Toronto woman to sail around the world in a months-long boating race for the second time

Melodie Schaffer, 56, is about to embark on her second Globe40 race, a months-long expedition that will sail across the world. (Courtesy of Melodie Schaffer)

For the second time, Melodie Schaffer is going to compete in a months-long, 30,000-mile race that sails across the world.

“It’s just an incredible feeling when you’re out there,” the 56-year-old Torontonian tells CTV News Toronto. “There’s a lot of tough moments, but there are so many small, magic moments that really just carries you along to the difficult ones.”

The biomedical engineer-turned-offshore sailor says she grew up with sailing—even racing in her teenage years—but got serious with the sport in 2018 with her first race. In those years, Schaffer has sailed 80,000 nautical miles, participating in races in the Caribbean and the Normandy Channel.

Schaffer says she loves sailing because of its challenges.

“It’s a little bit like a chess game, the tactics that you’re using, and there’s a very physical aspect to it. So, it’s both sort of the fitness of it and the mental challenge,” Schaffer said.

The mother of three is now getting ready to embark on her next race. Next Saturday, after months of 14-hour days, preparing her boat, “Whiskey Jack,” Schaffer will set sail from the Toronto harbour to make her way to Europe and compete in the Globe40 race.

What is the Globe40 race?

The offshore sailing race kicks off on Aug. 31 in Lorient, a coastal town in France, and has six different stages, starting with a dash across the Atlantic Ocean around Africa before continuing east toward Australia, Chile and Brazil. The race is expected to end in April 2026 back in France.

“Each leg is its own counting leg, and the different legs are weighted because some of the legs are short and easy, and some are really challenging,” Schaffer said, explaining how the race is ranked, pointing to Good Hope and Cape Horn as examples.

It is a double-handed race, meaning Schaffer will have one other skipper joining her onboard the Whiskey Jack. Over the course of this race, Schaffer will have three partners.

“There’s more boats this time, I think there’s 15 boats in this race, and we’ll see. I’m excited for it, but it is tough when you’re out there,” Schaffer said.

How the last race went for the Torontonian

Schaffer previously competed in the Global40 race back in 2022-2023, which spanned nine months.

“There were eight legs in the last race, so we did have stopovers, but when you’re on shore, you’re so busy doing repairs and preparations for the next leg,” Schaffer said. “Literally, the entire nine-month race, you’re working full-on every day as you’re doing it.”

While there are other competitors in the race, Schaffer says the ocean is the real challenge, having to manage the waves and wind.

It took Schaffer 174 days to race the ocean last time, and as soon as she finished, she thought: “I’m coming back to do this again.”

What it’s like being all at sea

Sailors are on their own, away from land and easy access to health care, Schaffer says, eating simple meals, often sleep deprived, and are responsible for predicting what weather is on the horizon.

“Some of my legs are out there for 35 days and that’s really tough,” Schaffer said. “You are sleep deprived, you’re eating really simple meals and you’re working with someone very closely at times, but a lot of the time, you’re on your own.”

Outside of the inevitable challenges, Schaffer is excited to embark on this adventure, adding she feels lucky to have the opportunity to set sail on this race.

“It’s quite inspiring, when you look out, you can only see about seven miles in the horizon, in the distance, and so that’s sort of your vision, what you see every day,” Schaffer said.

“The ocean goes on, and on, and on, and you can feel really small, but the other side is (…) I’m out here and I’m doing it, and that’s really quite a powerful feeling, to be that small on the ocean and yet, you’re able to do it.”