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Solo Sailing Festival Success
Mike Golding opened the Solo Racing Festival with an inspirational talk
on the trials and rewards of his long and successful solo racing
career, a timely warning on the down side of leading the Vendee Globe
was heeded by most of those present! Hannah White, Ostar 2009, was
outstanding as Master of Ceremonies for the day and kept the
presentations to time with a smile and big stick.
Delegates enjoyed being part of a gathering of many of the top
names in solo racing from the various classes, all experiencing a very
rare opportunity to meet and socialise in a non-competitive setting.
Those present were privileged to gain an insight into the motivations
and fears of this rare breed and perhaps the most determined in the
audience will aspire to follow in their wakes in the future.
The presentations covered every major solo-racing event in the
calendar in a brisk programme; delegates re-lived the drama and
excitement of Ostar, Mini Transat, Jester, Figaro, Global Ocean Race,
La Route du Rhum and Vendee Globe.
Technical papers were delivered on weather routing by Mike
Broughton of WinningWind.com, Class 40 by Simon Rogers Yacht Design,
and ‘All you will ever need to know about racing an open 60’ by Brian
Thompson. Delegates had travelled from Norway, Sweden, Germany,
Holland, Belgium, Ireland and France to enjoy the excellent facilities
at the Solent University Conference Centre in Southampton. The fourth
edition of the Solo Racing Festival was organised by Solo Offshore
Racing Club.
Race Director Peter Olden took the opportunity to outline the
SORC race programme for 2010, with 14 races designed to test the
established skippers and attract those wishing to try solo racing in
home waters. Racing around the Isle of Wight solo, RIOW, is the first
event on Saturday April 24th and details can be found on line at www.offshoresolo.com
Our thanks must go to all the excellent speakers, many of who travelled
long distances to appear at the festival, to the SORC team for their
hard work and enthusiasm and to our sponsor bluQube for their generous
support.