Northumbrian Sailor Completes Solo Round-the-World Voyage in Self-Built 19ft Yacht

Arms raised in triumph, Adam Waugh crossed the finish line in Antigua on March 10, 2026, completing 28,000 nautical miles of solo ocean sailing in Little Wren, a 19ft Class Globe 5.80 yacht he built entirely by hand in a garden shed in Angerton, Northumberland. The 61-year-old is believed to be the first known Northumbrian to sail solo around the world in a self-built yacht under 20ft.

Waugh had limited sailing experience when he signed up for the inaugural Mini Globe Race, and zero boatbuilding experience when he started cutting timber in early 2022. He spent two years constructing Little Wren by hand, launching her at Amble Marina in March 2024 for sea trials. He named the boat after a wren that had nested in his shed during the build.

The campaign nearly ended before the race began. After Little Wren was transported to Portugal in December 2024 and Waugh completed his first offshore passage to Lanzarote, he set off on the mandatory 3,000-nautical-mile solo qualifying crossing to Antigua. In rough seas he fell and broke several ribs, and his spinnaker pole went overboard. He completed the crossing anyway.

In February 2025 he lined up at the Mini Globe Race start alongside 14 other competitors, all sailing identical Class Globe 5.80 hulls. The route took him through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific, with stops in the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, Tonga and Fiji. From there he crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the southern tip of Africa, and tracked north through the Atlantic via Saint Helena and Recife in Brazil before the final leg back to Antigua.

Over 250 days at sea, Waugh slept only a few hours at a time. He told BBC Radio Newcastle that the hardest part was psychological: "The biggest challenge was mental rather than physical. It's a very small boat and the seas were quite big, so quite often you couldn't be outside, you had to be sitting inside the cabin for safety reasons." He also described watching whales, great white sharks, turtles and sea crocodiles, and said sunrises and sunsets on open water were among the voyage's defining pleasures.

"I thought it would take a while for it to sink in, but within minutes of crossing the finish line there was a weight lifted off my shoulders and a... feeling of real elation," he said.

Throughout the voyage Waugh raised more than £60,000 for the Ella Dawson Foundation, a UK charity supporting young adults aged 18 to 30 living with and beyond cancer, along with their families and carers. His target is £100,000. "I am proud to be an ambassador for the Ella Dawson Foundation, and knowing that the funds raised and awareness generated will help young people with cancer makes every challenge worthwhile," he said. "I hope my journey shows that, no matter your age, you can achieve things you never thought possible if you put your heart and determination into it."

Little Wren, painted white, red, blue and yellow and covered in flags and sponsorship logos, is a long way from that garden shed in Angerton. She has now sailed every ocean on the planet, built by the same pair of hands that guided her home.