026 – The 2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Race enters its final countdown on Saturday, 22 August, when Mayor Nicolas Chénéchaud officially welcomes the 16 remaining skippers at the GGR Pavilion at 14:30.

Everyone is invited, and no special pass is required. Visitors can enter the public area of the Vendée Globe Marina pontoon to see the race yachts at close quarters and meet the sailors as they complete their final preparations. The GGR Pavilion will open daily from 10:00 to 19:00, presenting the history of the Golden Globe Race, the sailors and boats of the 2026 edition, and the extraordinary challenge ahead.

This is not a conventional boat show but a working marina in full pre-race mode. Equipment is being tested, provisions stowed and final jobs completed before the fleet departs. The 16 sailors are preparing to race more than 28,000 nautical miles solo, non-stop and without outside assistance, navigating with sextants and paper charts aboard traditional long-keel yachts in the spirit of the original 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.