Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney cannot compete for the podium places in the Globe40. They knew this long before they set off on their first circumnavigation together. Nevertheless, their course around the world is a success at the halfway point. Now they are both looking forward to their first Christmas in the warm, summery weather Down Under, where the fleet is also preparing for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race for the Christmas classic, which kicks off on 26 December. Jost Stollmann and his crew on "Alithia" will also be there.
Globe40: New Year's Eve in Sydney, stage start on New Year's Day
Globe40 sailors Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney brought their 2010 Lombard-Akilaria RC2 decorated for Christmas to the former Olympic metropolis, where they arrived on 17 December. In doing so, they also brought a piece of their home country tradition with them to Australia. They will spend the holidays far away from home. But they won't be alone, as family and friends will be celebrating the half-time success and Christmas with them Down Under.
"The feeling is unbelievably strong, we can hardly realise it! All this time we've only had water around us and suddenly we're on the other side of the world!" Lisa Berger
Team Wilson Around the World is also looking forward to the turn of the year in Sydney. They will be among the first on the other side of the world to welcome in the New Year. And it will get off to a spectacular start with the start of the fourth leg from Sydney to Valparaiso in Chile. Until then, they want to get their boat ready for the Pacific, relax, enjoy the Olympic metropolis and then tackle the second half of the Globe40.
Lisa Berger at Globe40: "I love the sea"
The Innsbruck-born skipper, who lives on Lake Attersee and found her way onto the world's oceans as a ten-year-old through family sailing in the Mediterranean and her mother Ursula Berger's passion for sailing, and her co-skipper from Wales had already competed in mini-doublehanded regattas together before the Globe40 start.
She says of him: "He has a solution for every problem." They also had to find them during a qualifying race for the Globe40, for example, when the keel bolts on "Wilson" broke. Lisa Berger is also well known to many German sea sailors, as she launched her sailing career with her premiere in the Baltic 500 in 2019. In the same year, she won the first European Championship in the mixed offshore discipline with Christian Kargl.
The 35-year-old intrepid Austrian ocean racer's long-term goal is to take part in the Global Solo Challenge 2027, when she wants to sail around the world solo. Lisa Berger has already crossed the Atlantic solo in the Mini-Transat 2023. However, she is currently still competing as part of a duo. In Globe40, Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney are fighting for every place behind the two leading scow-bug teams Crédit Mutuel and Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium in the pointed bow boats.
"Wilson" remains strong in Globe40
They reached the finish of the third stage in fifth place just three and a half hours after the competition on "Barco Brasil". In the officially not yet updated Globe40 interim ranking After the prologue and three further stages - a total of four course sections so far - they are likely to be in fifth place, within striking distance of the crews ahead of them.
Lisa Berger said in Sydney: "In the next stage we will do our best to beat 'Barco Brasil'! 'Free Dom' pushed very hard, but 'Barco Brasil' was close to us the whole time. It's such a shame that we couldn't catch them... Maybe next time!" Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney have been able to rely on their Class40 so far in the Globe40 adventure.
According to the team, "Wilson" is "still in good condition". The crew's confidence in the boat had grown even further on the third leg, which had just been completed. Berger and Edwards-Leaney worked on the boat during each stage stop and optimised it further. Apart from some paint damage following a collision with an unknown object, there was no known damage to "Wilson" after the difficult leg from La Réunion to Sydney.
The third stage starts on 1 January
The next challenge comes with the Pacific ride to Valparaiso. While Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink will not be able to take part in the next two legs of the Globe40 following their retirement and will only return for the sixth and final leg in Recife, Brazil, the remaining seven double-handed crews and their Class40ies will once again be put to the test from 1 January on the second longest leg of the circumnavigation at around 6400 nautical miles.
