The first two boats to set sail in the High Latitude Challenge have now left the Normandy port of Cherbourg. Taking advantage of a good weather window across the Bay of Biscay, Type Eau, a US-flagged Boreal 47, left on Sunday 20 September, closely followed the next day by Kap Kap, a Custom Explorer 52 from Switzerland.
The port of Cherbourg provided a warm sending off for the boats, whose crews received special logbooks to record this unique voyage few sailors have attempted.
Cristina, Umberto, Benedetto and Maurizio from Kap Kap
After a stopover in Marina La Coruña in Spain, they will continue to Santa Cruz de Tenerife where they will be joined by Blueway, a Garcia Exploration 52 from Germany. All three yachts will continue south to the Cape Verdes, Brazil and Argentina before heading to Ushuaia to prepare for their first high latitude challenge – crossing the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula.
In recent years, voyages to high latitudes have become increasingly popular among sailors attracted to more remote destinations. Conceived by Jimmy Cornell, founder of the ARC transatlantic rally, in its 40th anniversary year, the High Latitude Challenge is aimed at anyone interested in joining other like-minded sailors on a voyage to Antarctica and the Northwest Passage.
Cornell Sailing is partnering with PredictWind to provide regular tracking of the boats during their year-long circumnavigation which will see them sail north across the Pacific Ocean in 2027 to confront their second challenge, the transit of the Northwest Passage. The tracking page is available here:
https://cornellsailing.com/high-latitude-challenge-2026-2027/high-latitude-challenge-tracking/
Souvenir plaques were presented to the local supporters of the High Latitude Challenge: Antoine Levavasseur, Director of Port Chantereyne, the marina in Cherbourg, Josse Foucart and Jerome Guillou of Grand Large Yachting, as well as Hervé Gueune from Corrodys and Sebastien Donnet from Intechmer. The High Latitude Challenge is partnering with these two institutions to carry out research projects for example on the different rates of marine fouling in the ports visited en route.
Jimmy Cornell with Josse Foucart and Jerome Guillou of Grand Large Yachting
Hervé Gueune from Corrodys and Sebastien Donnet from Intechmer
Two Argo floats from Ifremer, the French oceanographic research organisation, were loaded onto Type Eau for deployment in the South Atlantic where a gap has been identified in the global array of Argo floats. These autonomous instruments descend to 2000 metres depths to gather vital data such as salinity and temperature. You can find out more about how Argo floats work here: https://cornellsailing.com/archives/past-rallies/our-ocean/science/argo-floats/
Fred and France from Type Eau take an Argo float on board
As the High Latitude Challenge boats made their way across the Bay of Biscay, this notorious stretch of water proved relatively benign, a good omen for the many miles which lie ahead in this challenging event which will conclude in a year’s time back in Cherbourg, by which time the 2027-2028 fleet of yachts will be ready to depart on their own challenge.
Laurent from Buzhug, taking part in next year’s Challenge on a Garcia Exploration 45, attended the welcome at the marina.
Update: the two yachts arrived at Marina La Coruña on Thursday 24 September after a safe crossing of the Bay of Biscay.
