4th November 2008
STEVE WHITE RE-LAUNCHES HIS IMOCA 60 AS
‘TOE IN THE WATER’
British skipper ready to compete in the Vendée Globe 2008
British solo sailor Steve White today re-launched his IMOCA 60 yacht in Les Sables D’Olonne (France), announcing that he will compete under the new name of ‘Toe in the Water’. The tenacious skipper secured sufficient funds from a consortium of private backers at the eleventh hour to enable him to compete in the pinnacle ocean racing event. The funding has come from a group of like-minded supporters who together will provide the money privately and whose only request has been that Steve’s boat carries the branding and message of the Toe in the Water project with him around the world.
Steve (35, from Weymouth, Dorset), commented from onboard Toe in the Water: “I have dreamed of participating in the Vendée Globe for many years and have been building towards November 9 for the last four years. We managed to qualify by completing The Artemis Transat in May this year, but have struggled to find sufficient sponsorship. We arrived in Les Sables D’Olonne in October, unsure as to whether we could even keep hold of my family’s home, let alone sail alone around the world. With these new funds, we can finish the necessary preparations, and I am delighted to carry the name and colours of Toe in the Water around the world.”
The private sponsors first encountered Toe in the Water during Cowes Week 2008 and were inspired by the manner in which the servicemen had overcome serious injury. Many of the individual sponsors behind Steve are ex-servicemen or have past/existing links to the armed forces, and therefore wanted to help raise the profile of the project.
The private backers, who will remain anonymous, were equally inspired by Steve, who displayed similar characteristics to those servicemen that they had met through Toe in the Water. The backers therefore saw Steve’s Vendée Globe campaign as an opportunity to achieve two objectives: assisting Steve in achieving his dream and raising awareness for a worthwhile cause. The support is a philanthropic gesture as Steve will not benefit directly from the financing – it will allow him to participate in the Vendée Globe under the colours of Toe in the Water, thereby raising the profile of the worthwhile project.
Toe in the Water, which has not made any financial contribution to Steve’s campaign and will not be involved in the day-to-day management of the project, was honoured and grateful to be offered the opportunity to raise awareness of the competitive sailing initiative for injured servicemen and women in the UK.
Toe in the Water, established only six months ago, is a new project designed to use competitive sailing as an extension of the rehabilitation work carried out at UK’s Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) at Headley Court for as long as there are injured servicemen and women in need of support.
Holly King, the founder of Toe in the Water, concluded, “When we were approached by Steve’s backers and asked if they could use Steve’s campaign to raise awareness of our project, we were both surprised and delighted. We are honoured that Steve’s boat will be called Toe in the Water and will carry our colours on his sails and hull. We are committed to inspiring servicemen and women through competitive sailing, and hope that Steve’s story will inspire many more people all over the planet. We wish him the best of luck in this extraordinary endeavour.”
Toe in the Water has received huge support from many of the British IMOCA teams and skippers over the last six months, most notably Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) who invited two injured servicemen to join his crew during Cowes Week. Steve and his family also have links to the armed forces via their families and through their home in Weymouth, an important Military centre in the UK. Steve and his family are delighted to be involved with Toe in the Water, a campaign they have also followed closely since its launch in 2008.
For more information on Steve White, please visit www.whiteoceanracing.com
For more information on Toe in the Water, please visit www.toeinthewater.org
For more information on the Vendee Globe, please visit www.vendeeglobe.org
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For more information on Toe in the Water or the private sponsorship please contact:
Sarah Hames
M: + 44 7813 009 783
E: sarah@sarahhames.co.uk
Toe in the Water
Toe in the Water was set up to use competitive sailing as an extension of the rehabilitation work carried out at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Headley Court for as long as there are injured servicemen and women in need of support.
It stated aims are:
a. To re-inspire injured servicemen and assist them in being able to see beyond their injuries.
b. To challenge injured servicemen and women both physically and mentally; taking them beyond their own and others expectations.
c. To provide a vehicle that can assist injured servicemen in finding a meaningful working and living environment following profound injury.
www.toeinthewater.org
Steve White
Steve White is a 35 year old sailor from Dorchester (Dorset), who now lives in Weymouth. For ten years, Steve has had the burning desire and the strong ambition to take part in the Vendée Globe. Unlike the majority of IMOCA 60-foot skippers, Steve has had little support from sponsors over the last few years, so has been constantly struggling to reach his goal. He has remortgaged his house four times and taken out a crippling seven-year bank loan to buy his boat, previously called Spirit of Weymouth (previously known as Gartmore and Pindar), and now called Toe in the Water. He has built up some huge personal debts to finance this campaign.
www.whiteoceanracing.com
The Vendée Globe
The Vendée Globe is the most punishing round-the-world sailing race ever devised. Described as the "marathon of the seas", the gruelling 24,000-mile solo journey has proved too much for even the toughest sailors.
Only half of entrants are expected to finish. The contest has claimed the lives of two sailors, while others have had to be rescued by their competitors. The journey, which sees each skipper heading west across the Atlantic, then down through the iceberg-strewn Southern Ocean and round Cape Horn, is unrelenting, with each skipper having to sleep in snatches of 20 minutes.
No British skipper has even won the Vendée, and only two have come close. Dame Ellen MacArthur became a national heroine in 2001 after finishing in second place, just 24 hours behind the Frenchman Michel Desjoyeaux, a feat which made her the fastest woman sailor to circumnavigate the globe.
But this year the competition has attracted more British entrants than ever and there is hope that this could be the year that Britain claims the trophy ahead of the French, who have always dominated the race.
www.vendeeglobe.com
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