Next winter Steve White will take on the toughest challenge in sailing when he attempts to break the Solo Non-Stop Round the World record sailing Westabout “the wrong way round”, against the prevailing winds and currents.

Steve White takes on the ‘Impossible Voyage’, sailing a Volvo Open 70, considered to be a “handful” for its usual full crew of ten men. Steve will sail across the historic Ushant – Lizard start line, then down to Cape Horn before turning right underneath it and into the Southern Ocean, where he will spend up to sixty days battling into the wind and against the current in some of the harshest conditions on the planet before turning right again one last time below the Cape of Good Hope, to head North and home to the finish line.

Due to the extreme nature of this record, only five sailors have made this attempt in the past forty years. The current record of 122 days is held by Frenchman Jean-Luc Van Den Heede. Steve is confident of being able to return the record to Britain.

Sailing legend Sir Chay Blyth was the first to set the record onboard “British Steel”, in what was referred to by The Times in 1970 as the “Impossible Voyage”.

It’s wonderful that Steve is planning to attempt what many regard as the ultimate sailing challenge. Hundreds have completed the voyage following the classic Eastabout route but doing this in reverse is a quantum leap removed, which is why only five people including Mike Golding and Dee Caffari have tried it. It takes a special character to tackle the trip and Steve is an extremely experienced yachtsman who I believe has the right skills, tenacity and determination to set a new World record.
Sir Chay Blyth, CBE, BEM

The highly experienced team at White Ocean Racing are currently looking for potential sponsorship partners who are interested in aligning themselves with such an outstanding example of human endeavour, which will attract massive UK and international media interest, and capture the imagination of people from all walks of life around the globe. The rewards of title sponsorship are exceedingly high, as this is a unique and steerable event for a sponsor. Sailing has a very positive image and excellent green credentials – Steve will circumnavigate without fossil fuels. Brand awareness, team building, corporate hospitality and motivational speaking are amongst the benefits included in the package.