Editing Circumnavigation (section)

===Wind powered===
[[File:CircumnavigationByTrades.png|thumb|300px|right|The route of a typical modern sailing circumnavigation, via the [[Suez Canal]] and the [[Panama Canal]] is shown in red; its antipodes are shown in yellow.]]

The map on the right shows, in red, a typical, non-competitive, route for a [[sailing]] circumnavigation of the world by the [[trade wind]]s and the [[Suez Canal|Suez]] and [[Panama Canal|Panama]] canals; overlaid in yellow are the points antipodal to all points on the route. It can be seen that the route roughly approximates a [[great circle]], and passes through two pairs of antipodal points. This is a route followed by many [[Cruising (maritime)|cruising]] sailors, going in the western direction; the use of the trade winds makes it a relatively easy sail, although it passes through a number of zones of calms or light winds.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Circumnavigations |url=http://www.solarnavigator.net/circumnavigation.htm|access-date=2021-01-28|website=www.solarnavigator.net}}</ref>

[[File:CircumnavigationByCapes.png|thumb|300px|right|The route of a typical yacht racing circumnavigation is shown in red; its antipodes are shown in yellow.]]

In [[yacht racing]], a round-the-world route approximating a great circle would be quite impractical, particularly in a non-stop race where use of the Panama and Suez Canals would be impossible. Yacht racing therefore defines a world circumnavigation to be a passage of at least 21,600&nbsp;nautical miles (40,000&nbsp;km) in length which crosses the [[equator]], crosses every [[meridian (geography)|meridian]] and finishes in the same port as it starts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sailspeedrecords.com/the-courses-offshore.html |title=ISAF/World Sailing Speed Record Rules for individually attempted Passage Records or Performances Offshore, sec. 26.1.a, Record Courses |publisher=Sailspeedrecords.com |access-date=2 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717063258/http://sailspeedrecords.com/the-courses-offshore.html |archive-date=17 July 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The second map on the right shows the route of the [[Vendée Globe]] round-the-world race in red; overlaid in yellow are the points antipodal to all points on the route. It can be seen that the route does not pass through any pairs of antipodal points. Since the winds in the higher southern latitudes predominantly blow west-to-east it can be seen that there are an easier route (west-to-east) and a harder route (east-to-west) when circumnavigating by sail; this difficulty is magnified for [[square-rig]] vessels due to the square rig's dramatic lack of upwind ability when compared to a more modern [[Bermuda rig]].<ref name=":0" />

For [[around the world sailing record]]s, there is a rule saying that the length must be at least 21,600&nbsp;nautical miles calculated along the shortest possible track from the starting port and back that does not cross land and does not go below 63°S. It is allowed to have one single waypoint to lengthen the calculated track. The equator must be crossed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/the-courses-offshore.html |title=ISAF/World Sailing Speed Record Rules for individually attempted Passage Records or Performances Offshore |publisher=Sailspeedrecords.com |access-date=2 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717063258/http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/the-courses-offshore.html |archive-date=17 July 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

The solo wind powered circumnavigation record of 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds was established by [[François Gabart]] on the maxi-multihull sailing yacht MACIF and completed on 7 December 2017.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2017-12-17|title=François Gabart: French sailor slashes around the world solo record|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42383438|access-date=2021-02-13}}</ref> The voyage followed the North Atlantic Ocean, Equator, South Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Equator, North Atlantic Ocean route in an easterly direction.