Posted by Graham Cox
On the morning of 25 March 2025, after a sweltering, and at times frustrating, stopover in Panama, nine ALMA Class Globe 580 yachts set sail from Balboa, in sunny, light-wind conditions, to tackle Leg Two of the Mini Globe Race (MGR). They are bound for Fiji by way of the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti and Tonga.
This leg promises to be one of the most challenging that the skippers will face, due to the sheer distance of the first stage to the Marquesas, the tactical decisions required, and the notorious ITCZ zone between the Cook Islands and Tonga, where serious gales are known to occur.
Six yachts missed the start for various reasons, though Josh Kali on SKOOKUM departed two hours later, and NUMBATOU, ORIGAMI and QUESTION 2, cleared out over the course of the next day. At the time this report was produced, DELJA 99 and DELJA 100 remain in Panama. Mike Blenkinsop, aka Popeye, on DELJA 99, has retired from the MGR, but will cruise with the fleet as far as Fiji, before possibly heading for Australia. His son, John, is still officially racing, but obviously won’t be competitive on this leg.
Issues in Panama involved completing boat repairs, the logistics of preparing and provisioning for a very long passage, dealing with Customs for importing gear, delays in haul-outs schedules at Shelter Bay Marina, and structural modifications to the trailers that transported the 580s across the isthmus to the Pacific Ocean.
Despite the challenges of this inaugural overland transit, Carefree Boat Club Transport Services completed the task in 10 days, for considerably less cost than transiting the famous canal. The 580’s were too small and slow to make the transit through the locks independently, and towing them through would have cost a staggering €55,000.
Keri Harris had the most work to do in Panama, after suffering a major knockdown approaching Colon while he had his main hatch open. He took an estimated 600L of seawater aboard, flooding the interior up to the level of the bunks, which he bailed out with a bucket. Much of his electronic equipment had to be replaced, his solar panels were wiped off the deck.
He also needed to rebuild his windvane. Unlike many MGR skippers, he has stuck with the South Atlantic self-steering unit and resisted the temptation to install a Hydrovane. Inevitably, that will mean more hand-steering when driving hard, but as he admitted in an interview with Don McIntyre in Panama, he likes a bit of austerity.
Aussie Dan Turner, on IMMORTAL GAME had to replace his forestay, along with spreaders, and reverted to a hanked-on jib, as he was unable to sort out his roller-furling unit in time. As it was, he only achieved this project, because Jasmine gave him her spare forestay.
Jasmine had challenges of her own, clearing new gear through Customs, including a new headsail, and also upgrading her electrics, helped greatly by fellow entrant, Josh Kali, skipper of SKOOKUM. The level of assistance and co-operation that the MGR entrants give each other is one of the extraordinary aspects of this race. In that respect, the event is more like a rally than a race, but once they cross the start line, competition gets serious!
As an ABYC-certified marine electrician and yacht maintenance technician, Josh’s services were in great demand among the fleet, most of whom fitted Starlink units in Panama. The price of a Starlink Mini was only US$200 there, though service fees are another story. Luckily, Josh did not have much work to do aboard his own boat, the immaculately-prepared SKOOKUM. Besides his technical skills, his background as a mountaineer means that SKOOKUM is both minimalistic and superbly organised.
The start took place in light, drifting conditions, and a temperature of 33℃. COCONUT, the official start boat, was a bit late leaving La Playita de Amador Marina, where the fleet had been based on the Pacific side of Panama, so Don McIntyre had to officiate until Captain Coconut arrived on station with a few minutes to spare. The start line was on the east side of the shipping channel, but eventually the fleet were given permission by Port Control to cross the channel and head west.
They were also allowed to use their electric outboard motors at the start, due to the drifting conditions and high-volume shipping movements. Luckily, a light breeze made up and they all took off, flying their asymmetric kites. Later that first night, Dan Turk had to call for assistance from Christian Sauer on ARGO, as LITTLE BEA’s electric outboard motor lost power, and he was drifting into danger between two islands. Christian, who was 1.5 miles ahead, returned to tow him clear.
Ironically, a few days later, Christian reported that he also had a flat battery, and his outboard motor was non-operative. He also had the dilemma of being unable to download charts via Starlink, as he had intended to do underway, because his land-based service ceased to function offshore. He will need to upgrade to the much more expensive Roam plus Global Priority services if he wants to use Starlink at sea. He therefore has no detailed charts of the Pacific Islands, and may have to stop in the Galapagos Islands, or at least upgrade when he reaches the Marquesas Islands. Beyond there, with many low-lying islands and reefs on the track to Fiji, detailed charts are an imperative.
Historically, engineless sailing vessels have often struggled to get out of the Gulf of Panama, but the MGR fleet were lucky, with 10-15 knot following winds and a fair current speeding them on their way. Aussie Dan reported sloppy seas the first night out, due no doubt to the current, tossing him around and making sleep difficult.
His discomfort may have been partially caused by settling in to the passage, but the quantity of debris in the water would not have helped his peace of mind. On the second day, he saw a huge log, 13m long and 60cm in diameter, drifting right in the path of the fleet, shortly before hitting a smaller log that became entangled with his keel. He had to drop his spinnaker and reverse off the log under power. Other skippers also saw logs and debris in the water. Adam filmed a substantial log, at least as long as LITTLE WREN, just off his starboard beam.
He also had a whale come up alongside, about 30m off the beam, which was twice as long as LITTLE WREN. A number of skippers reported boobies roosting aboard. Renaud posted an amusing photo of one perched on the square-top of his reefed mainsail, and another of a couple who took up residence on the pushpit, not even moving when he did foresail work. Because of the plankton-rich, cold Humbolt Current sweeping up from the Southern Ocean, the area around the Galapagos is renown for its prolific wildlife.
The 10-15 knot winds, sometimes just forward of the beam, combined with a 2-3 knot following current, sped the fleet on their way for the first few days. Once out of the Gulf of Panama, the swell settled down, making for ideal sailing, though most skippers reported lightning nearby at night. Keri posted a video of it, saying it was one thing that frightened him at sea. So far, though, nobody has suffered a major lightning storm, and there have only been a few squalls.
Ertan, sailing well under reefed main and A3 kite, reported that he had suffered a major failure of his main hatch, newly installed in Panama. He has taped it together to keep the rain and spray out, but it is by no means watertight, and will be vulnerable in heavy weather. Like the rest of the fleet, he averaged speeds in the 6-7 knot range getting out of the Gulf of Panama, before they all started slowing down in the approaches to the doldrum belt.
Images from Jasmine, aboard NUMBATOU, showed her sailing under the A3 and A5 winged out opposite each other, indicating that the wind was further aft, but she later reported that the wind seldom remained in one quarter for long. With the aid of the current, she recorded one day of 152nm, and has been maintaining a good position in the fleet, despite her late start. Officially, she is in 11th position, but at this stage of Leg Two, the leaderboard positions are misleading, based as they are on the rhumbline course to the Marquesas.
If any boats tried to sail the rhumbline course (the red line on the YB Tracker), they’d run the risk of meeting prolonged calms west of the Galapagos Islands. The fleet has therefore been pushing to the south, and until they break out of the doldrums into the SE tradewinds, and head directly towards the Marquesas, the recorded distance to the finish (DTF) will not accurately reflect who is in front.
Pilar Pasanau on PETER PUNK, Aussie Dan on IMMORTAL GAME, and Renaud Stitelmann, on CAPUCINETTE, are probably closer to the Marquesas in real terms, than their positions shown on the leaderboard. This is a great result for Pilar. Having battled self-steering issues in the Atlantic, and illness on the leg to Panama, she now appears to be in the groove, aided no doubt by her newly-installed Hydrovane self-steering unit, and a new asymmetrical kite.
For a while, Keri Harris seemed to be taking a more westerly course than most of the fleet, which has shortened his DTF, though he has since changed course to the SW. He reports that his rebuilt windvane is working well, but that his electric autopilot has packed up, meaning he will be doing plenty of hand-steering in the light winds ahead. Good thing he enjoys it.
There was a lot of discussion in Panama about whether to head south of the Galapagos or north. The traditional route has always been to go south, which historically allowed sailing vessels to break through the doldrums quicker. However, as shown during the 2025 Class Globe Transat, apps like Windy, giving access to real-time weather reports, may allow yachts to cut corners. This year, the traditional route west from Panama towards Otaheite seems to be the wisest choice.
At the time of compiling this report, the fleet is running out of the favourable winds that have propelled them south so swiftly, and they are all slowing down. To add to the skippers’ frustration, the SE tradewinds, which had been blowing fresh just south of the Galapagos Islands, are now retreating back to their usual limits of 5°S, leaving a wide band of doldrums to cross. One way or another, it is going to be a very long passage to the Marquesas Islands, possibly around 45-55 days, but it could take longer, depending on the width of the doldrums.
During his weekly sat-phone call, Renaud Stitelmann reported that there was almost no wind during the day, but that it sometimes picked up a little at night. He has been constantly changing sails, but reports that his Hydrovane manages to steer the boat in winds as light as 3 knots. As ever, he is the magician, as others report lengthy periods of hand-steering in these conditions.
A couple of nights earlier, he experienced a fierce squall, and ran for several hours under reefed jib only. The constant thunderstorms and lightning had eased off in his vicinity, though, and were now only visible to his north. He hoped that this meant he was leaving the doldrums and might break through into the tradewinds in a couple of days, though this seems too optimistic.
He has not seen much shipping since getting offshore, though the water is full of debris, and he passed what looked like a large, submerged tree a few hours before his call. Just the branches were above sea-level. Dan Turner on IMMORTAL GAME was nearby for several days, and at one stage they were sailing within a few hundred metres of each other. All is well aboard CAPUCINETTE, with no breakages, plenty of food and water aboard, and a well-rested skipper.
Aussie Dan, on IMMORTAL GAME, had been drifting for more than a day when he called. He’d been caught up in the same squall as Renaud, after which Renaud managed to wriggle away during the night. Pilar Pasanau, on PETER PUNK, then crept up on him and also wriggled past. They have since been sailing quite close, often in sight of each other and trading places when one or the other caught a vagrant breeze.
During the squall, because Dan could not roll a reef in his jib, IMMORTAL GAME was a bit over-pressed, and he had to hand steer until conditions eased. The jib, he noted, was too large, but the storm jib would have been too small. He could put reef points in the jib, but will just put up with it until he can refit the furling gear.
He has not been getting a lot of sleep, as the wind is constantly shifting, requiring endless attention to sail trim in order to work his way out of the doldrums. He also finds the Hydrovane is not responsive enough in the very light winds, and either hand-steers or uses his autopilot. Luckily, his electrical system is working well, and he had enough power.
He does not use his outboard motor much, as it takes about 6-7 amps, quickly draining the battery and only gives him a couple of knots of speed. The longest he can run it, without risking loss of power for critical electronics, is about one hour, which does not seem worth it to him.
Water consumption is proving to be something of an issue, as he has been drinking up to 5L a day. Despite leaving with 150L, this rate of consumption needs to be reduced if he is not to run out of water. He has a lot of canned food aboard, and the fluids in that will add to his capacity. He hopes to reduce his daily consumption levels when he reaches the cooler tradewinds. If it rains, he will collect water from the mainsail. He is currently at 1° 19’ north, and the tradewinds are around 5°S, so he has a way to go yet to get into cooler weather and pick up speed.
When he does have some breeze, he sails with a reefed main and either the A7 or A5 kites. If the wind is more that 160° aft of the beam, he sometimes poles out his kites. Sailing closer to the wind causes the poled-out headsail to backwind too often when the boat rounds up.
Jakub Ziemkiewicz reported that crossing the shipping channel and getting clear of the coast after the start was a bit tricky. He kept BIBI powered up with his A5 kite, and kept his distance from the rocks and islands that caused LITTLE BEA a bit of grief.
Once he got away, the wind settled in, and he had some of the best sailing of his life for the next three days. The steady wind, combined with a strong favourable current, saw BIBI consistently sailing at 7-8 knots, before he ran into the edge of the doldrums and began slowing down. The loss of speed was compensated for by the beauty of the calm ocean, including a spectacular sunrise and a plethora of different fish swimming under the boat, as well as a turtle.
Although he was a little scared, he jumped over the side and had a short swim, fulfilling a long-held dream, after alerting Adam Waugh on LITTLE WREN, via VHF radio, who was 12 miles away. He did the same for Adam, later. They also had a pleasant chat, exchanging news and recipes.
Initially, Jakub felt he was drinking too much water, and in these conditions most people perspire a lot as well. He has special nutrition bars, prepared for him by his supporters, Deirdre and Nika, to compensate for the resultant loss of minerals. He is now rationing his water, though took 175L and is not concerned about running out. If he gets some rain squalls, he will try to catch some water to wash his clothes and have a shower. He keeps his shampoo in the cockpit, just in case.
Jakub hopes to cross the equator in a couple of days. He has done some planning with the current, so is going to go close to the Galapagos, crossing the equator in 88° W, to avoid being pushed towards Ecuador by the east-setting Counter Equatorial Current. He had a little bit of current in his favour at the time of his call.
He is planning a formal line-crossing ceremony, with an appearance by King Neptune, who will initiate the pollywog, Jakub Ziemkiewicz. Jakub’s daughter has chosen an appropriate name for him for this ceremony, Anarhichas lupus, or the Atlantic wolffish, because, she said, “it is just as ugly as you are.” As usual, Jakub is in high spirits, and is delighted by this chance to fulfil his childhood dream to circumnavigate the world under sail.
NUMBATOU was totally becalmed when Jasmine Harrison phoned, with mainsail and spinnaker flapping, and the boat turning in circles. Apart from occasional vagrant breezes, they had been going nowhere for more than a day. Memories of her fast daily averages of a few days earlier, when she covered 152nm in 24 hours, had long faded.
The wind was extremely variable, and she had every sail combination imaginable up at different times, but no sooner did she get the rig set up, then the wind changed and she had to change sails again. She had sailed only 20 miles in the previous 12 hours, and was planning to go to bed after her call, meaning that 30-mile days were becoming her norm, and the tradewinds seemed very far away.
Because of the light winds, she was doing a lot of hand-steering, and getting very tired. To add to the frustration, if the wind came up while she was sleeping, the boat sometimes sailed off in the wrong direction. At least she could sit in the shade under her solar panels during the day, on her comfortable seat, with her legs tucked up out of the sun’s rays. She relieved her boredom by having long phone conversations with friends. She mentioned that Starlink was great, though the cost of it, added to the service fees for other sat-comms, was a bit daunting.
She rarely goes below to sleep, as her cabin is so hot, dozing in her comfy seat instead, with one hand on the tiller, and opening an eye every now and then to look at the compass. In general, the heat did not bother her much, though she was eating very little. She claimed that was not a problem, because she ate too much when in port. She did take 70 large bars of chocolate with her, though, which are stored under her bunk. Surprisingly, they have not melted entirely in the extreme heat.
Besides regular visits from birds, she has also seen some very large dolphins, which she initially mistook for small whales. While she was on the phone, a small bird got tangled with her sails on the deck and she briefly thought she would have to put down the phone to rescue it. A small crab hitched a ride on the stern for a while, and on the morning of her call another was sighted swimming alongside.
Another surprise visitor was a helicopter that circled overhead. She later saw the fishing boat it was attached to, and several speedboats alongside. It weirded her out a bit, although this form of purse seine fishing is common around the Galapagos. They use the helicopter to spot the schools of fish, then the speedboats run out the nets.
She said she was the happiest she has ever been at sea, and pleased that she had settled in so quickly, especially since she had such a brilliant time in Panama, and felt unsettled when she left.
Josh Kali was his usual upbeat self during his phone call, despite the fact that SKOOKUM was drifting at 0.2 knots, and that was all due to a south-setting current. The extreme heat was not bothering him, and he was quite clear about preferring the intense tropical heat to the ice, snow and sub-zero temperatures often found in the mountains. Plus, as he pointed out, he comes from Seattle, and there are only about eight weeks of decent weather there each summer.
He deploys his storm jib as a sunshade in the cockpit, attaching it to the lifeline, and holding it up with the topping lift. He was amused by the contrast between mountaineering and ocean voyaging. In the mountains, he said, you pray for no wind, whereas, of course, at sea it is the opposite. You also have access to as much water as you want in the mountains, sourced from the snow and ice, but carrying enough fuel is the issue.
His passage-planning, including things like water-consumption, are carefully thought-out, and he sticks to it. He allows himself three litres of water a day, for instance, two to drink. The other is for optional usage. If he does not use it for cooking things like pasta, he drinks it. He gets up every 40 minutes and adjusts the sails or self-steering as necessary, but goes straight back to bed afterwards, and is getting plenty of sleep. He also cooks a regular meal every night, something he looks forward to, and believes that this self-discipline adds to the quality of life.
He is pleased with the improvement in his downwind sailing performance. During the big push south, he was averaging 7.1 knots at times, equalling the distance sailed by people like Renaud Stitelmann and Dan Turner. He is now flying his windvane with confidence.
Used to bivouacking on the side of mountains in the snow and ice, life aboard SKOOKUM is a bit like living in a five-star hotel for Josh.
He loves his little boat, with its two comfortable bunks and a place for everything, relishing the shelter it gives hm from the elements. There is no doubt that, so far, he is finding life at sea aboard SKOOKUM to be easy, pleasant, and loads of fun.
Ertan Beskardes was not scheduled to call this week, but made a surprise video call on Facebook Messenger. He was also very relaxed, just cruising along at his own pace. He rarely sets his asymmetric kites, usually getting by with mainsail and jib, though this very light-air passage has seen him doing more deck-work and flying his kites than usual.
He is continuing his habit of only occasionally switching on his GPS to obtain a latitude and longitude fix, before plotting it on his paper chart. In between marking his position on the chart, he just sails a compass course, determined by the traditional sailing routes. He has little idea of where the rest of the fleet are, and does not care to find out, though he sighted Eric March on SUNBEAR once, and Keri Harris on ORIGAMI, knowing he was close, called him up on the VHF radio.
He has seen quite a bit of debris in the water, and hit the same log twice one day. He looks out for logs when on deck, but says they are hard to spot, due to being semi-submerged a lot of the time. He prefers to relax in the cabin, out of the sun. At night, if there is enough breeze for the windvane or autopilot to maintain course, he stays in bed, just checking the compass course occasionally from his bunk, like John Guzzwell used to do. Without a doubt, Ertan is sailing very much in the tradition of John Guzzwell, quite befitting for the skipper of TREKKA.
Apart from debris, he has not seen much on the ocean. A booby has developed a habit of seeking him out at night and roosting on one of his solar panels. Ertan enjoys the company but has to clean bird poop off of the solar panel every morning.
He has regular sea-water showers on the foredeck and also washes his clothes in seawater, not finding it causes irritation to the skin. He says this is a Mediterranean tradition. He has been doing this since childhood, and thoroughly enjoys it. He does not bother with exercise routines, finding the activities of running the ship provide plenty of action. In this respect, he is also like John Guzzwell, who once remarked that when he could squeeze through the main hatch in oilskins and seaboots, he felt he was reaching Olympic standards.
And so, the MGR comes to the end of the first week in the Pacific. Once again, the entrants are almost within a stone’s throw of each other, some quite literally, at times. So far, this leg is shaping up to be a classic passage from Panama to the Marquesas. Hopefully the doldrums will soon give way to steady, moderate, SE tradewinds. Some cruising yachts have reported not adjusting sheets or helm for days at a time once they are in the heart of the tradewinds enroute to the Marquesas. This is regarded as one of the grandest passages of any tropical tradewind circumnavigation.
