Limerick sailor left ‘heartbroken’ after forced retirement from race around the world

CIRCUMNAVIGATING the globe by sailboat is no easy task which Limerick man Pat Lawless knows too well as his time in the Golden Globe Race (GGR) 2022 comes to a premature end.

The GGR is a solo-circumnavigation race around the world and this year sixteen sailors took off from the coast of France hoping to complete the 30,000-mile route.

Pat was hoping to become the first Irish person to complete the GGR - his father (also Pat) became the first Irish person to solo circumnavigate the world in 1996.

However, a mechanical issue meant Pat could no longer continue his journey and had to abandon ship in Cape Town, South Africa.

The 66 year-old retired carpenter began his journey around the world from Les Sables in France on September 4.

Limerick man Pat sets sail for journey of a lifetime

Just before Pat reached Cape Town the self-steering system on his boat failed, making it even more difficult for him to navigate the tides.

It left him having to use sheet and tiller steering until he retired in Cape Town.

“Pure fed up that a simple baring on the self-steering would finish my Golden Globe Race,” Pat said on social media following his retirement.

The GGR only allows sailors to use navigation equipment that would have only been available to them in the 1960s so a compass and a barometer would have been one of the more technologically advanced devices aboard Pat’s ship.

For many, sailing around the world on your own seems like a gruesome journey but it has been a dream of Pat’s for quite some time and spoke to the Limerick Leader before he set sail in September.

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“What’s the attraction? I’ve tried to figure that out myself, you know! I got hooked on this when I was young and I had always dreamed of doing a race like this. But the dream drifted – but now it’s back,” Pat explained.

It cost Pat approximately €200,000 to compete in the race from the cost of the boat, supplies and entry fees.

He was able to make back some of the funds from sponsorship, however, most of the funding came out of his own pocket. Pat is one of four sailors who were forced to retire from the race as 16 others continue on their journey around the world.

He remains in South Africa whilst his boat is being repaired and upon completion, the Limerick man intends to sail back home to Ireland which will take another two months.