Ep. 23: Ertan Beskardes – Emotional Suffering, Starlink on a 19ft Boat, and GGR Attempt #3

In Episode 23 of The Sailing Podcast, host Theo Stocker sits down inside the tiny, 19-foot cabin of Mini Globe 580,Trekker with one of the friendliest and most intrepid sailors on the planet: Ertan Beskardes.

Ertan’s story is extraordinary. Born in Turkey, he learned to sail on the Bosphorus as a 12-year-old boy, tying his tiny fiberglass dinghy to navigation cardinals in the dark to sleep under the stars.

After moving to the UK, he built a 40-year career as a military tailor and regalia specialist before answering the call of the high seas.

Ertan competed in the 2018 and 2022 Golden Globe Races (GGR), but the raw emotional toll of being separated from his family forced him to step aside. More recently, he completed an unbelievable tropical circumnavigation in the 19ft Mini Globe Race (MGR), complete with Starlink, Netflix, and daily FaceTime calls. Now, he’s set his sights back on the ultimate prize: sailing solo, non-stop around the globe in the 2026 GGR aboard Jean-Luc Van Den Heede’s 2018 winning Rustler 36, Matmut (now renamed Miss Beagle).

In this episode, Ertan shares:

• Sleeping Under the Bosphorus Stars: How a childhood on the water sparked a lifelong addiction to solo adventure.
• The Mental Game of the GGR: Why the Golden Globe isn't a sailing race, but an emotional endurance test.
• Life Inside a 19ft Boat: Why the MGR 580 feels like a floating cork and handles 50-knot gales with ease.
• Paradise & Near-Disasters: Crocodile warnings in Thursday Island, shark-swimming in Cocos Keeling, and getting towed into Cape Town after losing his mainsail in 50-knot Table Mountain gusts.
• GGR 2026: Buying Jean-Luc Van Den Heede’s iconic boat and why he’s determined to complete the voyage this time.

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