Mini Globe Race: Challenging conditions in the Indian Ocean

When the waves roll in wildly from all directions in the Indian Ocean, Christian Sauer does as the professionals do on their Imocas: he wears a helmet on board his "Argo". Not because he sails at breakneck speed - at an average of five knots and a distance of 120 nautical miles, the remaining eleven participants in the Mini Globe Race 2025 are travelling around the world at a comparatively moderate pace.

It is not the speed, but the Globe 580 boats, which are only 5.80 metres long, that repeatedly turn the third leg of the Mini Globe Race into a rollercoaster ride. When the Indian Ocean shows its angry face - with unpredictable cross seas and persistent squalls - it tosses the small nutshells around like beach balls in a wave pool.

Sauer: "The waves came from all directions"

Shortly after the Cocos Islands, the third stopover of the current leg from Fiji to Cape Town, it was particularly challenging, says Christian Sauer. "There were a lot of squalls, very gusty. The waves came from all directions. I was thrown around quite a bit", he says in a Facebook post. After that, the weather improved, although the sea was still quite choppy.

Overall, however, he is in good spirits, he says in an interview with YACHT. Time is flying by. "I'm coping well with the weather. I feel safe on the boat and always work when manoeuvres have to be made."

Time and again, he wrestles with Irishman Jakub Ziemkiewicz, "Bibi" construction number 185, for the ranking. "But in the end, I just can't get close to him," he says and laughs. It will only be possible to say exactly where he is at the end of the stage, when all the sections have been added up. What is already certain, however, is that the Swiss Renaud Stitelmann and his "Capucinette" (build number 28) will continue to lead the group.

• You can track the current position of the Mini Globe Race participants here on the tracker

Mini Globe Race stops in Rodrigues Island

In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, Christian Sauer finally reached Rodrigues Island, his next stopover. He will spend a few days there before travelling on to Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. Sauer has now completed around 7,000 nautical miles of the approximately 10,000 nautical miles of the third leg through the Indian Ocean.

More about the Mini Globe Race:

• Mini Globe Race: Christian Sauer back in attack mode despite injuries
• Mini Globe Race: Christian Sauer's adventure continues - start of the third stage
• New podcast episode: Christian Sauer on his participation in the first Mini Globe Race

Compared to the Atlantic or Pacific, the Indian Ocean is considered particularly challenging - due to complex currents, strong winds and large, unprotected distances. The participants are expected to reach Cape Town in South Africa in December, but there is still another challenging section ahead of them, says Christian Sauer.

We are still sailing in the trade winds, but that will change from Mauritius onwards. Then we will probably feel more of the influence of the Southern Ocean.

Christian Sauer is not afraid of it, he says, but has enormous respect - fuelled by stories from his family. His father once sailed around the world in a self-built boat and experienced a severe storm near the rounding of the Cape, which is still talked about in the family today. These stories reinforce Sauer's respect for the ocean.

More about the Mini Globe Race

The Mini Globe Race is the first of its kind: the first race around the world for the world's smallest standardised class.

• The barefoot route takes you around the world in a total of four stages with numerous stops along the way. The start in Antigua was the 23 February 2025.
• The participants sail on boats from the Class Globe 5.80 - a 5.80 metre long, self-built small cruiser made of plywood and coated with fibreglass and epoxy. Read more here.
• The inventor of the boats and the race is the Australian circumnavigator Don McIntyre. In addition to the Mini Globe Race, he also created the Golden Globe and Ocean Globe Race. You can find an interview here.
• More information about the Mini Globe Race here.