At 1815 UTC on January 27, 2022 Golden Globe racer Simon Curwen alerted the race committee that he’d broken his Hydrovane self-steering gear. He had been in first place 1,200 miles northwest of Cape Horn, had just weathered a deep depression with 40-knot winds and 20-foot seas and had started sailing comfortably again when Clara, his Biscay 36, surged off a post-storm wave and sheered a shaft between wind vane and steering unit. The Hydrovane website shows this part is not included in the recommended offshore spare parts kit and, to save weight, Curwen did not carry an extra.
Southern Ocean racing is difficult under any circumstances but one would expect this fleet of sturdy long-keel boats to have an easier time. Sixteen boats started the race on September 4, 2022 from Les Sables-d’Olonne, France. By the time the fleet began passing Cape Town in November and entering the Indian Ocean it had sorted itself out, with several already bailing out and four sailors well ahead of the others. Of these four, Tapio Lehtinen had his boat sink underneath him. The next two boats were near enough to participate in Tapio’s rescue, and Curwen’s Clara had taken a comfortable, seemingly unbeatable lead over them all.
However, decisions made before sailing can fail to cover contingencies. The broken part is not something Curwen can either replace or repair at sea, and by the rules of the race, sailors can only use technology available to racers in the 1968 Golden Globe so Curwen has no mechanical autopilot as backup. It’s not feasible to hand steer the rest of the way to Cape Horn and then 7,000 miles up the Atlantic Ocean to the finish line. After the failure Curwen lashed the tiller to give himself time to think. Ultimately he decided to stop in Chile for repairs which puts him in the Chichester Class, ineligible for a trophy.
Of the original fleet only four boats are still in contention for line honors, including Kirsten Neuschafer, now in first place. Accidents happen and no set of spares is ever complete, but it’s a long race yet to steer.