Guillermo Cañardo is an emergency doctor, working for the Emergency Medical System. He has been head of rescue operations in the Mediterranean for three years with the NGO ‘Open Arms’. Guillermo has crossed the Atlantic solo twice in a 6.5m sailboat in the Mini-Transat race. He also teaches the World Offshore Sailing Safety and Survival at Sea course.

Guillermo Cañardo is one of the crew members of the sailboat ‘White Shadow’ (1978 Swan 57) in the Ocean Globe Race (OGR) 2023/24. Guillermo is a ‘rounder’, i.e. he takes part in all the legs, and his main role on board is that of doctor and watch leader. During the manoeuvre he is usually on the mast, and he is also a diver; a bit of everything. Guillermo’s qualities, as a sportsman and a doctor, are extremely necessary on board for this great adventure.

The Ocean Globe Race (OGR) 2023/24 is a regatta that commemorates and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first Whitbread 1973, a round the world race under sail, with full crew and stopovers. Sailing yachts from the same era as those that sailed 50 years ago are taking part, following the same route, with the same spirit, and with similar equipment and technology.

The first leg (LEG 1) of the OGR started in Southampton (U.K.) on 10 September 2023 and ended in Cape Town (South Africa). In the second leg (LEG 2), they crossed the Indian Ocean to Auckland (New Zealand). In the third leg (LEG 3) they arrived in Punta del Este (Uruguay) after crossing Cape Horn. At this moment, the ‘White Shadow is sailing again in the Atlantic, in the last leg (LEG 4) of the OGR.

We thank Guillermo for sharing with our readers his experience in this round-the-world ocean adventure under sail.

Interview with Guillermo Cañardo, doctor and crew member of the ‘White Shadow’.

How was your experience on board ‘White Shadow’ on the first three legs of the OGR 23/24 round the world race?

The experience has been very good, I had experience of sailing in the Atlantic, I had crossed the Atlantic three times, twice solo and in the Mediterranean, but I had never done such a long navigation of so many days and so many miles, it was my first round the world trip.

I am not a professional, I am a doctor by profession and a sailing enthusiast, but the experience has been very positive, both in terms of living together, which was something new for me, as I had never lived with so many people on a boat, and it has been positive, and also the fact of working as a team.

Getting this far has been a very fulfilling and enriching experience.

In leg 2 you crossed the Indian Ocean and crossed Cape Leewin. What was this experience like?

Leg 2 was the first southern leg, we went through the area of 40, we crossed the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Agullas. There the experience was one of big waves, it is an area of current encountered, and wind encountered with the current, where very big waves are formed, and in fact we boarded a couple of strong waves.

We took the Indian Ocean area in bad weather, with tough conditions, but we got used to it and we saw it well. We had a weather problem there, we had no information and we went through a high pressure area that we could have gone around and we lost a lot of miles.

But well, we kept going, we had no major problems and Cape Lewin, in the south of Australia was a very exciting moment, because you are no longer in the middle of the ocean and you are now close to land, to Australia.

Then we sailed across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand, looking forward to reaching land after 47 days of sailing and being able to see family and friends, and enjoy a few weeks of rest in New Zealand, which was wonderful.

What would you highlight about life on board during a long voyage on a sailboat? What is the daily routine like?

Well, the sailboat in a regatta has to be always underway, so the routines are watches, right? The boat has to be always at full throttle, trimmed, and there has to be someone at the helm at all times, as we don’t have an autopilot, so it’s always divided into that, either you’re on watch or you’re resting.

The watches are 6 hours during the day and 4 hours at night. When you are on watch you have to be around the ship and navigate it, and when you are off watch you rest, or you do kitchen work, cleaning, and that’s the routine.

It’s a small ship, but it’s a very positive ship. And we have all taken good care of each other, I would highlight that, the good coexistence.

We’ve eaten very well, I’ve read a lot, we’re disconnected, we don’t have electronics, we don’t have internet or telephones, so it’s a return to a quiet life, the brain, the mind and thoughts, and the fact of being able to meet up again with books, and talk, talk a lot with people too. We are not looking at each other from a screen, but we look into each other’s eyes and talk to each other, which is a great improvement in life as well?

This race is sailed in the traditional way, what differences have you noticed compared to sailing a more modern boat?

I will see if I can make a selection of the differences I have noticed compared to sailing a more modern boat.

The main difference is the shape of the boat. It’s a boat with a narrow stern, so it’s very close-hauled. It’s important, it wobbles a lot, it’s very unstable. Downwind it is also very unstable. Downwind waves have a tendency to luff or to come in. So you have to be very attentive to the helm. It’s a boat that doesn’t plane, it surfs the waves, but it doesn’t really plane. The main difference I’ve found is this, compared to the boats I normally sail, which have a wide stern, like a mini-transat.

Another difference is that all the sails are furled, there is nothing furled. It’s a very physical boat, with very big sails and all manual. In that sense it is a tough boat.

The traditional way of sailing also means that we sail without electronics, without GPS. We sail with a sextant, and we have to keep a strict control of the navigation. Every hour we record the miles sailed and the course. We navigate by reckoning and when the sun rises or there are stars, the navigator and the rest of the crew, who know, take sextant heights and we place ourselves on the chart by astronomical navigation, which is a marvellous thing. Very nice when you are far away from land, but when you are close to land it is quite a bit more stressful, as you need to make quick decisions or you have to leave more safety distance to things. Basically that’s the difference to modern navigation.

For weather updates we either had a WeatherFax or we received them by SSB on longwave radio. So the weather came to us in a very precarious way, which is a fundamental thing in deciding where to navigate. We don’t have navigation routing, so we have sailed practically with a barometer, and that is also a very big difference. Nowadays all the racing boats have computers and every time they update the weather files they do a routing and decide which way to go. And we didn’t have that.

So it’s a slower boat compared to modern boats and you don’t have much choice to dodge or decide which way to go. Our average speed is eight or nine knots, and we don’t go at fifteen or twenty knots like the modern boats. So those are the big differences.

But we also have big advantages in that we cook food, we make bread, we don’t go with the frizzies except in very bad weather. And well, that’s a good thing, an improvement over modern racing boats.

Regarding sailing in the strong winds at high latitudes, has it been tough? How has the boat behaved?

We have sailed in 50 knots or with gusts of 70 knots.

And well, those conditions are impressive, but in the end you reduce the sail and grit your teeth and lower the waves and nothing, the good weather will come back, and the truth is that we have coped well, you get used to everything, the bad weather and the cold.

Also the cold is a bit hard, a lot of clothes, I wore 7 layers of clothes to make the deck. We had the option of wearing modern clothes and that was noticeable. We also have an oil heater and we could dry our wet clothes but, well, it is a boat that is very exposed to the waves, we boarded a lot of them, we got splashed a lot and that was also hard.

The boat has behaved fantastically, although we have broken things, the only major damage we have had is the breakage of a forestay going up the South Atlantic after passing Cape Horn, thank goodness and nothing, we were able to solve it, we didn’t lose the mast. We also broke two sails and we were able to fix it.

In stage 3 you crossed the Pacific Ocean and crossed the mythical Cape Horn, what was this moment like, did you celebrate it?​

Yes, it was a very intense moment, with mixed emotions, because of the conditions in which we passed Cape Horn, very tough conditions. Also, during the approach, the waves didn’t allow us to drop and we took too long to gybe and we passed very close to land. The truth is that it was nice to see land so close, a bit risky, but we saw Cape Horn very well, we even have photos from the lighthouse that the lighthouse keeper took of us.

And it was a moment of great emotion, mythical, it is like a culmination for any sailor and we celebrated it on board as it deserves. We passed with three reefs and a storm, because the gusts were 68 knots when we passed and the waves, I can’t tell you, but they were very big, 7 metres, 6 metres and a bit breaking. So, a lot of excitement, a lot of excitement to get through.

Personally, I didn’t wear an earring, but I took a shower with buckets of cold water, it was like a baptism of the sea, and despite the cold, I enjoyed it a lot.

 Before arriving in Punta del Este you suffered a breakdown in the forestay, how did you manage to continue sailing?

The forestay repair. It was found that the lower stud of the Stai had burst, and had torn the headsail we had, the Yankee, and also the mainsail. The only thing left in one piece was the foresail.

And nothing, immediately, when it became clear that it was the forestay, we went astern, because we were sailing upwind at that time. We went aft, and we put two spy halyards to replace the forestay. Once secured, we had to go up the mast to free the forestay, which was wrapped around the starboard tack with the Yankee’s ballast, which was shredded. Nothing, we had to cut everything a bit and recover the forestay. A temporary system was put in place at the base and we continued to sail a little precariously.

From then on, without a mainsail, we carried a quarter reef, above the quarter reef it was intact and below it was torn. And nothing, we sailed with the fourth reef and with headsails where we couldn’t put much power because it was a provisional forestay, it wasn’t safe. And it slowed us down a lot, we were passed by boats, and we lost I reckon about three days from the arrival date in Punta del Este.

That’s a bit frustrating, but that’s the way it is. The important thing was to arrive, we arrived with a full boat, with a full mast, with the mast in place, and all the problems have been solved so we can continue sailing. This is an endurance race, a long distance race, and the important thing is to arrive in one piece. And we have managed it, and to finish, to arrive and to manage to finish the round the world regatta. Here we are and we are moving forward.

Guillermo, finally, would you repeat this ocean sailing adventure?

Right now, yes, why not? I feel good sailing, I feel good on the boat and I don’t rule it out.

The truth is that I’m also looking forward to arriving, I’ve been away from home for a long time, without working, without seeing my family, but well, I knew what I was getting into. Now I have to get there, and once I get there I have to digest all the emotions, and I don’t know what the future will bring.

They say that the best thing about going round the world is that you don’t have to repeat it, that’s what they told me, maybe I’ll be happy with this, but maybe not, I don’t know, let’s see what life brings.

Right now, if I could repeat it, I wouldn’t have a problem.

A hug.

From ‘Bluewater Sailors’ we thank Guillermo Cañardo for his support with this interview, and we wish him and all the crew good winds, good sea and good luck in the fourth and last round the world yacht race.