Solo sailor Matt Woodside reflects on the benefits of retro-style racing. Here's how he's preparing to sail around the world solo, nonstop, and unassisted in the 2026 Golden Globe Race.
Matt Woodside can’t come to the phone right now.
The American sailor is busy munching miles on his Cape George 36 Tipi Haere in preparation for the Golden Globe Race, for which he will sail around the world solo, nonstop, and unassisted using only traditional navigation techniques.
While most sailors would balk at the prospect, Woodside, a self proclaimed ‘sailing luddite’, considers the limited technology part of the appeal.
‘Being offline and Trump free has been a blessing’ he says.
Photo by Matt Woodside
Woodside first learned traditional navigation techniques when he was in the US Navy, where he spent almost 30 years in service.
He used a periscopic aviation sextant rather than a nautical sextant, but ‘the computations and plotting are the same. It’s all coming back to me.’
Woodside has been getting plenty of practice while he racks up some ‘serious mileage’ ahead of the race’s start in September.
Since July 2025 he has made passages from Pt. Townsend, Washington to San Francisco, on to San Diego, Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas, Samoa, and from Fiji to New Zealand. From New Zealand, he rounded the dreaded Cape Horn before heading to the Falkland Islands.
He’s currently on his way to the the East Coast of the US. From there, he’ll head to the race’s start line in Les Sables d’Olonne.
‘It has been both humbling and edifying,’ he says of the voyage so far. ‘I’ve learned a lot about the boat and how to fix things that I break. And it’s wicked good exercise.’
He’s become even more mindful of how much proper rest and preparation is required to complete even smaller tasks when sailing single-handed.
‘People don’t realise that most everything takes longer when you’re sailing alone. For example, I eat well, but prepping, cooking, and cleaning up are not as simple as they are ashore. Sail changes, maintenance, the list goes on and on. The celestial navigation is pretty time intensive, too.’
Photo by Matt Woodside
Road to the 2026 Golden Globe Race
The Golden Globe Race bug bit Woodside early.
He was a Sea Scout in Invercargill, New Zealand around the time of the first edition, and remembers being enthralled by its ‘crazy story.’ Replicating the adventure would become a lifelong dream.
Woodside says he’s grateful to the organisers, McIntyre Adventures, for bringing back the spirit of retro racing, and ‘getting me off the dime.’
Photo by Matt Woodside
Unlike most entrants, Woodside had his boat long before the Golden Globe Race concept reappeared on the horizon.
He stumbled across Tipi Haere in Puget Sound, Bainbridge Island, in 2010 and bought her on the spot. He was working in Seattle at the time, and had been looking for a bluewater sailboat to live on.
‘It was love at first sight: beautiful lines, well built, and with a lovely interior. And what a fine sailer she is. The Cape George is extremely well balanced and heaves to nicely,’ he says. ‘In a fast moving storm with a light sea state, she is even comfortable lying a-hull.
The fact that she had a Te Reo name was the icing on the cake.’
As luck would have it, the Cape George 36 would later turn out to be on the Golden Globe Race’s list of approved designs.
In the last decade, it’s even acquired a Golden Globe pedigree. Kirsten Neuschäfer won the 2022 Golden Globe Race on her Cape George Cutter 36, Minnehaha. 2026 entrants Stephen Wraith and Henry Wotton (Privateer) have also entered with the design.
Kirsten Neuschäfer’s winning Cape George Cutter Minnehaha, designed by Cecil Lange, was built in the Cape George yard in Port Townsend, Washington and launched in 1988. Photo by D&JJ/GGR 2022.
Having sailed her for over a decade and a half, Woodside has had plenty of time to appreciate the boat’s quirks. He’s had to learn to accommodate its age, too.
‘These are older boats that we are pushing,’ he says. ‘I’m pretty competitive by nature, but you have to finish to win. It’s truly a marathon.’
As many entrants have highlighted, reaching the start is a challenge in-of-itself. Woodside worries about getting to September ‘with all of the Notice of Race requirements completed. It has been a bit of a moving target.’
Local support
Since he acquired her, Tipi Haere, has been in and out of her home yard in Pt. Townsend, WA three times over.
Her latest stint was in June 2025, when she went through a major race-minded refit including all new mast and rigging, new and beefier chain plates, kranze iron, and stanchions. The cockpit and cabin top were rebuilt with new dorade boxes.
‘Pt. Townsend has such a vibrant maritime culture that I have been able to get everything needed for this campaign: a new mast and rigging, sails, and engine work from local businesses,’ Woodside says of staying local for the bulk of his race preparations.
‘The support and encouragement that I have received from friends across several communities and family has been incredibly gratifying and humbling.’
Quick facts: Matt Woodside / Tipi Haere
Sail Plan?
Genoa, Yankee, staysail, mainsail, storm trysail, storm staysail, and a couple of asymmetric spinnakers. That’s what I’m thinking right now.
Furler or hank on?
She has a cutter rig. The foresail, a Yankee or Genoa is on a furler and the staysail is hanked on.
Self-steering set up?
A mighty Monitor. I have used this particular unit since 2014 and will give it a full reconditioning before the start.
Antifouling?
Seahawk CUKote
Sailing Inspirations:
I’m a reader. Slocum, Chichester, Moitessier, and any number of earlier out of print sailors.
Three unexpected items you’ll take onboard:
- There are some amazing food options out there these days. My current go to is Indian food from the Cumin Club
- I have a pile of books, but am tending to the classics from the Iliad, to Shakespeare, to the Shahnameh
- And I have my grandson Levi’s spirit animal with me!
Woodside’s grandson Levi gave him this talisman. Photo by Matt Woodside
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