Transat Jaques Vabre 2007 von Le Havre nach Bahia - Start November 2007 www.jacques-vabre.com - Übersicht 16th October 2007 Brian Thompson and Will Oxley complete TJV qualifier aboard Pindar Brian Thompson and Will Oxley, co-skippers of new state-of-the-art Open 60 Pindar last night completed their 1000 mile qualifying sail for the Transat Jacques Vabre race. The team is now making last minute preparations before delivering the boat to Le Havre, for the start of the double-handed transatlantic yacht race, which begins on Saturday 3rd November. Foto: www.pindar.com/teampindar Thompson, who was recently appointed full time skipper, and Oxley, his co-skipper for the transatlantic race, will be competing aboard Pindar, owned by leading British print and electronic media company Pindar ; prolific supporters of British sailing. The team, which was announced last month, began its qualifying sail from Gosport, the Team Pindar base, early on Thursday morning. The duo sailed southwest to round Ushant island, on the northwest tip of France and then continued south to the Spanish coast, before returning to the Solent via Ushant. Brian Thompson, 45, from Cowes, Isle of Wight commented: "Will and I had a great qualifying sail, we're really pleased with how Pindar performed and are confident that we are well prepared for the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre. Although we started our qualifying sail in fickle winds early on Thursday, the wind filled in as we made our way across the Bay of Biscay, and we experienced a great downwind ride back down the English Channel to home. I'm very excited about the TJV and can't wait to line up against the excellent fleet competing in this year's race. There's certainly going to be a battle on and we've got a great British turn out - five boats within an 18 boat fleet." Andrew Pindar, Chairman of the Pindar Group commented: "Brian and Will are two very experienced skippers, who together have many impressive achievements on their CVs. We look forward to waving them off at the start in Le Havre next month en route to Brazil, and in the meantime wish them the best of luck with their last minute preparations aboard our new racing yacht, Pindar." The 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre is Open 60 Pindar's debut offshore race. Team Pindar also has a second entry in the race, Pindar 40, skippered by Jo Royle and Alexia Barrier, the only all-female entry in the Class 40 fleet. The race starts on the 3rd November from Le Havre, France, and finishes in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, approximately two weeks later. For more information, please see Pindar's sports marketing website: www.pindar.com/teampindar - END - Quote from Brian Thompson: "We had great weather for the training with the wind slowly building through the sail, so I could get settled in on my third ever sail on the boat, and Will's second. We put up all of our sails, some of them for the first time for us and worked on getting the best combination. I learnt a great deal about the use of the systems onboard; managing energy consumption, sail handling and living on board. We saw a lot of wildlife and on Sunday evening had dolphins all around us for about three hours. The Pindar shore team met us at midnight to help us back to port. Today they are emptying the boat and working on the joblist in preparation for our passage to Le Havre on Wednesday or Thursday next week. "The whole trip took four and a half days, not bad considering all the light weather we encountered. The real test is going to start with the TJV prologue race on the 27 October, our first chance to match up against the rest of the IMOCA fleet." For all press enquiries regarding Pindar, including interview requests and images, please contact: Kate Fairclough - Pitch PR Tel: +44 (0)20 7494 1616 Mob: +44 (0)7789 268814 e-mail : kate@pitchpr.co.uk Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE