The Pacific Challenge concludes (for most!) as the fleet touches down in Chile.

After nearly two months at sea, the leaders of the MarineVerse Globe Beta fleet have arrived in Valparaiso, Chile. Launching from San Francisco on September 22, 2025, this race was a true test of patience, routing strategy, and beta-testing resilience. ( See leaderboard )

Unlike short regattas, the Globe requires 24/7 vigilance, real-time weather routing, and the mental fortitude to handle the Doldrums. From navigation by stars to coding custom VMG calculators, this leg showcased the incredible depth of our community.

🏆 The Podium

A massive congratulations to our top finishers who navigated the high-pressure systems and equatorial crossings with precision:

🥇 1st Place: Canada III 🇨🇦 (Skipper: J J)

  • Finish Time: Nov 10, 2025, 10:53:22 UTC
  • Performance: J J ran a clinical race, maintaining a dominant lead through the final stretch to claim the top spot for Alberta and Canada.

🥈 2nd Place: donjarrl 🇨🇦 (Skipper: donjarrl)

  • Finish Time: Nov 10, 2025, 12:05:21 UTC
  • Performance: A Volunteer and Community Leader, donjarrl kept the pressure on Canada III right to the end, finishing just over an hour behind after weeks of sailing.

🥉 3rd Place: Irish Talkers 🇮🇪 (Skipper: Moira J)

  • Finish Time: Nov 11, 2025, 09:44:03 UTC
  • Performance: The “Voice of the Fleet.” Moira secured a podium finish while simultaneously managing the fleet’s morale and data analysis.

📊 Daily Race Reports & Tools from the Fleet

A huge thank you to Moira J, who truly led the race organization and performed a monumental amount of work for the community. For almost 60 days, her daily race reports in Discord became the heartbeat of the event.

We were treated to daily breakdowns of position changes, gaps in nm, and efficiency percentages (“100% = you basically sailed straight at the target, 55% = you went sightseeing”). She even included ETA guesses and callouts when someone snuck past a rival at 03:00 UTC.

Beyond the reporting, Moira developed and shared a custom COG/SOG/VMG calculator that became essential for the fleet. It helped skippers understand:

  • How much of their speed was actually towards Valparaíso.
  • How different headings and currents changed their VMG.
  • Why “100% towards target” doesn’t always mean you’re winning.

As J J summed it up: the calculator and reports became part of everyone’s daily routine. Thank you, Moira!

🌦️ Weather Nerd Corner: Models, Currents & High-Pressure Purgatory

This leg turned into a mini weather seminar. Skippers compared ICON, GFS, ECMWF, and other models on Windy to plan their tactics, with the fleet diving deep into which global models perform best in the eastern mid-Pacific.

The Humboldt Current, combined with shifting highs off Chile, punished anyone who got greedy or stayed in the wrong lane too long. We saw:

  • Boats stuck in wind holes for days (“Finnbuck has sailed into a hole… the “coffee” is gone… morale is low”).
  • Others threading narrow bands of breeze and suddenly gaining 100+ nm on the fleet.
  • The fleet bunching as everyone tried to stay west of high pressure but still lay a course to Valparaíso.

It was exactly the kind of planning, patience, and frustration you’d expect from a real ocean race—just with VR headsets and Discord instead of foulies and a wet chart table.

⚔️ The Mid-Fleet Battle

The fight for the mid-pack was intense. Celestial (Solo Flyer)—formerly known as Finnbuck—battled hard for 4th place, arriving on Nov 13th. Solo Flyer brought real-world grit to the virtual ocean, even experimenting with coding a real-star catalog for celestial navigation during the race.

Close behind were Damienlemarin 🇫🇷 (5th) and Bing A Ling 🇺🇸 (6th), who traded positions multiple times over the 50+ day journey. STORMERIN 🇨🇿 (Filip Dymak) and Bobber 🇺🇸 (Bob R) rounded out the finishers, with Bobber making a late surge in better winds to finish on Nov 16th.

🐛 Community Spirit & “Beta” Adventures

This race wasn’t just about speed; it was about survival in a Beta environment.

  • The “Grid” & Waves: Skippers sometimes battled wave generation anomalies, with seas occasionally looking like “lake water” one minute and monster waves the next. (Note: This is something we are working on fixing soon!)
  • Hard Landings: The “visual navigation” into Valparaiso proved tricky, with Captain Jay unfortunately finding the land a bit too literally just 4nm from the finish line.

🌊 Still at Sea

The race isn’t over yet! We still have brave sailors fighting the light winds and high-pressure ridges:

  • Captain Jay (Currently stuck on land/near finish - tugboats dispatched!)
  • Honest Aaron (Racing - approx 97nm to go)
  • KC2684 2 (Racing - approx 141nm to go)

Honest Aaron is currently projected to edge out KC2684 for the next finish slot, but the winds off the Chilean coast remain fickle.

📅 What’s Next?

With the fleet converging in South America, eyes are turning toward the next challenge across the Tasman Sea.

Want to join the adventure? Jump into the #globe-beta channel on Discord to find a flotilla, get access to the beta, or just chat with the skippers about their 50-day voyage.

Fair winds to those still racing!