An interview with Erden Eruç about his preparations for the 2026 Golden Globe Race
by David Schmidt 2 Jan 2024 16:00 GMT
September 6, 2026
The author (left) and Erden Eruç, aboard Dark Star, somewhere off the West Coast of Vancouver Island, in June 2022 © David Schmidt Collection
Given that calendars just rolled to 2024, September 26, 2026 still feels like a long ways over the horizon for most of us. It is, of course, but for the skippers who are competing in the Golden Globe Race 2026, the race's start date is already a commanding presence. Sponsors need to be wooed, nautical miles need to be sailed, systems need to be checked and re-checked, and the first tranches of a million details need to be sorted out.
The race may employ slower, older boats, but, for entrants, seamanship, not pure speed, is a big part of this retro race's attraction.
One of these skippers is my longtime friend Erden Eruc, who I interviewed in August (www.sail-world.com/news/265480/Erden-Eru%C3%A7-on-the-2026-Golden-Globe-Race).
I checked in with Eruç again, as part of an ongoing series of conversations as we lead up to this nonstop-around-the-world retro race.
Can you please bring us up to speed on what you've been working on since our last interview in August?
I am 90-percent done paying for my competitive- and race-tested Biscay 36 CLARA.
My website needs improvement—one major upgrade will be to make that bilingual to address my Turkish audience.
I have had a lot of international travel over the last few months, I need to return to my celestial navigation studies for the Golden Globe Race.
I have just under three years until the race start. I am beginning to contact potential sponsors for support; I will need to be more intentional and methodical in this effort to see the desired outcome.
GGR announced a provisional list of 21 skippers early in November. The final number may be as high as 30. goldengloberace.com/skippers/#2026
What have been the biggest challenges so far?
My biggest challenge has always been visibility.
Despite historic firsts and 18 Guinness World Records to my name, neither the Seattle media nor the Turkish outlets have picked up on my story.
Thankfully Guinness World Records just notified me this month that they inducted me to their Hall of Fame and dedicated two full pages to my story in the 2024 edition of their records book. Whether that will help, we shall see. www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/hall-of-fame
How are your sponsorship efforts going so far?
Funding remains a struggle. I am grateful that my wife Nancy and I have been able to manage the headwinds together with our family resources.
As I alluded to in the above answers, my sponsorship efforts have yet to deliver results. I must reinvent myself; nothing as transformative is easy.
Over the last two decades—since the day that I was the belayer when [world-famous high-altitude climber and endurance athlete] Göran Kropp died in a rock-climbing accident—my life has been on a different trajectory. I have achieved a great deal from then until today.
However, looking at our budget deficit with Nancy, it is clear that the way I managed it was more like an amateur. Going forward, I must transform myself into a professional athlete if I should elevate my goals. That transformation will not come easily.
What about sailing? Have you had any time to start logging miles on your new steed?
My sailboat CLARA is at a boatyard near Lorient, France. Leaving her there was the cheapest option.
The previous owner, Simon Curwen, who received line honors in the 2022 GGR with CLARA, is currently racing on S/V Translated 9 in the Ocean Globe Race. He will return home after completing their Indian Ocean leg at Auckland, New Zealand.
I will coordinate with Simon to meet him at Lorient, probably in May. I hope to glean as much as possible from him about handling CLARA alone and to learn about his racing strategy. It will be an honor to sail with him around Lorient.
In June, I will embark on a voyage from Lorient to Lisbon with crew then relaunch solo from Lisbon toward the Canaries. I will first round those islands, then the Azores. After a brief visit to Ireland, I will return to Lorient.
The 4,300 nautical-mile distance that I will cover in that loop from Lisbon to Lorient, will fulfill my solo sailing qualifying distance for GGR.
My sailing time on CLARA will give me a good idea about what I can change to improve vessel performance as long as such changes remain within bounds of the GGR rules. The winter of 2024-2025 will be the time to address such changes.
The spring and summer months of 2025 will be the window to attempt long passages under celestial navigation, as full-on rehearsals for the race. I have vague ideas about crossing the Atlantic to the East Coast of the USA then back, or to sail from Lorient to Cape Town and back. I need to study the wind and storm patterns before I make my final plans.
The last thing I want is to break CLARA.
What's your current fitness regime? What kinds of training have you been focusing on?
I primarily must get back in decent physical shape again. As we discussed in our previous article, for having reached the Philippines from California, I received "the first person to row across the Pacific Ocean from North America to Asia" as a recognition from Guinness World Records. This was my 18th and most recent Guinness certificate.
When I was in the Philippines in early 2023 preparing to launch on the South China Sea by rowboat, I did not hold back on my calorie intake to get up to "expedition weight." Then Myanmar and China refused to give me a visa to bicycle through toward Europe, so I had to call off my human-powered around the world expedition, ship my rowboat back and return home.
The extra weight came home with me.
Soon afterwards, I had a minor operation to address an ongoing deterioration around my right heel. Not being able to run to my satisfaction, I allowed that to become an excuse to not workout at all. 2023, since February, has been a loss on the fitness front.
That has to change.
I know that you're a longtime ambassador for the Ocean Recovery Alliance and someone who cares deeply about marine conservation and environmental causes. Have you been pondering ways that you can use your GGR 2026 campaign to help raise environmental awareness or funding? If so, what's your current plan?
We are planning a discussion with Ocean Recovery Alliance to see how we can leverage my GGR campaign to raise further awareness about plastic pollution in the ocean.
One of the limitations of GGR is that my communication with the outside world from CLARA will be limited, since GGR is a retro race, in which modern conveniences like GPS, chartplotters and satellite communications are off-limits.
So, my message will need to be amplified by those onshore during the actual race.
Of course during all of my passages in the lead up to the race start, I will still be able to share observations from CLARA. Also given the relatively shorter duration of these passages, I can take advantage of stopovers for updates. We will find a way...
Is there anything else that you'd like to add, for the record, about your GGR 2026 campaign?
The Live Tracker page in the 2018 GGR had 2.8 million hits. The 2022 GGR Live Tracker attracted 30 million hits. That is a tenfold increase in interest.
GGR is a prestigious race which has a worldwide following. The media analysis report for the 2022 Golden Globe Race was recently published. The race generated 213 million euros in PR-Value, which does not even include any value generated by social media and YouTube, a 28% increase over 2018 GGR.
This is already a prestigious race and its international following should be attractive to sponsors and their marketing teams respectively. (goldengloberace.com/213-million-golden-globe-race-2022-media-value)
I need to put this message out there. I can do the delivery in person with speaking engagements or in meetings with decision makers. I will ask our readers to please connect me with them so that we can make a difference.
Of course, I will keep everyone informed on my website and blog at www.erdeneruc.com