Solo Racing Festival 2010

The fourth annual Solo Racing Festival will take place at the Solent University Conference Centre Saturday 6th March with a packed programme of talks by leading solo skippers.

This unique event brings together sailors from all the disciplines in singlehanded racing, from the cockle shells in Jester and Mini Transat through to the circum-navigators in class 40 and IMOCA 60, all united in their desire to race alone across the oceans. 

Single-handers are nevertheless very sociable and there will be plenty of scope for networking and catching up, starting with coffee at registration, a hot buffet lunch and afternoon tea is included in the ticket.

The Festival has moved to a bigger venue in Southampton to accommodate the growing numbers of International Solo Racing enthusiasts attending this unique event.

The presentations will commence at 11am with a Key Note address, followed by Advanced Weather Routing by Mike Broughton of WinningWind.com. Mike is very well known as a race navigator and for his meteorology work with solo sailors. Mike helped both Dee Caffari and Mike Perham in their record circumnavigations.

Brian Thompson is our headline speakers at the Solo Racing Festival. Brian is an exceptional solo ocean racer, this time last year we were absorbed by his dramatic race to the line against Dee Caffari in the Vendee at Les Sables, they both finished on February 16th having raced neck and neck from Cape Horn.Delegates will enjoy Brian’s  afternoon Master Class on the finer points of racing the open 60's single-handed.

Mini Transat consistently attracts ambitious young Brits and we hear from Oli Bond and Keith Willis on their successful campaigns in the Pogo 2 series class of the 2009 competition.

The Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic race was won by the open 40 La Promesse in 17days 17 hours, skipper Jan Kees Lampe relates the story of his race and his record breaking time.

In case we forget where it all began the Jester Challenge sets out across the Atlantic in May with a very big fleet (90) of small boats, all under 30 feet, to celebrate 50 years since Jesters’ first Ostar with Blondie Hasler in 1960. Skipper John Apps will be sailing his UFO27, Glayva and describes the problems and opportunities of long voyages in small yachts.

La Solitaire, the legendary race for the French pros has attracted another record entry with 72 boats entered this year. Nigel King is our most experienced ‘Figarist’, gaining a very creditable 6th place (+9mins!) on the last leg in 2009 event. Nigel will focus on the training and preparation required to compete in this most demanding form of the soloist’s art.

Class 40 has enjoyed outstanding growth in recent years and demands full attention at the festival, we have Phil Sharp, winner of the Route du Rhum in 2006, we have Simon Rogers, designer of the winning boat in the recent Solidaire du Chocolate and we look ahead to the exciting Global Ocean Race with Michel Kleinjans winner of the first solo edition.

This unique event promises to be the biggest ever gathering of solo sailors in the UK and is not to be missed by anyone with a passion for solo racing.

Doors open at 10.00
First talk  at 11.00
Finish at 18.30

Jerry Freeman, Solo Offshore Racing Club