Lymington’s Christensen ready to set sail around the globe

SOLO sailor Gunnar Christensen of Lymington has just completed a 4,000 nautical-mile passage from Trinidad, West Indies, to Lymington.

At the mouth of the river, he was greeted by a flotilla of friends and colleagues before being escorted to the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, where he enjoyed a well-deserved cheeseburger and beer.

The voyage is the start of the build-up to the 2026 Golden Globe Race, arguably one of the toughest Ocean Races in the world.

It is the brainchild of Don McIntyre and was established to commemorate the 1968 Golden Globe Race, in which Sir Robin Knox-Johnstone became the first person to solo circumnavigate the world.

The current Golden Globe Race keeps the traditions alive by only allowing technology that was available in 1968. This means navigation is only by sextant and communications are by radio.

Gunnar chose a Bob Perry-designed Hans Christian 34 on sale in Trinidad, which was both daunting and fortuitous, as the voyage back to the UK meant that he had met his solo qualifying miles for the 2026 event.

Christensen took a gamble travelling such a long distance to look at a potential yacht for the race, especially as it is the start of hurricane season, but he said he was glad he went through with the purchase, as the vessel performed well and there were no major breakages in the 32-day passage.

Christensen is proud to be representing his home town of Lymington in the race, and anyone interested in following his journey should visit gunnarsails.com