27th June Race and Adventure News Round-Up

JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race 2008

Gearing Up for the Race

Two of the British Open 60 Vendée Globe contenders are both ready willing and able for this weekends JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

Dee Caffari sends in her latest news….This week the Aviva Ocean Racing team have been gearing up for one of the largest mass participation events in the UK, after the Flora London Marathon and the Great North Run. The JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island race takes place this Saturday and Dee and Aviva will compete alongside 1,872 other boats.

Dee will be racing against four other British entries in the Open 60 class and this will be the very first time Dee will line up against this particular group comprising Artemis Ocean Racing, Ecover 3, Pindar and Hugo Boss. Alex Thomson, skipper of Hugo Boss, has two special guests onboard in the form of Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie and Formula 1 superstar Lewis Hamilton. The Aviva Ocean Racing team are hopeful that they can metaphorically ‘burn some rubber’ on the 50 mile dash around the island.

Joining Dee onboard Aviva will be renowned Olympic coach Mark Rushall, who will be working on tactics, and experienced weather router Mike Broughton, who will take on navigation.

Dee commented:

"The Round the Island is such an historic race and this year Aviva and I are proud to join the other 1,800 boats taking part. It will be great to see so many people out on the water.  We’re hoping to have a competitive race with the other Open 60’s, after all it’s not very often I’ll be able to say Aviva and I have raced against Lewis Hamilton!"

In preparation for a busy summer season, Joff and his team have been hard at work on Aviva since Dee returned from Boston:

"The boat arrived last week in good shape, difficult to tell she had done 7000 miles since leaving Plymouth at the start of the Transat. This is a relief as between now and the start of the Vendée our schedule is chocker, with little time to sort out problems we haven't foreseen."

Also racing Alex Thompson-Hugo Boss sends in his latest update… Lewis Hamilton joins Alex in the Round the Island Race

Although Lewis has no sailing experience he will be in safe hands with two of Britain's top sailors showing him the ropes; not only will Alex Thomson be at the helm but Ben Ainslie triple Olympic medallist who is going for his third consecutive Olympic gold medal this summer in China will also be in the driving seat.

"What a boat to go out in for my first ever sailing race; the world's fastest 60ft monohull, HUGO BOSS, and racing with Ben Ainslie and Alex Thomson. I am interested to see all the technology that goes behind this boat and the similarities between racing on the water and racing on a track. I'm looking forward to the start, no fixed start position, just all those boats fighting it out for the best space on the start line" said Lewis.

Alex is also looking forward to Lewis sailing on HUGO BOSS. "I met Lewis the first time a few years ago when he was driving in the Formula 3 Championship. He is one of the most talented sportsmen on the planet, and I am really looking forward to showing him the ropes on HUGO BOSS, the F1 version of sailing. It will be interesting to hear how Formula 1 racing compares to a professional sailing campaign."