{"id":569423,"date":"2026-03-28T06:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T06:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/569423\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T06:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T06:34:12","slug":"tristan-gourlay-breaks-australian-record-for-solo-unassisted-circumnavigation-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/569423\/","title":{"rendered":"Tristan Gourlay breaks Australian record for solo, unassisted circumnavigation of the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

After almost five months at sea and sailing 21,600 nautical miles, Tasmanian sailor Tristan Gourlay has beaten the Australian record for a solo, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the globe, set by his father 19 years ago.<\/p>\n

It took Tristan 138 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes to complete the journey, beating his father’s record by 41 days.<\/p>\n

Tristan crossed the ‘finish line’ \u2014 the Iron Pot lighthouse at the entrance of the River Derwent \u2014 shortly after 6am Saturday.<\/p>\n

Tristan said it was still sinking in that he holds the record.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tristan Gourlay has broken a record previously held by his father, Ken, for a solo, non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of the world. (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)<\/p>\n

“It feels good to have finished \u2014 the last few weeks were pretty tough going with no autopilot and working pretty hard, so it’d be nice to have a rest and have a break,” Tristan said.<\/p>\n

Due to a broken engine, he was towed up the river to Hobart alongside a fleet of supporter-boats, before taking a victory lap around Constitution Dock.<\/p>\n

Australian icebreaker Nuyina joined the celebrations, sounding its horn as his yacht, Blue Moon II, sailed past.<\/p>\n

The solo-sailor moored at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, where family, friends and supporters lined the wharf to welcome him home.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tristan Gourlay completed the trip on yacht, the ‘Blue Moon II’. (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)<\/p>\n

Fire on board ‘the scariest moment of the trip’<\/p>\n

Tristan’s record-breaking journey was not without its challenges.<\/p>\n

Halfway through the voyage, the engine \u2014 used to charge the yacht’s batteries \u2014 broke down, meaning autopilot could no longer be used.<\/p>\n

“It meant long hours on the helm, literally standing there till I fell asleep and then I’d sort of shut the boat down, just let her amble along by herself for a couple hours while I rested, come back out, jump back on, pull some more sail out and off I’d go again,” he said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, he lost his satellite communication and contended with his stove catching alight.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

Tristan Gourlay made the more than 22-thousand nautical mile trip solo and without stopping. (ABC News: Hayden Smith)<\/p>\n

“One of the gas hoses to the stove was getting pretty old and had a crack in it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So lighting the stove there to cook dinner, and next minute the back of the stove’s all lit up, did a quick look around, grabbed the closest fire extinguisher, quickly put that out, sat down, caught my breath again.<\/p>\n

“It sort of really did get the adrenaline going, and that would be the scariest moment of the trip,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tristan Gourlay lost satellite communication mid-trip, and a dead battery meant he was unable to use his autopilot. (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)<\/p>\n

Pushed to the limits<\/p>\n

Tristan said the journey was equally a mental and physical challenge.<\/p>\n

“It was just a lot of pushing myself and pushing my body, which is the whole thing of the adventure and the challenge,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So I’m pretty proud of how I handled it, I think.<\/p>\n

“I’m glad that no one could hear some of the things I was saying at times, because it certainly was getting hard at some of the moments.”\"A<\/p>\n

Tristan completed the trip in the Blue Moon II. (Supplied: Tristan Gourlay)<\/p>\n

Alongside the challenges, he said there were lighter moments.<\/p>\n

“The interactions with nature can be quite amazing,” Tristan said.<\/p>\n

“Coming through Maatsuyker Island I had a young seal come up and started doing stupid flips around the boat, and came and looked at me.<\/p>\n

“It’s just experiences like those that you know that you don’t get every day, you know, going to work or anything.”<\/p>\n

A proud Dad meets his son at the finish\"Two<\/p>\n

Tristan’s father, Ken, was waiting for his to arrive on Saturday morning. (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)<\/p>\n

Although Tristan’s achievement means father Ken no longer holds the record, he said he “never” hoped Tristan would fall short of the record.<\/p>\n

“I feel very proud, almost emotionally proud really,” Ken said.Loading…<\/p>\n

“He’s explained a lot of the things he went through, which I went through as well in my trip, and he’s come out shining and put in a cracking time.<\/p>\n

“What more could a father want?”<\/p>\n

Tristan says he’s proud of the achievement, and grateful for his father’s support.<\/p>\n

“I’ve achieved what I’ve set out to achieve,” he said.<\/p>\n

“As much as I’ve broken Dad’s record, but he was a big part of this one as well.<\/p>\n

“He did a lot of help and a lot of support getting to the start line, and I couldn’t have done it without him either,” Tristan said.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Tristan Gourlay’s father, Ken, set the record back in 2007, finishing in 179 days, 21 hours, 37 minutes and 58 seconds.<\/p>\n

A young Tristan, waiting on deck at Devonport, was there to welcome him home.<\/p>\n

Even back then, he said he had ambitions to beat his father’s record “a little bit faster and with a little bit more knowledge”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tristan Gourlay in Devonport, welcoming back his father Ken after a successful around-the-world sailing voyage in 2007. (ABC News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After almost five months at sea and sailing 21,600 nautical miles, Tasmanian sailor Tristan Gourlay has beaten the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,279916,279914,44,170035,33754,279915,279913],"class_list":["post-569423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blue-moon-ii","tag-ken-gourlay","tag-news","tag-record-broken","tag-sailing","tag-solo-circumnavigation","tag-tristan-gourlay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}