Global Challenge

The Global Challenge was an around the world yacht race run by Challenge Business, the company started by Sir Chay Blyth in 1989. It was held every four years and took a fleet of one-design steel yachts, crewed by men and women who had paid to take part, round Cape Horn and through the Southern Ocean where winds can reach. The fee for the last race proposed was £28,750. It was unique in that the race took the westabout route worldwide against prevailing winds and currents, often referred to as the ‘wrong way’ route.
The race's route covered a distance of some. It changed to accommodate different ports of call, but in 2004/5, it started from Portsmouth and stopped at Buenos Aires, Wellington, Sydney, Cape Town, Boston, and La Rochelle before returning again to Portsmouth.
The event claimed the motto “The World’s Toughest Yacht Race” and was the ultimate sailing challenge for amateur sailors. The official charity for the races was Save the Children, and the race patron was The Princess Royal.
After failing to secure a title sponsor, the company went into administration on 9 October 2006, appointing Grant Thornton as administrators and placing the future of the race in doubt. The fleet was then put up for sale.

Background

The seeds of the race were sown in 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. The practicality of training people who had never sailed before was demonstrated during the 1973/74 Whitbread Around the World race, when Blyth had raced Great Britain II with a crew from the Parachute Regiment. Subsequently, he ran charters for paying crew.
Blyth's longtime associate, Andrew Roberts, forged the design philosophy for the identical yachts used on the Global Challenge races. His idea was to start from the largest top-action production winch available, which would 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 and Rob Humphreys.

British Steel Challenge 1992/3

The first race started in Southampton in September 1992, with 10 identical 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, after the initial success of winning the first leg of the race, was dismasted in mid-Southern Ocean. However, she managed to motor sail safely to Hobart under jury rig. She was re-rigged in time to rejoin the race for the next leg to Cape Town.
The first race winner 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 CB 27	John Chittenden	151d 11h 49m 11s
2	Group 4 CB 22	Mike Golding	151d 13h 59m 36s
3	Hofbräu Lager CB 26	Pete Goss	152d 15h 45m 56s
4	Coopers & Lybrand CB 21	Vivien Cherry	154d 17h 59m 56s
5	Pride of Teesside	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	John O'Driscoll, Peter Phillips	159d 04h 07m 22s
9	Commercial Union	Will Sutherland, Richard Merriweather	159d 17h 26m 13s
10	British Steel II	Richard Tudor	163d 00h 25m 07s

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 motor sailed 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 halfway 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, having suffered several storms with wind over, Pause to Remember sailed into Cape Town, with the 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 around 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 five placings. Simon Walker went on to become Managing Director of Challenge Business, helping to organise the 2000/1 and 2004/5 Global Challenges.

Overall place	Yacht name	Skipper	Combined elapsed time
1	Group 4 - CB 22	Mike Golding	161d 05h 25m 18s
2	Toshiba - CB 26	Simon Walker	163d 11h 14m 34s
3	Save the Children - CB 29	Andy Hindley	165d 20h 50m 46s
4	Motorola - CB 31	Mark Lodge	165d 22h 40m 54s
5	Commercial Union - CB 34	Richard Merriweather	167d 08h 01m 32s
6	Global Teamwork - CB 21	Merfyn Owen	169d 20h 27m 56s
7	Nuclear Electric CB 27	Richard Tudor	171d 01h 29m 10s
8	Ocean Rover - CB 30	Paul Bennett	171d 11h 46m 34s
9	3Com - CB 24	David Tomkinson	171d 11h 57m 30s
10	Pause to Remember - CB 23	Tom O’Connor	172d 19h 13m 28s
11	Courtaulds International - CB 35	Boris Webber	173d 19h 26m 12s
12	Heath Insured - CB 33	Adrian Donovan	174d 21h 36m 29s
13	Concert - CB 28	Chris Tibbs	174d 21h 36m 29s
14	Time & Tide - CB 32	James Hatfield	176d 18h 09m 55s

BT Global Challenge 2000/1

On 10 September, a new fleet of steel cutters debuted in this race. The winner, Conrad Humphreys and crew on LG Flatron, won four of the seven legs.
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		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
7	Norwich Union	Neil Murray	60	180d 07h 58m 14s
8	Isle of Man	Lin Parker	58	180d 21h 41m 18s
9	Veritas	Will Carnegie	56
10	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
Kate Middleton, who married Prince William to become the Duchess of Cambridge, worked as a corporate crew during the buildup of the 2000/1 race.

Global Challenge 2004/5

The same fleet of 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 the yacht 'Imagine It. Done.' 'Team 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, and the efforts of the Westpac Rescue team saved the life of John Masters. 'Team Stelmar' suffered both their medical evacuations in the Southern Oceans on the BA – Wellington leg, costing them a detour and 17 more days at sea, making the leg instead of and 52 days at sea. They carried on with 3 crew down crossing the Southern Ocean alone, set the 24-hour record for that leg and finished 11th due to the retirement of 'Imagine It. Done.' Team Stelmar later set the overall 24-hour race record during the penultimate leg of the race between Boston and La Rochelle.

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

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 unprofessional crews.
The yachts have a snake pit, an unusual feature that allows anyone working the halyards to 'hunker down' and shelter in strong wind and rain, and, more importantly, from waves washing over the deck.
Designed by Rob Humphreys, the identical 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.

Hull type	Monohull
Builder	Ten of the twelve yachts were built by Devonport, UK, the other two by Kim's Yacht Company in China.
Displacement	40 tonnes
Draught full load	10 ft
Ballast	12.5 tonnes
Designer	Rob Humphreys
Length overall
Length waterline
Air draught
Hull	50A mild steel
Deck	Stainless steel
Sail area
Sail area
Water capacity	390 gal
Fuel capacity	475 gal