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Mike Golding

This article is about the English yachtsman. For the American novelist, see Michael Golding (novelist).

Mike Golding

Mike Golding (born 27 August 1960) is an English yachtsman, born in Great Yarmouth and educated at Reading Blue Coat School.[1] He is one of the few yachtsmen to have raced round the world non-stop in both directions. He held the solo record for sailing round the world westabout (the most challenging direction for circumnavigation) between 1994 and 2000.

Golding, who was named president of London's Little Ship Club in 2017[2] and is a member of Royal Southampton Yacht Club, is the eponymous co-founder of the commercial company Mike Golding Yacht Racing Ltd. His partner in this venture was Jorgen Philip-Sorensen (d. 2010).

Golding led the team Group 4 to second place in the British Steel Challenge in 1992–3. He did one better in the next edition the BT Global Challenge 1996–7, taking first place with a new team of amateur sailors, again onboard Group 4.

Golding came seventh in the 2000–2001 Vendée Globe solo, non stop, round the world race having lost seven days to the dismasting of his Open 60, again called Group 4. His present Open 60 campaign is sponsored by Ecover, a Belgian ecological cleaning products company which has sponsored his team since 2001. In 2004, he won the IMOCA World Championship and successfully defended his title the following year, in which he also won the 2005 FICO World Championship.[3] In the 2004 Vendée Globe, Golding finished third despite losing his keel — an accident which had caused boats in previous Vendée Globe races to overturn — on the last day of the race. He sailed the last fifty miles with a tiny sailplan to keep the boat upright.[4]

In October 2006, he started the Velux 5 Oceans yacht race. He rescued fellow sailor Alex Thomson in the Southern Ocean, then the yacht Ecover had a mast failure with them both aboard. He announced he was retiring from the race on making emergency landfall in Cape Town.[5]

In March 2007 Golding announced a technical partnership with fellow British sailor Dee Caffari to allow both the UK entries in the Vendée Globe 2008–9 round the world yacht race to work together.[6]

Golding skippered the Ecover Sailing Team in the 2009 iShares cup, a selection of races all over Europe, sailing catamarans in fast, competitive races against world-leaders in this sport. The races took place in Venice, Hyères, Cowes, Kiel, Amsterdam and Almeria.[citation needed]

With four races to go in the iShares cup event in Cowes Week (Isle of Wight), Golding's team's dagger board broke but the team still completed the last four races and finished second in the last race.[7]

Golding lives with his wife and son in Warsash, Hampshire, near Southampton.

Career highlights

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Pos Year Race Class Boat Name Notes Ref
Round the World Races
6 / 20 2013 2012–2013 Vendée Globe IMOCA 60 Gamesa 88d 6h 36' 26" [8]
DNF 2009 2008–2009 Vendée Globe IMOCA 60 Ecover 3 Day 38: dismasted [9]
RET 2006 Velux 5 Oceans Race IMOCA 60 Ecover 2
3 / 20 2005 2004–2005 Vendée Globe IMOCA 60 Ecover 2 88d 15h 15' 13" (Loses Keel)
7 / 24 2001 2000–2001 Vendée Globe IMOCA 60 Team Group 4 110d 16h 22' (Restarts)
RET 1998 The Around Alone IMOCA 60 Team Group 4 Ran Aground
1 1997 BT Global Challenge Race Challenge 67 Team Group 4 Skipper of 13 Amateur Crew
WR 1994 World Record - Solo Non-Stop Westabout Challenge 67 Team Group 4 167d 7h 42m 54s [10]
2 1993 British Steel Challenge Race Challenge 67 Team Group 4 Skipper of 13 Amateur Crew
Transatlantic Races
10 2011 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Gamesa with   Bruno Dubois (CAN) (BEL)
3 2009 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Mike Golding Yacht Racing with  Javier Sanso (ESP)
RET 2007 Transat B2B IMOCA 60 Ecover III Various Technical Issues [11]
5 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Ecover III with   Bruno Dubois (CAN) (BEL)
4 2005 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Ecover 2 with  Dominique Wavre (SUI)
1 2004 The Transat, 2004 IMOCA 60 Ecover 2
5 / 15 2004 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Hellomoto, GBR 75 with  Conrad Humphreys (GBR)
1 2003 Le Defi Atlantique IMOCA 60 Ecover [12]
3 2003 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Ecover with  Brian Thompson (GBR)
2 2002 Route du Rhum IMOCA 60 Ecover 13d 22 h 49 min 35 s
2 2001 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Ecover (1) with  Marcus Hutchinson (IRL)
3 1999 The Europe 1 New Man STAR, 2000 IMOCA 60 Team Group 4
3 1999 Transat Jacques Vabre IMOCA 60 Team Group 4 with  Ed Danby (GBR)
Other Significant Races
3/8 2010 2010 Extreme Sailing Series Extreme 40 Ecover Sailing Team Skipper

References

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  1. ^ "Mike Golding appointed an OBE". Mike Golding Yacht Racing. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  2. ^ Stickland, Katie (21 March 2017). "Mike Golding named as president of the Little Ship Club". Yachting and Boating World.
  3. ^ "Stamm wins leg as Golding quits". BBC. 4 December 2006.
  4. ^ "Golding's Grit Gets Ecover Home in Third". Nautica Online Press. 7 February 2005.
  5. ^ "World Championship Crown for Mike". Royal Southampton Yacht Club. 10 March 2006. Archived from the original on 6 December 2006.
  6. ^ "Dee Caffari and Mike Golding form a technical alliance for the 2008 Vendée Globe". Aviva Ocean Racing. 20 March 2007. Archived from the original on 19 January 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
  7. ^ "Ecover Extreme 40 Sailing Team". Ecover Sailing Team. 30 July 2009.
  8. ^ "Mike Golding (GBR) finishes sixth in the Vendée Globe 2012–2013". Vendee Globe Race Organisers. 3 February 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  9. ^ "'Gutted' Golding abandons Vendee". 16 December 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Mike Golding". 2 November 2004.
  11. ^ "Mike Golding retires from the Transat Ecover B to B".
  12. ^ "Golding wins le Défi Atlantique". 17 December 2003.
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