Great Triangle Race
An Autonomous Oceanic Sailing Challenge
An Autonomous Oceanic Sailing Challenge
The Great Triangle Race (GTR) is a new concept for a fully autonomous oceanic sailing competition, designed around one of the most elegant geometric shapes on Earth: a spherical triangle with three right angles.
Unlike conventional ocean races that follow coastal routes or arbitrary waypoints, GTR uses pure spherical geometry to define the race course. Each edge of the triangle is a great circle arc approximately 10,000 km in length, and all three sides run entirely over open ocean, with no land contact along the boundaries.
A spherical triangle with three right angles is a well‑known construct in spherical geometry. On an ideal sphere, you can position such a triangle anywhere by rotating it. However, Earth is not empty ocean—it is covered with continents and islands.
We ran a comprehensive computational search across the globe to find all possible orientations of a right‑angled spherical triangle where:
A spherical triangle with three 90° angles is one of the most symmetric and intriguing shapes in spherical trigonometry. Using it as a race course connects the challenge to fundamental principles of navigation and geodesy.
The course is defined purely by geometry, not by arbitrary choices. Any team, anywhere in the world, can calculate the exact route using the same mathematical formulas.
A 30,000 km loop over open ocean, repeated by multiple autonomous vessels, generates valuable datasets for oceanography, climate science and marine biology—especially if the triangle is positioned in under-observed regions.
For the inaugural Great Triangle Race, we propose one of the 276 candidates with vertices approximately off:
We envision teams from Universities, Research institutes, and private companies specializing in robotics and naval architecture. Vessels must be:
The Great Triangle Race is currently in the concept and partner-finding phase. We are finalizing rules, building an international advisory group, and seeking sponsors to fund the prize pool.
The Great Triangle Race was initiated by Vlatko Ignatoski, an independent software developer from Croatia with a background in automation and a passion for sailing and spherical geometry.