Taking on the Southern Ocean

Goodchild recently completed his first Vendée Globe finishing ninth overall in the grueling, non-stop, solo round-the-world race. But while he has raced aroun d the bottom of the world before as part of a crew, racing alone through this vast, inhospitable wilderness was an entirely different experience.

"It was the first time by myself, that's for sure," Goodchild told Justin Chisholm on the latest episode of The Yacht Racing Podcast Extra. "I did The Ocean Race with Team Holcim two years ago, so I went from Cape Town and around Cape Horn—that's 90% of the Southern Ocean, if you like. But this was the first time to go all the way around the world and be in the Southern Ocean on my own."

There is nowhere else on the planet like the Southern Ocean. It is the most remote, least forgiving body of water on Earth. Sailors who venture there do so with the full knowledge that help is not coming if something goes wrong.

"Mentally, is the biggest difference," Goodchild explained. "You're just so far from anything. You are constantly aware that if I have an issue now, there's not going to be a ship coming past tomorrow."