International professional yachtsman Alex Bennett from Devon announces his entry into the historic Round Britain and Ireland Race 2010. Alex will once again team up with sponsor Fujifilm for the project with his distinctive, green Class 40 boat.
Alex said, “this race is a fantastic test of seamanship. It is one of the ‘must do’ events in the shorthanded racing calendar and I’m looking forward to competing in home waters.”
Joining Alex in this famous two handed race will be friend and fellow Devon sailor Malcolm Dickinson. Malcolm is the Managing Partner at leading law firm Michelmores Solicitors, another of Alex’s long term business partners. Malcolm is well known in local sailing circles as organiser of the Michelmores Challenge Cup.
In the coming months they will be training off the south Devon coast getting ready for the race start in Plymouth in June. Alex and Malcolm will be a formidable team. The 2010 race will be the second time Alex has competed in the RBI. In 1998 he skippered Modi Khola and managed to secure third place monohull in Class 5, also setting a record for the youngest team to ever complete the arduous course. Malcolm has competed in the last two events and finished second in Class last time around.
In the build up to the race Alex will be based in Plymouth. He was last in the city with Fujifilm for the start of the prestigious Artemis Transat in 2008. Battling fierce storms and tough competition in the Atlantic, Alex was the first Brit into Boston coming 6th in the Class 40 fleet.
–About Alex Bennett : Alex began sailing at the tender age of three and hasn’t looked back. At 19 he put together a youth entry for the Fastnet Race. Then in 1999 he came 5th in the International Mini Transat, the best British result in the 20 year history of the event. He set a world record in the prestigious Transat Jacques Vabre race in 2001 from Le Havre to Salvador winning the Open 50 class. Alex was also a crew member on the ill fated Team Philips, the revolutionary catamaran built in Totnes in Devon by Pete Goss which broke up during a hurricane mid Atlantic. In 2005 Alex achieved a lifelong ambition to sail through the Southern Ocean whilst competing in the Oryx Quest around the world race on Cheyenne, a 120ft catamaran. 2008 saw Alex win 6th place in the historic Artemis Transat race.
–About the RBI : The Round Britain and Ireland Race was established in 1966 by Blondie Hasler. It is hosted every four years by the Royal Western Yacht Club and has its start and finish in Plymouth. There are four compulsory 48 hour stopovers in Kinsale, Barra, Lerwick and Lowestoft. The 2010 race has classes for two person crews on mono and multi hulls between 30 and 50 feet. It starts on Sunday 6th June.
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