Fastnet - MacArthur's 'Kingfisher' To Compete In Fastnet As 'Skandia Set Sail'
July 29, 2003

IN DETAIL:

Skandia have announced another step to their Skandia Set Sail programme as sponsors of the Open 60 ex-Kingfisher currently on charter to the Team888 project. The Open 60 will officially be called 'SKANDIA SET SAIL' to compete in the 40th edition of the 608 mile Fastnet race starting from Cowes at 1000 hours on Sunday, 10th August. Skandia already long-term sponsors of the Cowes Week regatta, title sponsor to Sam Davies' Figaro campaign and sponsors to the Olympic Star campaign of Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, decided to add the Fastnet race to their Set Sail campaign: "The Fastnet race is a classic race open to both amateurs and professional sailors," explained André Oszmann, Skandia's Marketing Director. "This is an exciting opportunity for Skandia to extend their support of sailing beyond Skandia Cowes Week and to sponsor a famous boat that will be raced by talented professional and amateur crew from four different countries including the UK, Germany and Australia, all of which are key Skandia markets."

'SKANDIA SET SAIL' will race in the Open 60 class, a new Class in this edition of the race. Up to six Open 60s will race including ECOVER (Mike Golding), SILL (Roland Jourdain) and PRB (winning Open 60 boat in the 2000/01 Vendée Globe raced by Michel Desjoyeaux). The Open 60 boats will be polled up to four times a day during the race (see http://www.imoca.org/fastnet). This will be only the class able to provide regular updated positions...no other class will be polled automatically in this way. If the weather provides good reaching to downwind conditions these Open 60s could contend for line honours...in 1999 Catherine Chabaud racing the Open 60 'Whirlpool' won the IRC class in 2 days 5 hours 22 mins and 59 secs. But the Fastnet race traditionally brings upwind conditions in the first stages of the race which could hamper the Open 60s true speed performance. To break the record for water-ballasted monohulls (currently 2d 5h 8m 51s set by RF Yachting in 1999) would require an average speed of more than 11.48 knots over the 608 mile course from Cowes via the Fastnet rock and back into Plymouth.

SKANDIA SET SAIL CREW:

Nick Moloney (AUS)
A talented and professional sailor who has raced at the top level of the sport for over a decade - Whitbread Round the World, America's Cup and still one of the fastest men around the planet under sail - Nick was one of the 13 crew on board Bruno Peyron's maxi catamaran 'Orange' that set a new Jules Verne record in 2002. Moloney joined Ellen MacArthur's Offshore Challenges Sailing Team to pursue his solo dream to race in the solo non-stop round the world Vendée Globe race in 2004. He won Class 2 of the solo trans-Atlantic Route du Rhum race last year setting a new course record. Nick co-skippered Kingfisher in the EDS Atlantic Challenge in 2001 with Ellen MacArthur. http://www.nickmoloney.com

Mark Denton (UK) co-skipper of project Team888
Currently co-skipper of Team888 race campaign having chartered Kingfisher for the season. Team888 competed in the Daimler Chrysler North Atlantic Challenge and recently finished 5th in the Open 60 Round Britain race. Over the past 8 years of professional sailing some 80,000 ocean miles, Mark has sailed and raced in many different yachts and events around the world. He was skipper of the BP sponsored yacht in the 2000/1 BT Global Challenge finished in 3rd overall. http://www.team888.com

Jonny Malbon (UK) co-skipper of project Team888
Co-skipper of Team888 competing on board in the Daimler Chrysler North Atlantic Challenge and recently finished 5th in the Open 60 Round Britain race. Jonny was previously boat captain to Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher preparing the Open 60 for race competion since the end of 2001 and culminating in the successful 2002 solo Route du Rhum race. Jonny has raced and sailed thousands of ocean miles and was skipper for all of Kingfisher's delivery trips to and from races. Now working with Mark Denton, Team888 are aiming to build a campaign for the next Volvo Ocean Race. http://www.team888.com

Tim Kröger (GER)
Tim has over 25 years of offshore racing experience racing in the German Admiral's Cup team (part of the Sabina and Pinta crews) and was on board Intrum Justitia in the 1993/94 Whitbread Round the World race and again as watch captain on board Swedish Match. Between 1994-1998 he was part of the German Olympic team as crew to Soling helmsman Thomas Jungblut. Tim was one of Steve Fossett's crew on board Playstation in The Race before joining France's America's Cup Le Défi Areva campaign responsible for the masts and working with the design team. He recently raced in the Daimler Chrysler North Atlantic Challenge on board the German maxi UCA as watch captain.

Wayne Norris (SA)
Sailing and racing since 1990, Wayne got his Yachtmaster's ticket in 1992 and ever since has been sailing and racing all over the world including sailing a 32-foot trimaran from New Zealand to Japan - the smallest trimaran to ever do the 6,500 mile trip. Currently skipper of a sailing barge called 'Kitty' and has not slept on land since August 1999! Wayne has survived testicular cancer diagnosed in 1996 but suffered another devastating accident in 1997 when a truck hit the vehicle Wayne was driving crushing both his knees, his left wrist and the left side of his face as well as breaking bones in his arms, legs and ribs. It took six weeks of operations to repair his broken body and eight months in plaster casts. Doctors advised it would take another year before Wayne could walk properly but a month after the casts came off, Wayne took a job on a 75-foot gaff rigged schooner in Capetown. Wayne is representing the Sail 4 Cancer charity, the nominated charity for this year's Skandia Cowes Week. For more information about Sail 4 Cancer, please visit http://www.sail4cancer.org.uk

Robin Marks (UK)
Robin is one of the BBC Sports leading reporters with a genuine interest and passion for sailing. He has raced on board Kingfisher as one of the crew in the 2001 EDS Atlantic Challenge - it was a rough trip but Robin showed true grit! Since then he has actively followed and reported on sailing including the Kingfisher projects and the America's Cup.