Ocean Globe Race: Marie Tabarly's "Pen Duick VI" is the first ship to cross the finish line!

It was an emotional moment for the Frenchwoman, daughter of Éric Tabarly, as she steered the 73-foot ketch across the finish line off Cowes late on Thursday evening. Complete darkness, sails furled wide, a crew that was both enthusiastic and relieved to have finally made it.

"I'm very, very proud of my crew. I have 21 great people, good people who are a pleasure to spend time with. It was exactly as I had planned with them, no surprises, everything was perfect," said the skipper shortly after crossing the finish line.

Overall victory still uncertain

Tabarly's crew has thus secured the line honours: they finished the last leg of the amateur crew regatta around the world in first place. Whether she can also win the overall honours is still open. As the Ocean Globe Race is sailed on yachts of different sizes, the overall classification is based on a formula in different classes. Whether "Pen Duick VI" can win the IRC class will depend on the arrival times of the other yachts in the coming days.

Tabarly's compatriots on "L'Esprit d'Équipe" could be the second boat to reach the finish, followed by the Swan 65 "Spirit of Helsinki" sailing under the Finnish flag. However, yachts sailing further back in the field could also pose a threat to Tabarly's victory, albeit unlikely, based on the results of the previous legs.

After all, 13 of the 14 crews that started the race made it back to the North Atlantic and completed almost all four legs. However, leg four ended in tragedy for the Italian crew of the Swan 65 "Translated 9". After having to turn off to the Falkland Islands for repairs shortly after rounding Cape Horn due to water ingress, the problem occurred again on leg four and the crew ran off to Madeira, where they finished the race.

Around the world in four stages

The Ocean Globe Race was organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race. The organiser is Australian circumnavigator Don McIntyre, who also organises the solo non-stop Golden Globe Race. The Ocean Globe Race started on 10 September 2023 in Southampton. The race then travelled around the world in four stages, with stops in Cape Town, Auckland and Punta del Este.

From Hamburg, the German-Turkish Ebru Yaral sails all the legs as a participant on the Swan 53 "Sterna" and reports in YACHT and regularly on yacht.de about the adventure of sailing around the world.