Global Solo Challenge70-year-old completes remarkable round-the-world voyage

Kristina Müller

 · 08.07.2024

Louis Robein pops the cork
Photo: globalsolochallenge ;
A special race has come to a memorable end. Frenchman Louis Robein was the last sailor to reach A Coruña in northern Spain on the afternoon of 3 July, sailing around the world. However, not non-stop, as the Global Solo Challenge regulations actually envisaged, but with several adventurous stopovers on different continents. Problems on board and the subsequent repairs made this necessary

The 70-year-old can now look back with pride on his finish in the smallest boat in the fleet. He sailed the X-37 "Le Souffle de la Mer III", which took him 277 days and 5 hours to complete the single-handed circumnavigation. The overall winner was his compatriot Philippe Delamare after 160 days at sea. In second place after 162 days was the US-American Cole Brauer onwho successfully reported on her solo tour every day on Instagram while travelling around the world.

Louis Robein finished the race in seventh place out of a total of 16 starters, all of whom had started the race at different times - the smallest boats first, the larger ones afterwards. Robein had therefore been first. However, nine of the sailors had lost the race after serious accidents had to give up. How the Finn sailed Ari Känsäkoski under emergency rigging under its own power hundreds of nautical miles across the Indian Ocean back to South Africa.

Like many other skippers in the Global Solo Challenge, Louis Robein also managed to take part in the regatta from his own resources - in this case his pension. He responded to the many setbacks along the way with ingenuity and patience.

Firstly, his steering column broke, which he had to re-laminate. The attachment of his hydrogenerator and the autopilot also caused him problems, but he was able to solve them - and usually dealt with them with humour: according to the organiser, Robein had eight bottles of top French wine on board and celebrated every success and every stage finish with one of them.

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The boat and the electrics on board were hit particularly hard in the Indian Ocean, so Robein made a stopover in Hobart, Tasmania, for repairs. He had to restart from there before the second week of February to avoid being disqualified. The skippers were only permitted to restart after a stopover if they were still in a position from which they could realistically reach Cape Horn by the end of the Australian summer and did not have to sail through the high southern latitudes in autumn.

Many of Robein's fellow competitors also had to contend with technical problems or worse, but did not make it to the finish and were reliant on external help or even recovery. Against this background, the performance of the sprightly Frenchman is all the more remarkable.

From Hobart, he was able to set off for Cape Horn on 9 February. The repairs to the boat had been possible because friends had organised a fundraising campaign. Everything worked at first, but then the autopilot failed.

Nevertheless, Louis Robein managed to cross the South Pacific and round Cape Horn on 5 April. He then headed for Ushuaia to rest and carry out repairs, narrowly avoiding breaking his mast after a shroud failure. However, it ran aground on the approach. It was towed free and brought into the harbour of Ushuaia by the Argentinian navy.

Once again, friends stepped in and a fundraising campaign was able to cover the costs of the tow. From the southernmost tip of America, the Frenchman took almost three more months to reach the finish line, logging around 7,000 nautical miles. His arrival on 3 July marked the end of a remarkable first for the Global Solo Challenge.

Meanwhile, the organiser has announced that the solo regatta around the world will take place again in three years' time. Registrations for the 2027/2028 edition are already open. According to Nannini, several dozen serious candidates have already expressed their interest and six have already signed up.

German single-handed sailor Philipp Hympendahl also wants to be there. He had already registered for the previous race, but had to pull out before the start due to excessive refit work on his Comfortina. He is now planning a second attempt with more preparation time. Louis Robein's stamina should be a real motivational boost for him and all the other contenders.

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