Extraordinary boats: The Mini Globe Race Globe 5.80

The Mini Globe Race is a single-handed around the world race in home-built plywood yachts, for a new class designed specifically for the race: the Globe 5.80. Additional reporting by David Harding

“Go small, go cheap, go now,” famously said Lin and Larry Pardy, who sailed for decades aboard small engineless yachts they built themselves. For Don McIntyre, the restless mind behind the Globe 5.80, his newest race is an idea with simplicity and accessibility at its core.

And while his previous events – the Golden Globe Race and Ocean Globe Race – were ‘revival’ events that specified vintage designs to race in modern recreations of races from the 1960s and 1970s, the Mini Globe Race is an all-new concept that called for an all-new design.

“I just love little boats and big adventures,” he explained. “I’m not doing it for money. There is none! It will be a low impact and sustainable adventure for all those who choose to take up the challenge. Perhaps, where the comfort of a high standard of living we all aspire to is flat-lining, the Mini Globe will be a chance for individuals to define who they really are.”

While established rallies and races offer a high level of support, and boats can be built with an abundance of comfort and greatly increased levels of safety, the uptake of the Globe 5.80 challenge would suggest many are seeking out something more pared back to bare essentials.

The Mini Globe Race promises an adventure that will not only connect each participant – 15 skippers are currently bidding to qualify – with the challenge of ocean sailing, but also the experience of living very simply on each passage.

Many participants are not only racing, but have also built their 5.80s from a series of licenced plans and kits, adding another dimension to the challenge and a unique sense of satisfaction to each project.

Human scale

In a yacht that was created for single-handing from day one, there is a rare singularity to the design of the 5.80 that is striking as soon as you step on board. The rigging is slight, the sails small, the overall scale diminutive. Despite this, it works elegantly, and it’s not a huge leap to imagine a long ocean passage aboard.

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At the helm, with the tiller extension in hand, skippers’ shoulders will still sit below the doghouse and there’s a surprisingly high freeboard relative to the length of the boat. Aft, one part of the yacht that appears almost overbuilt is the wind vane self-steering gear, the primary autopilot.

However, it’s when stepping down into the yacht – a surprisingly long way down – that you feel most at home. There are two well-sized bench berths, a navigation station, and a single burner. Forward, beyond a watertight bulkhead, is a large storage area.

Unlike the Mini Transat 6.50 designs or other modern ocean racers, it doesn’t have a canting keel or even water ballast. Instead, it has a simple bulbed fin keel, a single, transom-hung rudder and
a standard aluminium rig of modest proportions.

Home built

While some yachts have been professionally built, a condition of the race is that all home-built yachts must document their build on a blog with photographs. “It’s important that the fun of the build can be seen, but more importantly it’s a mechanism to ensure yachts are being built safely, that’s why we’ve made it mandatory,” explains McIntyre.

A Globe 5.80 can be built from a set of plans available for a few hundred pounds, or from a plywood kit, which makes the project significantly simpler, while also reducing the number of tools the builder needs. In the UK the kits are supplied by Fyne Boat Kits in Cumbria. “Standardising the design, the components, and build process has many advantages. The cost is reduced and more easily estimated, but it’s also safer because at each stage we can ensure that the boat is built with sufficient strength,” McIntyre says.

Build times were estimated at around 500 hours when the kit was designed, and completed boats are matching up to that estimate. Most builders are outsourcing the build of metal parts and the keel, while some components, including the chain plates and stainless steel rudder fittings, must be ordered from the approved supplier for safety reasons.

There are component packages on offer, including spars from Seldén, though you can buy from elsewhere or even make your own rig if you prefer; a deck-hardware package (excluding winches) is available from Blue Shark in China, and a sail package by Quantum. The mast and boom can be home built (using extrusions of a specified size), along with the self-steering gear, though it’s envisaged most will use ready-built servo pendulum systems.

Watertight bulkheads and forward bulkhead hatches are a mandatory part of the design, along with a brightly coloured doghouse, which must have 360° vision.

The three watertight areas of the 5.80 are designed to protect it in the event of a collision, and race organisers claim it is better placed in such an event than almost every other yacht ever built of its size. Additionally, builders can choose to add removable foam pieces to the hull with buoyancy in excess of the total weight to make the yacht ‘unsinkable’.

Personal goals

“I started building during lockdown and began by building a tent on my driveway,” explains home builder Peter Bumby.

“Initially some neighbours thought I was putting up some kind of Covid test centre on the driveway – since learning what I was really doing they have shown a lot of interest.”

A crew member on the 2013 Clipper Round the World Race, Bumby’s 5.80 build is not entered in the 2025 Mini Globe Race, but he has ambitions for his small yacht.

“A really good friend I met on the Clipper was trying to persuade me to buy a boat with him, but sadly he passed away, so this is also a mechanism to have those big sailing adventures in his memory,” he explains.

“There was a lot that appealed about the design, it was obviously incredibly strong, something that’s become even clearer as it has come together. I’d say that I have average DIY skills and the learning part of building her has been tremendous. The 5.80 builder’s group on Facebook is a source of a lot of help and there is a great sense of community between builders across the world.

“My build has slowed, as I went back to work, but this year she will be completely watertight, at which point I can take the tent down.”

Building the 5.80 from plywood, Bumby explains, has also been a journey of discovery into the realities of home boatbuilding with only a basic level of skills and equipment. “You start off aiming for perfection, but as it progresses you realise that you are ultimately aiming to build something strong, then add strength with the fibreglass. It’s an exercise in building a tough boat to do a job, rather than something perfect.

“Building the 5.80, as I move towards middle age, was an answer to feeling that I needed a project to get stuck into. I’m really glad I did it.”

The Globe 5.80 specifications

Hull length: 5.70m / 18ft 4in
Beam: 2.27m / 7ft 5in
Draught: 1.40m / 4ft 7in
Weight: 700kg / 1,543lb
Ballast: 220kg / 485lb
Sail area (main & jib): 20.1m2 / 216ft2
Kit price: From £4,145 (basic ply) to £9,115 (CNC’d sapele)
Designer: Janusz Maderski
Typical cost for a basic home-built boat (plans, hull kit, materials): £25,000–£30,000
More: classglobe580.com

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