Inspired by his father, Karl Smith is preparing to compete in next year’s Global Solo Challenge, a solo round-the-world yacht race that will see him circumnavigate the globe over five months and 25,000 nautical miles.

The non-stop race will be a test of skill and endurance for Smith, a Dublin-born professional sailor and Chartered Accountant who wants to raise €1 million to support Parkinson’s research, care and awareness.

“My goal is to become the first Irish person in history to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world, but this is far more than a sailing race for me”, Smith explains.

“It’s a personal mission for my father, Peter, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2014, and the 10 million other people around the world who live with the condition”.

Early start in sailing An experienced professional sailor who has worked for the past seven years as a yacht captain and engineer, Smith already has over 60,000 ocean miles under his belt.

The Global Solo Challenge will be his biggest nautical challenge to date, however.

“The race carries a lot of risk. It scares the hell out of me, but that’s what makes it worthwhile. Sailing was something dad and I used to do together, and Parkinson’s took it away from him, as well as many other abilities, much too young. He is my inspiration for all of this”.

Smith first fell in love with sailing aged 10, when he took part in a water sports course run by Surfdock in Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock.

“We did a bit of windsurfing and kayaking but it was the sailing I really loved. The next summer, I did my first certified sailing course in Dún Laoghaire, and I did more courses over the next few years with the Irish Sailing Association at Blessington Sailing Club in Wicklow, where dad was a member.

“I learned to sail in a Topper, a single-handed dinghy, and I really loved it. It was my summer sport. I enjoyed maths, even as a kid, and there’s quite a bit of maths in sailing; lots of geometry and angles. “Combined with the natural elements, the wind, waves and tide, it’s challenging but it’s also incredibly rewarding. Anyone who’s sailed will know the pure joy of letting the wind propel your boat along”.

Karl’s Parkinson’s story Growing up, Smith sailed often with his father, an avid outdoor enthusiast, who encouraged his son’s interest in the sport.

“We started out windsurfing together. When I was a kid, we’d go on holiday in the west of Ireland. Dad would windsurf and I’d muck around on his gear when he came in for a break.

“When I got older, he bought me my own gear so we could windsurf together and then we started to race together out of Blessington on a little 18-foot catamaran. “That was a really special time. In the moment, you feel like it’s going to last forever, but unfortunately, dad’s Parkinson’s was already starting to affect him at that stage. We didn’t recognise it yet, but he was slowing down”.

Smith’s father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2014. He is one of an estimated 18,000 people in Ireland living with the condition, described by Parkinson’s Ireland as a progressive neurological and movement disorder.

FUNDRAISING AND NOT-FOR-PROFIT

“I idolised dad growing up. He was strong, he sailed, he wind-surfed, he rode motorbikes, he played football with me when he came home from work. He could fix anything and everything at home – all the cars”, Smith says.

“That’s who he was, and Parkinson’s has taken so much of it away from him. Now, he has to battle every day to do basic tasks. It’s taken his confidence. It has slowed him down physically and cognitively. He struggles to get words out sometimes. He loses his train of thought, and it affects his mood. It’s heartbreaking to watch”.

Professional sailing career Smith started his career in professional sailing in 2018 while working in practice, three years after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in Dublin.

“I enjoyed my training. It gave me a good grounding in the value of hard work. It’s a baptism of fire in self-motivation and organisation. You grow up fast”, he says.

“Walking away from it was tough, but I had an enormous passion for sailing. It was a ‘now or never’ scenario for me, but my training gave me a lot of skills I still use today and a solid foundation for how to approach work”.

At that stage, Smith knew nothing about the world of professional sailing. After completing a professional yacht master course with Irish Offshore Sailing, he began looking for his first job.

“I had no connections – no pathway, so I made my own”, he says, “I started emailing people and, after about three months, one guy finally responded, asking if I could three months, one guy finally responded, asking if I could join the crew on a boat he was delivering from Bangor to Vlissingen in Holland.

“He said, ‘I can’t pay you, but it will give me a chance to meet you, and we can go from there’. The week right after that trip, he rang me again and offered me €1,000 to deliver a boat from Southampton to Malahide.

“After that, doors opened and I got another 10 delivery jobs that summer until we stopped in Palma de Mallorca on one trip to Malta and I got an opportunity to interview to work on a 48-metre sailing yacht.

“I got the job, put my head down and worked hard. Two years later, I got my first job captaining a boat and, since then, I’ve crossed the Atlantic six times, I’ve been in the Caribbean for three seasons and, for the last two years, I’ve been captaining a boat in the Baltic Sea.

“Being a Chartered Accountant has really helped me stand out in this world. I work with high-net worth individuals and manage money and assets related to their yachts, running into millions of euros annually. My qualification gives me an edge in the industry because I have a skill set few other captains have”.

Global fundraising vision For now, Smith is putting his career to one side to concentrate solely on preparing for next year’s Global Solo Challenge which will kick off in October 2027 in the city of Vigo on Spain’s northwestern coast.

“I’ve just picked up the Class 40 boat I’ll be racing; a 40-foot monohull yacht designed for solo offshore racing. This boat has been sailed around the world a few times already, so it’s a proven design”.

Acquiring the boat is a big milestone in Smith’s campaign plan and now his focus is on securing sponsorships to help meet his €1 million fundraising target.

“The campaign process so far has been challenging at times, but it is also incredibly rewarding and inspiring to be working with amazing organisations like Parkinson’s UK and Cure Parkinson’s in Britain”, he says.

“Ultimately, I hope to create a platform to generate donations that will go directly to partner charities all over the world.

“I want this campaign to be truly global, whereby we have local partner charities in different countries along the racecourse, so people can donate locally to them.

“My big focus now is on the corporate sponsorships that will help get me to the start line of the Global Solo Challenge and create the platform to generate this global donation stream for Parkinson’s”.

For more on information, visit: smithoceanprojects.com