2nd April 2002

AROUND ALONE OFFICIAL ENTRY LIST RELEASED

All the news on the Around Alone 2002/3 fleet is summarised below, however, for full stories, go to http://www.aroundalone.com, which has gone live today with a new French version.

The Australasian port will be announced on Friday 5th April, 2002

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1. AROUND ALONE FLEET WILL MAKE THIS A CLASSIC OCEAN RACE

2. STOP PRESS: TWO NEW LAST MINUTE ENTRIES

3. CLOSE UP ON THE COMPETITION

The low down on the top form in Classes I & II

4. HISTORY IN THE RE-MAKING

A third of the fleet has come back to Around Alone, aiming for victory second time around. Also, news of ex-shore crew turned skippers, plus the boats which have changed hands.

5. HAND IN GLOVE WITH INNOVATION

News of the four boats recently built for and to be tested on the Around Alone racecourse

6. ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Several skippers are aiming to raise awareness and funds for significant educational and charitable causes through the vehicle of their own boat campaigns

7. FACTS & FIGURES

8. ENTRIES LISTED BY CLASS

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1. AROUND ALONE FLEET WILL MAKE THIS A CLASSIC OCEAN RACE

Race organisers Clipper Ventures release today the official entry list for the 6th edition of Around Alone, the longest race for any individual in any sport. With the 31st March deadline for entries just passed, the line-up now boasts an impressive 19 skippers from 11 countries, with 8 in Class I, 10 in Class II, and 1 Venturer Class entry. Although there are 166 days still to go, these skippers are firmly in the starting blocks for the gun on 15th September 2002. Late entries are considered until August 1st, and Clipper Ventures are aware of several campaigns, pending on sponsorship, which intend to register.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, race chairman and first person to win a solo, round the world yacht race, commented on the entry list for the 20th anniversary edition of Around Alone: “Clipper Ventures is organising this historic event for the first time, and I am excited at the number and quality of skippers who will make this Around Alone a classic ocean race.”


2. STOP PRESS: TWO NEW LAST MINUTE ENTRIES

The deadline alert brought in another two entries last week. Australian campaign, Global Quest Yachting, headed up by renowned ex-BOC Challenge skipper Kanga Birtles, has just appointed Spanish lawyer-cum-skipper Unai Basurko De Miguel as their entry into Class I. Secondly, professional short-handed yachtsman, 35 year old Australian Adam Lambert, has signed up in Class II. (See online profile for more details on their entries.)


3. CLOSE UP ON THE COMPETITION
Around Alone 2002/3 is certain to witness some closely fought battles for the podium in Classes I & II. European might underpins Class I in the shape of veterans Marc Thiercelin & Thierry Dubois (FRA, Class I), with a twist of Swiss competition from Bernard Stamm (SWI, Class I) in his transatlantic record-holding yacht ‘Bobst Group-Armor Lux’. However, Italy is defending her victorious colours under Simone Bianchetti (ITA, Class I), the first Italian skipper to finish a non-stop, solo round the world yacht race. He is racing to win on the fast Lombard-designed Open 60 previously helmed by Catherine Chabaud, now ‘Tiscali Global Challenge’. Challenging this European dominance are the all-American Open 60 ‘Ocean Planet’, skippered by Bruce Schwab (USA, Class I), and two major boat campaigns from down under: Unai Basurko with Global Quest Yachting and Graham Dalton (NZ, Class I) with HSBC, the latter at the helm of his powerful, new Open 60 ‘Hexagon’.

Class II has a strong North American contingent, with 6 out of the 10 skippers from the USA and Canada, all thirsting for victory on competitive Open 50’s and 40’s. Ex-Around Alone giant Brad Van Liew (USA, Class II) will be leading his fellow countrymen against formidable Eastern opposition from Viktor Yazykov (RUS, Class II) and Kojiro Shiraishi (JAP, Class II). Also, three yachts to watch, which were built for this kind of event in the last 4 years, but on their first attempt at Around Alone, are Bob Adam’s Open 40 ‘Perseverance’ (USA, Class II), a sister-ship to 1998 entrant ‘Wind of Change’, Tim Kent’s (USA, Class II) state-of-the-art Open 50 ‘Everest Horizontal’, and Open 50 ‘Great Circle’, now under John Dennis (CAN, Class II).

4. HISTORY IN THE RE-MAKING

A third of the fleet are making a comeback in Around Alone, and include some heavyweight names such as Marc Thiercelin, Brad Van Liew and Viktor Yazykov. Although this prestigious event was the springboard for them to international renown the first time round, victory still escaped their grasp…

Two skippers, Gildas Iauch (FRA, Class I) & Kojiro Shiraishi, were both shore crew for winning BOC Challenge skippers, Philippe Jeantot and Yukoh Tada respectively. On the 20th anniversary, both are finally realising their life’s ambition to end up on the start line in their own boats.

The names have changed but the boats remain the same, as two of the top Open 50’s will be going head to head again, but under a different guise. Brad Van Liew is now campaigning for Class II victory in ‘Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America’, none other than the ex-‘Magellan Alpha’ helmed by Mike Garside, against whom he waged but lost a relentless battle for 2nd place on his own Open 50 ‘Balance Bar’ in the 1998/9 Around Alone. In turn, Van Liew’s is up against his own ex-50 footer, now in the hands of Duncan Gladman (CAN, Class II) as ‘Canada Challenge’.

5. HAND IN GLOVE WITH INNOVATION

Around Alone provides a unique and effective testing ground for innovation in yachting design & technology. Most eyes will be on the performance of the newest Open 60 on the circuit, Graham Dalton’s ‘Hexagon’, sponsored by HSBC, which has been described by the Owen Clarke Design Group as “Kingfisher with the gloves off”. Viktor Yazykov, will be launching another Owen Clarke design, an Open 50, for the race as well, and following from Viktor’s success during the last Around Alone in his Open 40 ‘Wind of Change’, two more have been launched this year. Alan Paris (Bermuda, Class II) is already doing sea-trials on ‘BTC Velocity’, the product of boat-winning Jutson Yacht Design, which boasts a unique trim-tab configuration for the keel, and Derek Hatfield (CAN, Class II) is competing in ‘Spirit of Canada’, designed to be an all-round performer, incorporating all the top tried and tested performance features in European design for such a race.

6. ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE
Around Alone embraces the spirit of cooperation and community on a global scale, and so using the race as a platform, several skippers are aiming to raise awareness and funds for significant causes through the vehicle of their own boat campaigns. Of note, Thierry Dubois (FRA, Class I) is again associating with Amnesty International in order to promote human rights for children around the world, and Graham Dalton is the figurehead for HSBC’s Global Educational Challenge.

Remarkably, Gildas Iauch and John Dennis (CAN, Class II) do not know each other, but both are diabetic, respectively type 1 (childhood) and type 2 (adulthood). Both have teamed up with their national diabetic associations and dedicated their projects to educate people, to give hope to sufferers and importantly to encourage supporters to sponsor their miles online, as both campaigns are surviving on public donations.

7. FACTS & FIGURES

6 Number of BOC Challenge / Around Alone editions
20 Around Alone anniversary years
19 Official entries
11 Countries (USA: 5, Canada & France: 3, Australia: 2, Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, Russia, Japan, Bermuda: 1)
2 New countries: Switzerland and Bermuda
8 Class I entries
10 Class II entries
1 Venturer Class entry
4 2001/2 launched boats
4 Veteran boats
7 Veteran skippers
67 Age of oldest competitor, George Stricker
29 Age of youngest competitor, Unai Basurko De Miguel


8. ENTRIES LISTED BY CLASS

CLASS I - OPEN 60

Bernard Stamm
60'
Bobst Group Armor Lux
7
Switzerland

Bruce Schwab
60'
Ocean Planet
5
USA

Gildas Iauch
60'
Dyanamicdiabetic.com
23
France

Graham Dalton
60'
Hexagon
8
New Zealand

Unai Basurko
60'
Global Quest Yachting
Australia

Marc Thiercelin
60'
TBC

France

Simone Bianchetti
60'
Tiscali Global Challenge
100
Italy

Thierry Dubois
60'
Solidaires
50
France

CLASS II - OPEN 50 & 40



Adam Lambert
50'
TBA
Australia

Alan Paris
40'
BTC Velocity
441
Bermuda

Bob Adams
40'
Perserverance
461
USA

Brad Van Liew
50'
Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America
34
USA

Derek Hatfield
40'
Spirit of Canada
84
Canada

Duncan Gladman
50'
Canada Challenge

Canada

John Dennis
50'
Bold Statement
69
Canada

Kojiro Shiraishi
40'
Japan

Tim Kent
50'
Everest Horizontal
512
USA

Viktor Yazykov
50'
TBC
540
Russia

CLASS III - VENTURER

George Stricker
60'
Tin Can
217
US Virgin Islands

For further information, contact:

Mary Ambler
Media & Race Communications Manager
T: +44 (0) 23 80 237 088
F: + (0) 23 80 237 081
M: +44 (0) 7887 643 583
Email: mambler@clipper-ventures.com
Website: http://www.aroundalone.com


Editor's notes:

Around Alone 2002-03 will leave Newport, Rhode Island (USA) on Sunday 15th September 2002. The race takes the fleet from Newport to Torbay (England), Cape Town (South Africa), Australasia and Salvador da Bahia (Brazil) before returning to Newport in April 2003. The official entry list stands at 19 skippers from 11 different countries, with 8 in Class I, 10 in Class II, and 1 in the Venturer Class.

Visit the official race web site: http://www.aroundalone.com