Mark Sinclair, arrives back in les Sables d’Olonne after 174 days at sea, finishes his Golden Globe Race 2018.
At 14:06hrs, Friday the 27 May, Captain Coconut Mark Sincliar of Australia crossed the famous Nouch Sud cardinal buoy off Les Sables d’Olonne, France, ending a 174-day solitary voyage at sea.
Short on water, plagued by a barnacle invasion, the competitor in the 2018 Golden Globe Race had chosen to stop half way around the world in his home port of Adelaide South Australia as Christmas approached.
He then entered the 2022 Golden Globe Race, so resumed his journey three years later on December 5th, 2021, in order to return to the starting point.
Sinclair therefore becomes the last competitor to finish the GGR 2018, and first in the Chichester Class (one stop-over only), the GGR 2018 edition not having a time limit.
Since leaving Les Sables D’Olonne in July 2018, Mark has spent a total of 332 days at sea to complete his circumnavigation. He has exactly 100 days left to recover from his half circumnavigation and repair Coconut before the start of the GGR 2022!
After sailing up the mythical channel of Les Sables d’Olonne, Mark Sinclair moored Coconut at the Vendée Globe pontoon at 15:30, welcomed by Yannick Moreau, Mayor of Les Sables-d’Olonne, Don McIntyre, founder of the Golden Globe Race, and Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, winner of the 2018 GGR.
After weathering four successive storms in February while rounding Cape Horn, Sinclair, an oceanographer and former Australian Navy Captain, thought he had done the hardest part, but ended up in a very deep low-pressure system mid-May before entering the Bay of Biscay, being knocked down twice, damaging his forestay, inner forestay and his last satellite phone.
