History
While sailing in the 1979 Bermuda One-Two, David White thought about the possibility of a solo around-the-world race to be run in three or four stages. Upon his return to Newport, Rhode Island, he shared the idea with a several other sailors and received a generally enthusiastic response. In 1980, the British-based BOC, an international supplier of industrial gases, agreed to sponsor the race, which then became known as the BOC Challenge.
The first race began late in August of 1982. It comprised four legs: Newport to Cape Town, South Africa; Cape Town to Sydney, Australia; Sydney to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Rio de Janeiro to Newport. Prizes were offered for two classes of boats, 45 to 56 feet in Class 1 and 32 to 44 feet in Class 2.
There were 17 starters; ten of them finished. Philippe Jeantot of France, who had a 56-foot sloop built specifically for the race, won all four legs in Class 1. Ironically, David Smith, the founder of the race, couldn't complete the first leg.
The race has been held at four-year intervals ever since then, but has undergone changes in format as well as name changes.
The race followed the same course in 1986 as in 1982, but sizes were increased for both classes. Class 1 became 50 to 60 feet and Class 2 became 40 to 50 feet. Watertight bulkheads were required for the first time.
There were 25 entries this time and 16 of them made it. Unfortunately, Jacques de Roux of France was lost at sea when he was evidently lost overboard near the end of the second leg. He had been rescued during the third leg of the first BOC Challenge after his boat was dismasted and began to sink.
Philippe Jeantot was again the Class 1 winner.
The course changed a bit for the 1990 race, with Punta del Este, Uruguay, replacing Rio de Janeiro as the stopover between Legs 2 and 3. The Corinthian Class, for unsponsored boats, was added.
The French thoroughly took over in this third BOC Challenge. In Class 1, Christophe Auguin finished first and Alain Gautier second, relegating two-time winner Philippe Jeantot to third place. Another French sailor, Yves Dupasquier, won all four legs in Class 2. Paul Thackleberry, in the Corinthian Class, was the first winner from the United States.
In 1994, Charleston, South Carolina, replaced Newport as the start and finish point and the Corinthian Class was dropped. Instead of the BOC Challenge, the race was now known as Around Alone, the name that David White had originally thought of way back in 1979.
A Frenchwoman, Isabelle Autissier, ran away from the pack on the first leg, arriving in Cape Town six days ahead of her nearest competitor. But she was dismasted in a heavy storm on the second leg. She managed to jury-rig a mast to continue, but that mast was lost, too, south of Australia. She was eventually rescued by an Australian Navy ship. Harry Mitchell of Great Britain made it through the second leg, but he disappeared on the third leg of the race and no trace of his boat was ever found.
Christophe Auguin went on to win Class 1 for the second straight time. It took him 121 days, a day longer than in 1990.
For the 1998 race, Auckland, New Zealand, replaced Sydney as the end point of the second leg. Mike Golding of Great Britain was the leader until he ran aground off New Zealand near the end of the second leg. By the end of Leg 3, only two Class 1 boats remained in the race. Giovanni Soldini of Italy had a sizeable lead, so attention shifted to Class 2, where there were seven boats left. J. P. Mouligne of France won that contest, while Soldini cruised home two weeks ahead of the other Class 1 finisher.
The scheduled 2002 Around Alone start fell shortly before the Sail for America event in New York Harbor, to mark the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Boats entered in the round-the-world race first sailed from Newport to New York to take part in that event and then continued on their own race.
For the first time, the race went west to east, from New York to Brixham, England; Cape Town, South Africa; Tauranga, New Zealand; and Salvador, Brazil, before finishing in Newport. Also for the first time, a point system was adopted, with points awarded for performances on each leg and subtracted for various rules violations.
Around Alone also adopted new classes, based on specifications of the International Monohull Offshore Class Association (IMOCA).The three classes adopted were the IMOCA Open 60, the Open 50, and the Open 40.
Bernard Stamm of Switzerland won Class 1 and Brad van Liew of the United States was the Class 2 winner. The most remarkable story, though, was the voyage of Derek Hatfield, a former Canadian Mountie who spent five years raising funds and building his boat from scratch. First the boat's batteries died, knocking out all electronics, including the automatic pilot. Then, near Cape Horn, the boat was flipped upside down and dismasted in a storm. He managed to get the boat righted and, eventually, repaired. Rather than withdrawing, he kept on sailing to the finish, where he arrived 43 days after the previous finisher.
Emma Richards, who finished fourth in Class 1, was the first woman and the youngest person of either sex to complete the race.
The 2006 edition has a new name, the VELUX 5 Oceans Race, with sponsorship from a Danish company that makes roof windows, skylights, solar panels, and a variety of similar products. For the first time, the race will have three legs. It will begin in Getxo, Bilbao, Spain on October 22. The first leg will end at Fremantle, Australia. The race will then stop at a still-undetermined port in Florida before heading across the Atlantic to its finish in Spain.