A Class40 being re-purposed and rebuilt for a solo, nonstop circumnavigation — the boat, the refit, and the sailing program that leads up to it.
Sailing solo around the world non-stop is, of course, a serious undertaking. Choosing the right boat — and then preparing it, and the skipper, for the challenge — matters enormously. Rufus has the raw skill, the tenacity, drive, and long-held ambition, along with the unwavering support of his wife, Cris. Over the year or so before he sets off, we plan more than 30,000 training miles, some 10,000 of them solo — the goal being that he knows his machine intimately by the time he needs to.
The project had a clear set of objectives from the start: choose the right boat; build in the structural and safety standard the voyage demands; increase skipper protection in the cockpit; make the boat easy to sail short-handed; ensure reliability across every system; upgrade hardware to suit the challenge; and build in redundancy, with spares and back-up systems throughout.
The decision was made to purchase an existing Class40 and re-purpose her for Rufus. Class40s are fast boats even sailed conservatively, with a proven record of structural reliability on demanding offshore passages. Capable of surfing past 25 knots, they hold a consistent average ocean-crossing speed of 8.5 knots — and with more than 100% buoyancy, they're effectively unsinkable.
A 2013 Akilaria RC3 Class40 was chosen as the platform: fiberglass/foam sandwich construction, exceptionally well built from the outset.
Guerrera was purchased in February, and a five-month refit followed — the sailing program begins in early August.
The yard of choice was V1D2, near Caen in Normandy, France — a team with dozens of Class40 and IMOCA60 refits and builds behind them for major offshore campaigns.
Marc Lombard Design, the boat's original designers, were brought back to design the structural changes: a significantly larger cockpit roof for much-improved skipper protection, new watertight bulkheads to meet offshore safety regulations, and — working with mast maker Axxon Composites — a modified masthead to carry a fixed backstay. Trading the running backstays for a fixed one costs a little mainsail area, but it simplifies tacks and gybes and adds rig security; with swept-back spreaders, a fixed forestay, and a fixed backstay, the rig is inherently secure.
The water ballast system was replaced with a simpler, more logical layout. Primary winches were upgraded in size, mast and traveller tracks moved up a size, deck hardware relocated and renewed, and high-load fittings reinforced. Every spar was ultrasound-tested to rule out hidden flaws in the carbon. The steering system was overhauled, with worn parts replaced throughout, and the keel was professionally inspected and reinstalled — fitted with a Whaleshield, which emits a sonic signal to steer whales clear of the boat without harming them, effectively a collision-avoidance system.
Teem Electronics, out of Brittany, France — among the world's leading electronics outfits for long-distance crewed and solo boats — rewired the boat from scratch: new electronics, two new autopilot systems, two lithium battery banks, solar panels across the new roof, and a hydro-generator on the transom, plus a spare. The goal is reliability, redundancy, and energy independence — though the 30hp engine has been fully serviced too, with a larger alternator added as a charging back-up. Three wind sensors at the masthead can be swapped out from below deck, cutting down how often Rufus needs to go aloft; a fourth will be added on a tack-able pole at deck level for the circumnavigation itself.
Starlink is installed, with Iridium as a comms back-up. A heater is fitted for the Southern Ocean, a water maker aboard with a spare, new manual and electric bilge pumps, and — for obvious reasons — a marine toilet.
Below deck, a rally car seat has been installed at the nav station, where long hours are spent — comfort matters. Custom mattresses were made, and new stacking netting installed; the weight of spares, food, and gear is stowed to the weather side to help keep the boat flatter, and everything is secured against a knockdown.
For visibility at sea — for collision avoidance, and for discovery in the event of a rescue — the keel, rudders, two square metres of the underhull, five square metres of the foredeck, the top section of the mainsail, and the top few metres of the mast are all painted bright yellow. The antifoul has been fully renewed, the deck repainted with new non-skid, and the entire interior repainted with non-skid on the sole.
Cris and Rufus chose a striking graphic for the topsides, applied as vinyl by Decosail of Brittany, France.
A new suit of sails is coming aboard from North Sails, in a spectra-based material chosen for strength and longevity: a slab-reefed mainsail with four reefs, three interchangeable furling headsails (a fixed J1, plus a J2 and J3 on a stay-lock), a fractional Code 0 for light air, and a fractional Code 5 for reaching — both set on the bowsprit. A further set of sails is planned ahead of the circumnavigation itself.
Guerrera, a re-purposed Class40, is very nearly ready for the 2026–27 sailing program — a striking reflection of the ambition, drive, and taste of Cris and Rufus. Let's go.
Josh has spent four decades at the top level of short-handed ocean sailing — as a competitor in the OSTAR, the BOC Challenge, and the Vendée Globe (9th place, 2000–01), and for the past twenty years as project manager and technical consultant on some of the sport's best-known solo and short-handed campaigns, including Hugo Boss's Vendée Globe and Barcelona World Race programmes. He has managed the build, refit, and training of more than a dozen Class40s — experience going directly into Guerrera's preparation. More on Josh's career →
A proposed year of training passages ahead of the circumnavigation — commissioning in the Solent, working south and west, three solo legs along the way.
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