Eco 60 class boats awaiting the race start in La Rochelle

The Velux 5 Oceans Single Handed Round the World Race will be starting in just over a week on October 17th.   The competitors will race from La Rochelle, France to Cape Town, South Africa; then on to Wellington, New Zealand; to to Salvador, Brazil, to  Charleston, South Carolina in the USA and returning to La Rochelle, France for a race of almost 30,000 miles. The race will be sailed in Eco 60 class boats, designed to be relatively less expensive than boat is other ocean races.

The run up to the race has had its own excitement. Two racers were disqualified for failing to complete the required qualification passages.  Belgian sailor Christophe Bullens’ boat was dismasted off the coast of France en route to the event.   In La Rochelle, Brad Van Liew of the United States, Derek Hatfield of Canada, Zbigniew ‘Gutek’ Gutkowski of Poland and Chris Stanmore-Major of Britain are all making the final preparations on their boats before the start of the race.

In the last race, held in 2006-2007, Sir Robert Knox-Johnson, at aged 67, became the oldest sailor to complete a round the world race.  Solo circumnavigation is not just for teenagers.