Race to the Race

"Sailing a ship around the world by yourself is probably one of the purest and most challenging experiences possible—one of the last adventures of our world." - Michael Guggenberger

"Race to the Race“ is a documentary film that follows Austrian skipper Michael Guggenberger as he prepares for the world's longest sporting event. The Golden Globe Race takes its participants, alone and with no breaks, on their boats once around the entire globe. The race is limited to the technical tools of the 1960s. The contestants have to navigate with sextants, sea charts and binoculars.

To this day, more people have been to the moon than have sailed around the world single-handed. What does it take to face what may be the last adventure of our time?

When Michael started preparing for the race 5 years ago, he was sure it would take a suitable boat, a lot of planning and intensive training. With time, however, he became more and more aware that mental strength is the most important factor, as the race demands permanent confrontation with oneself. Loneliness and sometimes extreme environmental conditions accompany the skippers throughout the race.

The film invites everyone to accompany Michael on his journey and shows that you can live your dream, even if the way to get there is not always easy. We want to show the emotional, technical and mental challenges and question the motivation behind giving everything you have to your dream.

Will Michael's vision of this unique adventure of our time come true?

Michael Guggenberger on YouTube:

Golden Globe Race:

Through our documentary film, we want to take you on an adventure and show you an honest portrait of Michael Guggenberger and his journey to the race.

The film deals with topics that go beyond sailing. In contrast with the 1960s, it becomes palpable how much we depend on modern technology today and how rare being by oneself, completely alone, has become.

Over 200 days without a phone, without internet, even without music—Michael first has to learn to be alone again. Alone with his thoughts, without friends, family and the collective knowledge that is usually just the push of a button away, Michael has to surrender himself to the whims of nature. For him, sailing is like meditation, the thoughts that otherwise haunt his mind all day long become a steady hum as he falls into a trance-like state when he looks out to the sea.

And who doesn't know that feeling?
The sea has always brought up strong emotions: It is the dream of escape, of an alternative life. While it is associated with freedom, eternity and infinity, it also appears untamable, dark and destructive. The film is thus also aimed at all those who feel connected to the sea and the freedom it promises, and who are interested in what it does to a person to surrender oneself completely to nature and its forces.

The special thing about this documentary is that it is very intimate and personal. It’s not a film where we plan individual shooting days and follow a concrete shot list. Quite the opposite: we want to accompany our protagonist the whole month before the start of the race in order to capture the mood authentically.

With your support we can complete our film on which we have been working on for a year. You‘ll help us realise our dream of making our own documentary film.
In return, you will experience a cinematic adventure with us.
In addition, we have prepared unique goodies, and at the halfway point of our funding goal, we want to start a raffle. -> Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram channel for more details!

All money raised through crowdfunding will go directly into the production of the film. So far, most expenses had to be covered by the team.

We need € 9,000 to be able to complete the project. Every additional euro goes into the equipment or post-production of the film.

It would also be really important to us to be able to finance our filming trip to Hobart in Tasmania. Michael will arrive there after more than 130 days alone at sea.

In Storm Bay, we have the unique opportunity to interview him during the race. Michael isn‘t allowed to leave his boat, but we have the opportunity to ride next to him on a small motorboat for 90 minutes.

At this moment, about halfway through his journey, Michael will tell us all about what challenges he has had to face so far and what he is expecting for the rest of the race.