Leading FX broker Alpari, and Channel 4 magician Troy collaborate

by Alpari on 4 Apr 2014

Unsuspecting Team Alpari FX (L-R: Ricky McGarvie, Ted Hackney, Tudur Owen, Ben Lamb, Keith Swinton) with magician, Troy Von Scheibner before #Sailing Lesson Getty Images

Extraordinary sailing launch - London, 3 April: Leading global FX ('forex', 'foreign exchange') broker and major sport sponsor, Alpari, has today released a truly astonishing film entitled 'The Sailing Lesson', featuring Channel 4’s magician of the moment Troy Von Scheibner. In the film Troy meets Alpari’s unsuspecting professional sailing crew 'Team Alpari FX' for a sailing lesson with a difference. After demonstrating their skills on the water, the mystic genius renders the sailors speechless by seemingly pushing the boundaries of reality…

Expect the extraordinary
This unique collaboration with Troy marked the launch of the new 2014 Team Alpari FX line-up: Australian skipper Keith Swinton, bowman Ricky McGarvie (Aus), trimmer Ted Hackney (Aus), tactician Ben Lamb (Aus) and pitman Tudur Owen (GB), who previously raced under the name Black Swan Racing. The newly-appointed Team Alpari FX will be competing in the 2014 season of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT) – also sponsored by their title partner Alpari. The AWMRT is a prestigious global sailing series with six events worldwide, across Asia, Europe and North America. Running from June through to November, the AWMRT sees some of the world's finest match racers battle it out for the biggest prize purse in competitive match racing – $1.4 million.

Speaking after the stunt skipper Keith Swinton remarked: 'Flying straight in from Australia with no idea of what today’s launch event would entail had us all guessing. Meeting Troy was fantastic and we still can’t get our heads around how the boom went straight through him. If only we could master it, it would certainly save us some on-board injuries! Today has been a great way to start our sponsorship with Alpari; hopefully we can pull some of our own tricks out of the bag this season!'

Magician Troy said: 'I've always wanted to perform magic with a yacht – so when they called me about this, I was 100% there. The guys in Team Alpari FX were great to spend time with and I look forward to seeing them turn their own magic tricks on water this season.'

Elizabeth Bacon, Sponsorship and Events Manager at Alpari UK added: 'Providing the extraordinary is an ethos we live by at Alpari, from the service we offer our clients to the sports we partner with. Having had strong ties to sailing since 2012, we’re proud to support professional sailors who show extraordinary passion and talent. Today was a great way to welcome the new crew and show them a little magic of our own.'

The stunt was filmed at the Queen Mary Sailing Club, Middlesex (UK) using J80 match racing yachts provided by the Royal Thames Yacht Club, London (UK).