Skandia Geelong Week set for success with record fleet

by Rob Kothe on 17 Jan 2005 With entries closing last Friday, Skandia Geelong Week 2005 is certain to be another booming success with the total fleet approaching 500 boats.

Speaking from Royal Geelong Yacht Club, Race Entry Administrator Rod Hampshire reported this morning, ‘We are clearing the entry backlog; they were coming in much faster than we could process them on Thursday and Friday. We still have not finished. We have 400+ keel boats and 95 assorted smaller craft and we certainly have a new record fleet.’

‘The entry documentation is well in hand but we need the small number of skippers still to complete their paperwork to do so immediately.

Event co-ordinator Doug Jarvis was all smiles today. 'Not only is it another record fleet, the really pleasing thing is the big growth in interstate and international entries. This is definitely the best Grand Prix fleet that has ever assembled at Skandia Geelong Week.’

’We are looking forward to some exciting racing and a very entertaining program.‘

There will be a tremendous amount of activity this week on the Geelong Waterfront, as event organisers prepare for record crowds.

Now twinned with Skandia Cowes Week, the 2005 Skandia Geelong Week has moved to another level on the keel-boat circuit, as a regatta of both National and International significance, with a major boost from the yachting sponsor.

In its tenth year of Skandia Cowes Week sponsorship and coming up for its second year of involvement with Geelong, Skandia is of the same vintage as the Geelong Regatta. Established in Stockholm in 1855, Skandia, the oldest company listed on the Swedish stock exchange, will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2005.

Whilst its been operating on the Australian financial services scene for four years, the company is still best known in this country due to Grant Wharington’s 98 foot sponsored Skandia, which won the 2003 Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race.

In the sailing community, Skandia has become known worldwide as a significant sponsor. Skandia Geelong Week is part of an international sponsorship program titled Skandia Set Sail. The Skandia Set Sail initiative aims to streamline Skandia's global sponsorship activity by placing all major sponsorship projects under the 'Set Sail' banner over the next few years.

Global Sponsorship Manager Tim Sewell explains; 'Skandia has long been associated with sailing sponsorship, but never as far reaching as now!’

‘Whatever we sponsor, whether it be youth projects, a Sydney-Hobart winning super maxi or Nick Moloney sailing in the Vendee Globe, our underlying goal is the same.’

‘We are an international long-term savings company committed to making a difference by helping customers prosper and achieve their goals.’

‘This commitment is as true for the many people who benefit from our sailing sponsorship, as it is for customers of our financial products and services around the world'.

More information on Skandia Geelong Week 2005
at www.geelongweek.com.au