With an Israeli flag flying from his boat, Daniel Pinsky, 35, from Ariel, set out Sunday on the journey of his life — and one of the most extreme sailing challenges in the world. Pinsky, as first reported by ynet, is the first Israeli to compete in the Golden Globe Race, a solo, nonstop around-the-world sailing race with no outside assistance, under conditions that take participants back to the sailing world of the 1960s. If everything goes according to plan, he is expected to spend about nine months alone at sea before returning to the finish line in France.
The race set out from Les Sables-d’Olonne in western France. Competitors sail older-model boats, navigate using paper charts and sextants and are required to go without GPS for navigation and without most of the modern technology that has transformed sailing. Pinsky is making the journey aboard Exodus, a 1980 Baba 35 sailboat that he spent many months preparing for the challenge.
Just before setting out to sea, Pinsky published a post attempting to sum up the moment he had been waiting for. “After months of preparations, repairs, crossings, tests, fatigue, questions, decisions and one day chasing another, Exodus and I are standing at the starting line of the Golden Globe Race 2026,” he wrote. “A solo race around the world. No stops. No assistance. No GPS. None of most of the technology we are used to today. Just me, the boat, maps, a sextant, wind and a whole lot of sea, for about nine months.”
“From here begins a journey of months at sea,” he added. “A journey that you can’t really fully explain from shore, but you can follow it, learn, worry, get excited and be part of it.” He ended the post with a message to the people who had accompanied him along the way: “I’m heading out to sea alone, but this journey is setting out with many people on shore.”
How can you follow Daniel?
Despite the race’s near-total isolation, people on land will still be able to know where Exodus is along the route. The boats are equipped with a satellite tracking system operated by the organizers. It is not used by competitors for navigation but transmits their locations for tracking and safety purposes.
The main way to follow him is through the YB Races app, available for iPhone and most Android devices. After downloading the app, search for Golden Globe Race 2026, open the race map and locate Daniel Pinsky and the boat EXODUS. The map shows his position relative to the other competitors and his progress along the route.
Another option is the Live Tracker on the official Golden Globe Race website, where the entire fleet can be followed. The map is also integrated into Pinsky’s personal website, exodussail.com. The official race website also publishes daily reports, updates and satellite calls with competitors. Pinsky himself made clear that unlike the videos he posted during his preparations, regular video broadcasts from the boat are not expected this time because the use of Starlink is prohibited under the competition’s rules.
This year, race organizers are also running a pilot program under which eight competitors will be able to appear in short YouTube broadcast windows during the voyage. Pinsky said he chose not to participate in the trial because he wants to experience the race in the spirit of the original event and under the conditions in which it was held in 1968. Pinsky is also running a WhatsApp group for updates from the journey, where information and developments are expected to be posted over the coming months.
Daniel’s boat on the tracking website
(Photo: goldengloberace.com)
Cassette tapes, seawater and an emergency button: 9 months alone in the ocean
The fact that Pinsky is sailing without GPS and without unrestricted contact with the outside world does not mean he is completely cut off in a life-threatening situation. Behind the race’s strict “retro” rules is a modern safety framework: Competitors are tracked by satellite and the boats carry satellite phones, emergency beacons and life rafts. In a genuine emergency, Pinsky can call for help and report his condition to rescue authorities.
But in the middle of the ocean, pressing an emergency button does not mean a helicopter will appear a few minutes later. In a previous interview with ynet, Pinsky explained that in the remote areas where the race will pass, a rescue could take days. In some cases, the nearest vessel will have to change course to reach him.
And what do you eat for nine months? Pinsky loaded all the food needed for the journey onto Exodus before the start. Fresh food is expected to run out quickly, after which his diet will consist mainly of canned and dried food. Fresh water is also a precious resource: It is intended primarily for drinking and later in the journey he will also have to collect rainwater. He will bathe in seawater.
“No stops. No assistance. No GPS.” Daniel Pinsky
(Photo: Courtesy of Daniel Pinsky)
Entertainment will also be limited. A smartphone, tablet or streaming services are not part of the picture. If Pinsky wants to listen to music in the middle of the ocean, he will have to do it the old-fashioned way — with a radio-cassette player and tapes. Before the start, he told ynet that he was looking for old cassette tapes and wanted to take as much Israeli music and as wide a variety as possible, so there would be a little less silence during the hundreds of days alone at sea.
Alongside the tapes, he also planned to take something much more personal: a family photo album that he can open during difficult moments. In a world where almost every modern means of communication remains on shore, it will be one of the few ways for him to feel a little closer to home.
'I have some meeting there, somewhere far away in the middle of the ocean'
(Photo: Courtesy of Daniel Pinsky)
'My mother cried and asked me to give it up'
Pinsky’s journey to the starting line began long before the current voyage. At 14, he left home and enrolled at the Kinneret Maritime Officers School in Acre. At 23, he bought a small sailboat and what was initially planned as a year of sailing gradually became a way of life. Over the years, he crossed oceans, sailed among remote islands and accumulated tens of thousands of miles of experience at sea.
In an interview with ynet before setting out on the journey, Pinsky said even those closest to him struggled to accept his decision. “My mother took it very hard because, in the end, it really is dangerous and can be life-threatening,” he said. “She cried to me on the phone quite a few times and asked me to give it up, but this is my life and I have a very strong passion, so I don’t plan to give up.”
'Just me, the boat, maps, a sextant, wind and a whole lot of sea'
(Photo: Courtesy of Daniel Pinsky)
Pinsky himself did not try to portray the decision as a rational one. “You can’t really explain it because it simply isn’t logical to do something like this,” he said at the time. “First of all, you need a very strong passion for the sea. Beyond the incredible sailing challenge, it’s a kind of internal journey of self-exploration — to see where this thing takes me. But yes, I have some meeting there, somewhere far away in the middle of the ocean, that I have to get to.”
One of the biggest challenges will also be sleep. Pinsky said that when he is near shore, he typically sets an alarm every 20 minutes to check what is happening around him, and even in the open ocean he cannot afford to sleep through an entire night. One of the sections that concerns him most is the Southern Ocean, where competitors are expected to face violent weather, strong winds and high waves — alone, aboard boats less than 11 meters long.
Now, after months of preparation, Pinsky and Exodus are already at sea. Thousands of miles, months of solitude and almost an entire circumnavigation of the globe lie ahead — until he attempts to return to exactly where he set out.