Uku Randmaa became the third Golden Globe Race 2018 skipper to round Cape Horn. As with race leader Jean Luc Van Den Heede and Mark Slats in second place, the third placed Estonian Uku Randmaa became the third Rustler 36 skipper in the Golden Globe Race. Randmaa rounded Cape Horn at UTC 0400 on December 19, 2018. Van Den Heede and Slats are in a battle for first place with the former with a 800 nm lead that is holding steady despite the Frenchman having more favorable winds closer to the equator. Van Den Heede’s Rustler 36 has a crack in its mast from a pitchpole in the Pacific Ocean. Since that time Van Den Heede has been losing his 1,500 nm lead as he tried to repair and nurse his rig around Cape Horn and off the Brazilian coast.
Not all of the Rustler 36 boats, which were the most popular at the starting line, have done great. Susie Goodall was dismasted in the solo-nonstop around the world race in her Rustler 36. Race Chairman Don McIntyre said that Goodall had a much more heavy duty rig than Van Den Heede, but there is no telling why Goodall’s boat lost its rig in a storm, but Van Den Heede’s rig survived. Both sailors put on new rigs with top riggers prior to the Golden Globe Race start in France on July 1, 2018. Only five of the original eighteen sailors remain in the race. The fourth and fifth place competitors do not have Rustler 36 sailboats. Fourth place Hungarian-born American Istavan Kopar is 1,500 nm behind Randmaa. Race participants can use full-keel 32-to-36-foot production boats that satisfy the notice of race rules.
SLOW BOAT SAILING 