An Abbotsford man will soon embark on a journey around the world, but it’s going to take a lot longer than 80 days, as he navigates the Earth’s waters without the help of GPS.
Few people have even attempted to do what Isa Rosli will start this September, with fewer than 20 people having qualified for the 2026 Golden Globe Race.
The gruelling challenge takes place every four years and includes sailors from around the world, but Rosli is the only Canadian on the roster this year.
Although he is not the first Canadian to ever compete in the Golden Globe Race, if Rosli successfully finishes the race, he’ll be the first Canadian to do so.
Completing the race is easier said than done, with fewer than one-third of the participants each year able to cross the finish line.
One of the things that makes the race so difficult is the fact that the sailors have to cover 30,000 miles of open waters by themselves and without the assistance of any modern navigation tools.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Isa Rosli | Golden Globe Race 2026 • Provisional Skipper (@iss_van_sailing)
Starting on the west coast of France, the competitors will have up to nine months to sail south and around the bottom of Africa, across to Tasmania, and continue on around the southernmost tip of South America, before heading north up the east coast of South America and back towards France.
Throughout the entire time, the racers will not have access to any technology that wasn’t available in 1968, when Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to do a solo nonstop sailing voyage around the world.
Not only does this mean not using any GPS navigation, but it also extends to cellphones, digital cameras, handheld calculators, electric clocks, and even CD players.
Instead, they are forced to rely on things like sextants and wind vanes for navigation, and have to substitute their media devices for film cameras, cassette tapes and typewriters.
While to many this might seem like a miserable and gruelling experience, it has been Rosli’s dream to compete in the Golden Globe Race ever since the inaugural competition was held in 2018.
“I remember seeing the GGR 2018 race in progress and made a wish to enter GGR 2022, but was financially and mentally not ready,” said Rosli. “Now I’m ready to compete in GGR 2026.”
When he was a little kid in Malaysia, Rosli was intrigued by sailing, but the costs associated with it proved to be too much, so he waited until he was an adult and moved to Canada to join a race team.
With Rosli not dipping his toe into the world of sailing until he was 27, he had a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time if he was ever going to compete in major events.
“In my first year, it was a lot of hard times trying to learn all this new sailing terminology, but I managed to finally get the hang of it,” said Rosli.
It wasn’t long before he worked up to competing in multi-day events and set his sights on the Golden Globe Race.
“I also wanted to go sailing around the world, but never thought about going in a race format, so when I heard about the 2018 race, I thought it was interesting,” he said.
In order to participate in such a daunting race, Rosli needed to undergo a long series of preparations, including getting an admissible type of sailboat.
Not only did he find one, but he managed to grab a boat that has already been involved in Golden Globe Race history.
Rosli’s boat, named Olleanna, was involved in both the 2018 and 2022 races and was even taken across the finish line in the latter race by Jeremy Bagshaw, who sold the boat to Rosli for the 2026 competition.
“A lot of things have been kept the same, because I like the way he (Bagshaw) set things up,” said Rosli.
While the boat definitely needed a bit of work, it was largely race-ready, which Rosli said helped to drastically reduce the time and money needed to get ready for the journey.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Isa Rosli | Golden Globe Race 2026 • Provisional Skipper (@iss_van_sailing)
Another major step in preparing for the race was gathering the proper food supplies to last him weeks or even months out at sea without any resupplies.
“I’ll have a combination between canned food, dehydrated food, and bulk food like a big bag of rice and dried pasta,” said Rosli.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Isa Rosli | Golden Globe Race 2026 • Provisional Skipper (@iss_van_sailing)
Even with Rosli having spent more than a year actively preparing for the Golden Globe Race, he still has some concerns about the journey, including the major storms that often occur in the south of the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
But the 51-year-old is determined to enter the race with a positive mindset and make the most out of this unique opportunity.
“I know myself and I tend to be smelling all the flowers along the way, even though some of them don’t smell very good, but I’ll still smell them anyway,” said Rosli.
“I’ll be immersing myself throughout the whole experience.”
Ahead of the actual start of the race on Sept. 6, Rosli has already spent a lot of time out at sea with his vessel, including a 4,000-mile qualifying run, which he is currently undergoing.
With less than two months to go, Rosli will be focused on any final preparations as he gets ready to represent Canada on the sailing world stage.
In order to ensure he can navigate any challenges that may come his way, he has set up a fundraiser, which can be found at gofundme.com.