After many months of planning and preparation Ben Rogerson and his 6.50m Mini Transat yacht are ready to set off on a long dreamed of Round Britain and Ireland Solo Non-Stop Passage attempt in the next few days.
The Royal Yacht Squadron has kindly agreed to provide a Time Keeper and a Gun on their Start Line for the official departure and finish.
The support team, including recently returned Vendee Globe Open 60 'Pindar' Skipper Brian Thompson who has been a great help and agreed to assist with weather and routing during the passage, expect that it will take around 20 days to complete the passage.
Unlike the recent Dee Caffari record breaking fully crewed RBI passage on the Open 60 'Aviva', the emphasis here is on completion rather than speed alone, although successful completion will set a benchmark time for future solo sailors to challenge.
The RBI rounding has been tried before in a Mini Transat 6.50m yacht but to date not successfully completed non-stop.
The RBI solo passage is part of Ben's training and build up programme over the next two years to making a serious challenge on our continental cousins' dominance of the Mini Class, in the 2011 Mini Transat Race.
A long way to go yet and the team is looking for a Title Sponsor to join the campaign and be a partner in this British grass roots short-handed Ocean Yacht Racing development project.
For now the Ben Rogerson Round Britain and Ireland Solo Non-Stop Passage attempt will be focusing on lending as much support to the Campaign's chosen Charitable Organisation 'Toe in the Water' through raising awareness and appreciation of the amazing work they do for Armed Services men and women injured in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere with a wider public audience.
Therefore Ben Rogerson is proud to be a Standard Bearer for 'Toe in the Water' and asks everyone reading this to look at TITW's website - www.toeinthewater.org - and lend whatever support they can.
The tri-service initiative TOE IN THE WATER (TITW) aims to inspire the British Armed Services men and women who have sustained often traumatic injuries, including the loss of limbs, to move beyond their disability and to become re-inspired by life. Competitive sailing is a physically and mentally challenging adventurous sport and provides a unique opportunity for injured men and women to sail and race on equal terms with their able-bodied contemporaries. - www.toeinthewater.org
by Media Services
12:47 AM Sat 4 Jul 2009 GMT
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