Global Challenge

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The Global Challenge (not to be confused with The Global Challenge Award) is a round the world yacht race run by Challenge Business, the company started by Sir Chay Blyth in 1989. Held every four years, it takes a fleet of one-design (or matching) steel yachts, crewed by ordinary men and women who have paid to take part, round Cape Horn and through the Southern Ocean where winds can reach 70 knots. The fee for the next race in 2008 was £28,750. It is unique in that it takes the westabout route around the world against prevailing winds and currents - often referred to as the ‘wrong way’ route.

The route of the race covers a distance of some 29,000 nautical miles (54,000km). It has changed to accommodate different ports of call, but in 2004/5 started from Portsmouth (UK) and stopped at Buenos Aires (ARG), Wellington (NZ), Sydney (AUS), Cape Town (SA), Boston (USA) and La Rochelle (FRA) before returning again to Portsmouth.

The event claims the motto “The World’s Toughest Race” and is the ultimate sailing adventure for amateur sailors.

The official charity for the races is Save the Children and the race patron is HRH The Princess Royal.

After failing to secure a title sponsor, the company went into administration on 9th October 2006 placing the future of the race in doubt.^[1] The fleet was then put up for sale^[2]

Contents 1 Background 2 British Steel Challenge 1992/3 3 BT Global Challenge 1996/7 4 BT Global Challenge 2000/1 5 Global Challenge 2004/5 6 Specifications of the Challenge 72 one-design 6.1 Buyers of the yachts post demise of Challenge Business 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Background

The seeds of the race were sown in Sir Chay Blyth’s previous sailing exploits. In 1970/71 he became the first person to sail alone round the world westabout in the yacht British Steel which is now owned by Mr. Anthony Quelch and is docked in Dartmouth, a little way from where she was built. The practicality of training people who had never sailed before was demonstrated during the 1973/74 Whitbread Race, when Blyth had raced Great Britain II with a crew from the Parachute Regiment. Subsequently he ran charters for paying crew.

The design philosophy for the identical yachts used on the Global Challenge races was forged by Sir Chay Blyth’s longtime associate Andrew Roberts. It was his idea to start from the largest top-action production winch available, which would in turn dictate sail area, displacement and size. He also oversaw the build of the two fleets of steel cutters used in the four races to date to designs by David Thomas and Thanos Condylis (Challenge 67) and Rob Humphreys (Challenge 72).

[edit] British Steel Challenge 1992/3

The first race started from Southampton in September 1992 with 10 identical 67ft boats sailed by a skipper and 13 crew. There were a number of serious rigging screw failures in the Southern Ocean and British Steel II was dismasted in mid-Southern Ocean, but managed to motorsail safely to Hobart under jury rig. She was re-rigged in time to rejoin the race for the next leg to Cape Town.

The winner of the first race was John Chittenden and crew in Nuclear Electric . Chittenden went on to win the 2001 Yachtsman of the Year Award.

Overall place	Yacht name	Skipper	Combined elapsed time
1	Nuclear Electric	John Chittenden	151d 11h 49m 11s
2	Group 4	Mike Golding	151d 13h 59m 36s
3	Hofbräu Lager	Pete Goss	152d 15h 45m 56s
4	Coopers & Lybrand	Vivien Cherry	154d 17h 59m 56s
5	Pride of Teeside	Ian MacGillivray	155d 16h 06m 48s
6	Interspray	Paul Jeffes	156d 14h 09m 10s
7	Heath Insured	Adrian Donovan	157d 10h 29m 18s
8	Rhône-Poulenc	Alec Honey, Peter Phillips	159d 17h 26m 13s
9	Commercial Union	Will Sutherland, Richard Merriweather	159d 17h 26m 13s
10	British Steel II	Richard Tudor	163d 00h 25m 07s

[edit] BT Global Challenge 1996/7

An expanded fleet of 14 Challenge 67 yachts set out from Southampton in driving rain and gales. Again rigging problems struck in the Southern Ocean and Concert was dismasted. Skipper Chris Tibbs and crew made a jury rig and motorsailed to Wellington, New Zealand. Concert was re-rigged in time to start leg 3 from Wellington to Sydney and was 2nd on the Sydney to Cape Town leg. Yacht Pause to Remember, skippered by Tom O'Connor, suffered a snapped boom half way between Sydney and Cape Town. There seemed no choice but to fly their trysail until crewmembers Graham Phelp and Matthew Reeves took on the challenge of trying to repair it by using a cut out section as a splint. Two days later a shortened boom emerged from below decks and was successfully attached to the mast. Three weeks later and having suffered several storms with wind speeds in excess of 50 knots, Pause to Remember sailed into Cape Town, with boom still intact.

This race featured an extra leg to Boston and a crew of disabled men and women took part on “Time & Tide”, the first to sail round the world.

Mike Golding dominated, winning five out of six legs in Group 4 with Andy Hindley winning the remaining leg in Save the Children . Three skippers had graduated from being crew volunteers four years earlier: Andy Hindley; Mark Lodge; and Simon Walker, all of whom appeared in the top four placings.

Overall place	Yacht name	Skipper	Combined elapsed time
1	Group 4	Mike Golding	161d 05h 25m 18s
2	Toshiba	Simon Walker	163d 11h 14m 34s
3	Save the Children	Andy Hindley	165d 20h 50m 46s
4	Motorola	Mark Lodge	165d 22h 40m 54s
5	Commercial Union	Richard Merriweather	167d 08h 01m 32s
6	Global Teamwork	Merfyn Owen	169d 20h 27m 56s
7	Nuclear Electric	Richard Tudor	171d 01h 29m 10s
8	Ocean Rover	Paul Bennett	171d 11h 46m 34s
9	3Com	David Tomkinson	171d 11h 57m 30s
10	Pause to Remember	Tom O’Connor	172d 19h 13m 28s
11	Courtaulds International	Boris Webber	173d 19h 26m 12s
12	Heath Insured	Adrian Donovan	174d 21h 36m 29s
13	Concert	Chris Tibbs	174d 21h 36m 29s
14	Time & Tide	James Hatfield	176d 18h 09m 55s

[edit] BT Global Challenge 2000/1

On 10 September, a new fleet of 72ft steel cutters made their debut in this race. The winner, Conrad Humphreys and crew on LG Flatron , won four of the six legs.

Quadstone collided heavily in a port and starboard incident with Save the Children in Wellington, NZ, and Quadstone retired from this leg. Skipper Alex Philips later resigned. Both boats had to be extensively repaired in New Zealand.^{[citation needed]}

For the first time the race was scored on points, with equal points for each leg, though combined elapsed times are shown here for comparison.

Overall place	Yacht name	Skipper	Points	Combined elapsed time
1	LG Flatron	Conrad Humphreys	95	171d 13h 33m 49s
2	Compaq	Will Oxley	86	173d 14h 59m 43s
3	BP	Mark Denton	78	175d 09h 54m 33s
4	Logica	Jeremy Troughton	71	175d 20h 46m 04s
5	TeamSpirit	Andy Dare, John Read	68	176d 22h 34m 43s
6=	Spirit of Hong Kong	Stephen Wilkins	62	178d 21h 34m 43s
6=	Quadstone	Alex Phillips, Richard Chenery	64*	179d 11h 58m 14s
8	Norwich Union	Neil Murray	60	180d 07h 58m 14s
9	Isle of Man	Lin Parker	56	180d 21h 41m 18s
9	Save the Children	Nick Fenton	56*	176d
10	Olympic	Manley Hopkinson	37*	183d

* These teams did not finish all legs, a requirement for a position in the overall standings, but their positions are shown without displacing any other team

[edit] Global Challenge 2004/5

The same fleet of 72ft yachts sailed again in the 2004 race, and the winner was the Australian skipper Andy Forbes and his crew on BG SPIRIT , who won three of the seven legs. Once again, although the overall safety record of the race was very good, medical emergencies did unfold, most notably onboard yachts 'Imagine It. Done.', 'Stelmar', and 'Save The Children'. In the case of 'Imagine It. Done.', only an extraordinary combined effort of several yachts within the fleet, the doctor onboard (Dr Roche), and the efforts of the Westpac Rescue team saved the life of John Masters.^{[citation needed]}

Overall place	Yacht name	Skipper	Points	Combined elapsed time
1	BG Spirit	Andy Forbes	90	166d 00h 50m 36s
2	Barclays Adventurer	Stuart Jackson	76	168d 09h 39m 09s
3	BP Explorer	David Melville	74	167d 13h 16m 25s
4	Spirit of Sark	Duggie Gillespie	73	166d 19h 15m 25s
5	SAIC La Jolla	Eero Lehtinen	71	168d 20h 09m 51s
6	Team Stelmar	Clive Cosby	66	184d 15h 04m 11s
7=	Me To You	James Allen	63	170d 16h 07m 02s
7=	VAIO	Amedeo Sorrentino	63	170d 11h 31m 10s
9	Samsung	Matt Riddell	58**	170d 06h 13m 10s
10	Imagine it. Done	Dee Caffari	56*	168d 23h 31m 26s
11	Pindar	Loz Marriott	54	174d 01h 11m 59s
12	Save the Children	Paul Kelly	41**	176d 03h 37m 23s

* Retired from leg 2 from Buenos Aires to Wellington (NZ) after a medical emergency on board.

** Stopped racing during leg 2 from Buenos Aires to Wellington (NZ) to render aid after a medical emergency on board to Imagine It. Done.

[edit] Specifications of the Challenge 72 one-design

The current 12-strong race fleet of Challenge 72-footers was developed from the Challenge 67s and was specifically designed to be strong, safe and seaworthy in even the worst conditions and to be self-sufficient for long periods at sea, with enough fuel and water to take their crews safely to a distant port. The yachts were also designed to be relatively easy to sail and handled by crews who are not professional.

Designed by Rob Humphreys, the identical 72-foot steel ocean racing yachts were built by Devonport Yachts in the UK by a new method using a unique flat-pack yacht assembly kit of precision cut laser steel panels.

Ten of the twelve yachts were built by Devonport, UK, the other two by Kim's Yacht Company in China.

• Length overall: 72ft (22m)
• Length of waterline: 61ft (19m)
• Air draught: 95ft (29m)
• Draught full load: 10ft (3.05m)
• Displacement (half load): 40 tonnes
• Ballast: 12.5 tonnes
• Sail area (windward): 2,825ft m² (262.5m²)
• Sail area (downwind): 4,020ft m² (373m²)
• Water capacity: 390gal (1,775lt)
• Fuel capacity: 475gal (2,150lt)
• Hull: 50A mild steel
• Deck: Stainless steel

[edit] Buyers of the yachts post demise of Challenge Business

• 2 - Ocean Youth Trust Scotland (Alba Explorer formerly Samsung, Alba Endeavour formerly Stelmar)
• 4 - Tall Ships Youth Trust ^[3]
• 5 - Pangaea Exploration LLC (S/V Sea Dragon formerly CB 37')
• 1 - Big Spirit Adventures ^[4] - Big Spirit of Southampton (Formally BG Spirit)

[edit] References

1. ^ "Sir Chay Blyth yachting company in crisis", The Herald, 2006-10-10. Retrieved on 2006-10-10. 
2. ^ [http://www.berthongroup.co.uk/yachtsales/brokerage.html#feature5 Berthon Group
3. ^ Press release by Tall Ships Youth Trust
4. ^ Big Spirit - Ocean Adventure on board of Challenge 72

[edit] External links

• Global Challenge 2008/09 Official website for Global Challenge 2008/2009
• Global Challenge 2004 Official website for Global Challenge 2004/2005
• Website for yacht British Steel
• Challenge 67