Courtesy / Cole Brauer Instagram post, Global Solo Challenge
Cole Brauer of Boothbay celebrates rounding Cape Horn.
February 15, 2024
Shipyard Brewing boat dismasted in round-the-world race, but another Maine competitor sails on
Courtesy / Global Solo Challenge
Shipyard Brewing was dismasted during the Global Solo Challenge and its skipper, Ronnie Simpson, rescued earlier this week.
Shipyard Brewing, a 50-foot sailboat helmed by Ronnie Simpson and sponsored by the Portland brewery of the same name, was dismasted earlier this week on a solo round-the-world race called the Global Solo Challenge.
But Cole Brauer of Boothbay, who is sailing the 40-foot First Light, remains in the race as the youngest and only female competitor.
Simpson’s journey came to an end Feb. 11, when Shipyard Brewing lost its mast during a storm at 2:30 a.m., 650 nautical miles off the coast of Argentina, according to a Facebook post by Simpson’s sponsor.
“Alone in the middle of the ocean and in complete darkness, his situation grew worse,” the post says.
“He first attempted to secure the broken mast so he could make repairs. But the rough seas bashed the mast into the side of the hull. This forced him to cut the fallen mast and his sails loose.
“Left in a vulnerable position and with another major storm forecasted for the next day, Captain Ron made the gut wrenching decision to request a rescue.”
Simpson had completed over 75% of the journey.
The dismasting came after Simpson, as well as Brauer and other sailors, had rounded Cape Horn at the bottom of South America.
Simpson hugged the Argentinian coast to keep away from building seas and heavy winds, according to a post on the Global Solo Challenge website. Although sailing with reduced sails, he lost his rig after cresting a wave and crashing in a trough.
With another storm due, he decided to request a rescue. The event organizers requested increased satellite tracking on his position and transmitted the information to the Argentinian Coast Guard, with aerial identification photos, which allowed the coast guard to relay the information to a Taiwanese bulk carrier that was diverted for the rescue, recovering Simpson without incident.
Simpson was ordered to scuttle the boat, which had already started to sink.
Simpson sailed Shipyard Brewing, an Open 50-class sloop, from Portland last August to get to the start of the race nearly a month later in A Coruña, Spain.
Shipyard Brewing Co. founder and CEO Fred Forsley and his company signed a sponsorship deal with Ronnie Simpson Racing. The Global Solo Challenge, a single-handed, nonstop 26,000-mile race that begins and ends in A Coruña, is considered one of the most difficult challenges in sports.
COURTESY / SHIPYARD BREWING CO.
Fred Forsley, right, CEO of Shipyard Brewing Co., was with Ronnie Simpson last fall as the Simpson prepared for the around-the-world sailing campaign.
Simpson, born in 1985, is a combat-wounded and medically retired U.S. Marine and Iraq war veteran who has sailed more than 140,000 miles at sea. He works professionally as a sailor, sailing media professional and charter boat captain.
Simpson’s boat was launched in 1994 and has completed two solo round-the-world races. It sailed around Cape Horn on three occasions, most recently in 2020.
The race’s departures are staggered, with smaller and slower boats setting off in late August and the last group of fast boats leaving in December. Both Simpson and Brauer’s start date was Oct. 28.
Brauer, born in 1994, has sailed over 50,000 nautical miles, according to her biography on Global Solo Challenge.
By age 24, she had just completed watch captain gig on a seven-person team in the Pacific Cup, a race from San Francisco to Hawaii, and had aspirations to do the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race.
“That was it. I was going to race solo around the world," she said. "I actually loved single-handed sailing more than fully crewed by a long shot! I had found my footing.”
She said she was inspired to enter the Global Solo Challenge by a co-skipper, Cat Chimney, this “because it falls in line with the overall goal of being the first American woman to race solo around the world.”
According to Global Solo Challenge’s post earlier this week, “Brauer is reaching north in stable winds with good daily mileage.”
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