A milestone solo challenge for Canadian Scott Shawyer

Businessman and adventurer turned solo ocean racer Scott Shawyer wants to become the first Canadian to complete the Vendée Globe racing his Owen Clarke designed Be Water Positive and launched in 2011. And while the New York Vendée will be a milestone on his program – his first solo race – the 52 year old is actually preparing for the 2028-29 Vendée Globe.  

Speaking earlier this season from his training base in Cascais, Portugal Shawyer explained, “This race is huge for me as it will be my first solo race and so also my first solo Transatlantic race, it is my first solo race on the IMOCA Globe Series, so there is a series of firsts. But the great thing for me is it does not really matter for me in terms of points or qualification requirements and so I can take it at my own pace. It is a great milestone on my program.” 

A highly driven, successful businessman who sold his engineering business and now runs a venture capital company, Shawyer skied to the North Pole 12 years ago and is a very competitive Masters alpine ski racer and a triathlete. A lifelong sailor who grew up sailing on Lake Huron it was only when he happened across a programme about the start of the 2020-21 Vendée Globe that a moment of epiphany struck him. 

“I was looking for a financial partner for my business and I was on the phone 12 hours a day with New York private equity groups and we were in COVID lockdown. I had not been out the house at all for more than three weeks. And I saw the Vendée Live show and I see these skippers walking down the dock and setting off around the world and I think ‘how cool is that? And I thought ‘What am I doing with my life strapped to a desk 12-16 hours a day. I got hooked and watched all the shows. And I thought ‘there has to be more to life than this….and that was the impetus to make some changes.” 

Collaborating with Alex Thomson Racing, Shawyer set up Canada Ocean Racing and in 2022 smartly chose to purchase the daggerboard IMOCA which had already been fully refitted as Offshore Team Germany. Until this 2023-24 winter he had trained and raced somewhere around 30,000 miles. Last January he raced the RORC Transatlantic Race from the Lanzarote to Grenada with Alan Roberts as co-skipper before taking on last summer’s Rolex Fastnet Race two handed - which they had to retire from. He raced the Bermudes 1000 Canada Ocean Racing’s boat captain Ryan Barkey. 

"I love being on my own, You really are totally in charge"

“The New York Vendée is a good first one for sure.” He says, “A fair bit of last year I started doing a number of mock solos, like from the Azores to the UK and other passages last year and this winter I have been to Cascais three times already to do solo training. I have been put through the paces.  I feel confident solo, it has come along really well. And the truth is double handed is effectively solo sailing a lot of the time, so I am happy with systems and manoeuvres and so on. It is different being alone on the boat, sure, it takes a little bit of getting used to. But I love being on my own, I love it. You really are totally in charge.” 

He loves solo sailing, “To me sailing solo is what I did when I was growing up. I grew up on Lake Huron (one of the five Great Lakes in North America, covering an area of 59,600 km2) and sailing on Georgian Bay here sailing Laser in the summer. My parents gave me an unbelievable amount of freedom at the age of 12, say, I took the Laser off and went exploring the islands and go, pack a lunch. And even this still reminds me of that, being on my own, in charge and relishing the adventure. There is such a sense of freedom and accomplishment.” 

Canada does have a history on the Vendée Globe but no solo racer has actually ever finished the legendary race round the world. Leading ocean racer of the time Gerry Roufs was a contender on the 1996-97 race and was lying in second place when he was sadly lost at sea in the South Pacific. 

And Derek Hatfield had to retire into Tasmania on the 2008-9 race after being rolled and breaking both primary spreaders on his mast. 

His pinnacle event last year should have been the double handed transatlantic to Martinique which he started with the vastly experienced Nick Moloney. But they had to retire within the first days because Shawyer suffered from debilitating mental and physical exhaustion precipitated by a ‘perfect storm’ of seasickness, extreme tiredness and adverse reactions to different medications. But he and the team have spent the winter analysing what happened and he is happy with the solutions they have found (after a postponement of the start due to the weather, the start of the race took place in difficult conditions).

And whilst he still has more than four years until his Vendée Globe starts he is intent on proving competitive on this New York Vendée. “I want to finish, to prove out on the race course what we have proven in training – including beating the seasickness – and I want to hang with the fleet. I am a competitive guy, I don’t want to have people on the dock in Les Sables d’Olonne waiting for Scott to finish the race.”