Team Basilica prepare for Volvo Extreme 40 in Rio

by Sail-World/Gerald New on 16 Jan 2006 The opening round of the Volvo Extreme 40 series took place at Sanxenco, Spain just before the start of the first leg of the 2005/2006 Volvo Ocean Race. For the all-British boat, Basilica, it was something of a baptism of fire.

Short of time to assemble and prepare the new boat they launched for the first race only to be involved in a start line incident that resulted in damage that almost sunk the boat. Hauled out and working all night they managed to return for the rest of the twelve race series, but struggled to overcome the opening day setback and sail to their potential.

After the Volvo Ocean race fleet had left on the first leg to Cape Town. Basilica was broken down and put in a container to be shipped to the UK. At Hamble Point on the south coast of England the boat was inspected and the rushed repair work stripped and the hull brought back to original condition and new centreboards fitted. After the construction work phase the team were able to get some sailing out of the Hamble, before attending the London Boat Show for a round of media events.

During the time back in the UK Team Basilica have confirmed a number of sponsorship deals. Henri Lloyd are supplying the crew and corporate guests with customised sailing gear from their Adrenalin and Innovation ranges. On shore clothing sponsor Fat Face will be helping the crew to unwind, enjoy the post race parties and relive their extreme feats in the comfort of their personalised Fat Face kit. Fat Face has also supplied a Support Rib down at the Hamble for the team.

The boat has also undergone a full gear appraisal and deck gear sponsor, Holt will supply deck hardware from their new H2O range - during the refit Holt H2O winches were fitted that are lighter and smaller in volume.

The crew remain the same as in Spain: James Grant, Peter Greenhalgh, Hugh Styles and Alister Richardson plus Derek Clark has now joined as coach to channel the abilities of the crew to get to grips with this new challenge.

After the London Boat Show the Team have two weeks of sailing and rig development before they repack the boat. In order to get the boat to the next venue, Rio de Janeiro, Basilica will be broken down and into the new special 40ft container/workshop by 20 February for shipping.

The crew will fly out on the 15 March and after re-assembling the boat will have some eight days of tuning and sailing preparation before the racing starts on the 27 March through 31 March.

For Team Basilica this will be the real start of the event, putting the trauma of Spain behind them and with the boat now sorted they are hoping that, that together with the training and tuning at Hamble will allow them to show their true ability.

But this is no push-over event. All the boats have top crews, with Olympic and championship titles a plenty and all will have raised their game since the opening round. The races are short and sharp, the slightest handling hiccup having a dramatic effect on the fleet positions.

Nick Gorringe, Managing Director of Basilica Computing, has put together a top crew of British talent, now with the added guiding hand of Derek Clark to channel that ability into a winning team. The second series will see if the hard work in the cold at Hamble can be turned into gold in the sun in Rio.

Team Basilica:
Hugh Styles - An Olympic Tornado sailor who represented Team GBR at the Sydney Olympic Games 2000. He has won medals at World and European Championship levels. Previously ranked 2nd in the ISAF Tornado world rankings, a position he held for 2 years running. Prior to switching to Tornado sailing Hugh was Laser European champion.

Peter Greenhalgh – He’s represented Great Britain at every level from the British Youth Squad to GBR at the Sydney Pre-Olympics 49er Class. With 6 years of Olympic sailing as his grounding, he then moved onto winning the much coveted 18ft skiff worlds with his brother Robert and became an integral part of J-UK, commissioning and coaching sports boats. Peter’s brother Robert is also sailing on ABN Amro One in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Alister Richardson – Twice young sailor of the year, Alister began his professional career at a young age. Moving on from youth sailing he decided to team up with Peter Greenhalgh embarking on 6 years of Olympic sailing. Since then he has sailed with Hugh Styles in the Tornado and won the International 14 European and National Championships.

James Grant – Having competed at all levels, James found success in many of the skiff classes. He was an integral part of Robert Greenhalgh’s Ultra 30 Grand Prix winning team. James also found success in many of the top keel boat classes, for example Farr 40’s, and again sailing with Robert Greenhalgh in the Tour de Voille to 4th place. Working in parallel with professional sailing, he has been coaching top youth sailors to become future Olympians.

Nick Gorringe, is a keen sailor himself, a member of Hayling Island SC under whose burgee Team Basilica are racing. He recently took part in the Global Challenge 2004/5.

Events for the VX40 Grand Prix:

The VX40 Grand Prix series will continue in four more stopover ports around the world. After Sanxenxo, the next stops are Rio de Janeiro, Baltimore, Portsmouth and finally Rotterdam.

They will be part of the official stopover programs for the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06. There is talk of an exhibition series in Melbourne, and with more multihulls under construction, it is likely the five-boat fleet will grow in each stopover port.

Points table after one Grand Prix:
1. Tommy Hilfiger, 95 points
2. Volvo Ocean Race, 90 points
3. Holmatro, 87 points
4. Motorola-CHR, 79 points
5. Basilica, 67 points

Extreme 40 Class details:
Length – 40ft (12.2m) Width – 23ft (7m) Sail area – 2 sail - 100sqm. 3 sail – 153sqm weight – 1,250kg

Wing Mast is rotating, carbon fibre with single set of spreaders and diamonds and single set of shrouds. Jib is self-tacking. Main is a fully battened, flat top. Genneker is on a furler mounted on a bowsprit.

Event website: http://www.volvoextreme40.org

Basilica, a leading UK supplier of IT solutions and services to businesses
Company website: http://www.basilica.co.uk