Offshore sailor

Solo AROUNd the woRld

Follow my journey around the globe

I'm Brian Gray, a dentist by profession and a sailor by passion. I’m 66 now, and at 16, I made myself a promise: one day, I would sail around the world.

Now I'm about to keep it. Some people call it crazy. I call it the next chapter.

Back then nobody I knew had ever sailed, so I taught myself. Fifty years and more than 30,000 miles later, I'm about to take on the biggest challenge of my sailing life.

In October 2027, I'll set off from Vigo, Spain, solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world in the Global Solo Challenge, aboard my boat Kawan. Engineered to Endure is the story of what it takes to get there, and you're invited to follow along.

"I didn't know why, but I knew that I had to do it."

- Brian Gray at 16

A solo, nonstop, unassisted race around the world. It starts and finishes in Vigo, Spain, and takes the toughest route there is: past the three great capes, including Cape Horn, through the Southern Ocean and around Antarctica.

Global Solo Challenge

MORE ABOUT GSC

On October 16th, 2027 I'll be one of them, aboard my Class40 Kawan.

My Boat Kawan

A 40-foot Pogo 40S Class40, designed by Finot-Conq and built in France in 2007, Kawan is no stranger to the oceans. She completed the last Global Solo Challenge in fifth place and already knows the way around the world.

Named after the Indonesian word for “friend”, she is more than a boat: she is a trusted companion. Following a refit in Kiel, Germany, Kawan is now preparing for her second circumnavigation.

40 ft · 4,750 kg · Up to 275 m² of sail

I've listened to every episode of The Outlaw Ocean Podcast.

The ocean covers most of our planet, yet so much of what happens out there stays untold: forced labour on fishing vessels, illegal fishing, pollution. The Outlaw Ocean Project brings these stories to light, often reporting from the water itself. I want more people to know about them. So I'll carry their message with me, all the way around.