Skandia Squad announced

by SGW Media on 22 Dec 2007 Each boat has a tale to tell and as past Squad members can report, telling that tale can be quite lucrative with a Skandia Sponsorship during Skandia Geelong Week. The sponsorship comes in the form of free regatta entry, allocated berthing, crew clothing, boat branding and an invitation to attend exclusive VIP functions. The chosen five crews will represent one of Skandia’s core values of Courage, Passion, Commitment, Creativity and Contribution, and become Skandia ambassadors for the duration of the event.

Skandia Sponsorship and Events Manager, Jody Ellem was extremely pleased with the number of entries received, 'It was a hard choice again this year to narrow our high standard of entries down to 5 winners, but we’ve got a marvellous cross section of boats and crews who have put back into their communities in many ways throughout the year'.

'We’re delighted to have them as Skandia ambassadors for Skandia Geelong Week and I look forward to welcoming them to the event' she said.

The five lucky winners are:

Skandia Courage: Zilzie Express – Albury-Wodonga Yacht Club (NSW)
Skandia Commitment: Humungus – Canberra Yacht Club (ACT)
Skandia Creativity: a Restricted 21 which is yet to be named (SA)
Skandia Contribution: Alex Team MacAdie – Sandringham Yacht Club (VIC)
Skandia Passion: Kaito – Geographe Bay Yacht Club (WA)

An illustration of Skandia Courage is the crew of Zilzie Express, a Sonata 26 which made headlines when it struck an obstacle and sank while racing at Skandia Geelong Week last year. The boat has since been repaired and her crew will again make the road trip from Albury-Wodonga to race again on Corio Bay in January.

Skandia Contribution comes in the form of Alex – Team MacAdie a dedicated father son team who competed in this years Melbourne to Osaka 2 handed race. During the race a tsunami hit the Solomon Islands off the coast of Gizo. Jock and his youngest son Hamish, stopped in the small community after the race to help repair some of the damage. For three and half weeks, they assisted with rebuilding the local area. An excellent example of contribution via the sport of sailing.

The Townsend family from Bussleton WA who will proudly bring their new 'Kaito', the first Melges24 production boat built in Australia to Geelong demonstrate Skandia Passion. Along with Kaito, the Townsend’s also have their four children aged from 3–10 in tow. Their family holiday plan is to enjoy the racing at Geelong Week before making the long trip back across the Nullabor, only those passionate in the sport of sailing would tackle such a task with young children, imagine the number of times someone would ask 'are we there yet?'!

An example of Skandia Commitment is Humungus, who really didn’t know how to handle their yacht to begin with but through their determination and commitment they have succeeded in learning the ins and outs of the boat, and hope to one day have success on the score board.

Finally, Skandia Creativity is a yacht with no name at present, owned by Grant Smith of South Australia. Grant’s a 23 year old who at just 12 years old, saved enough money to purchase his very first yacht, since then he is now working on building his third yacht. Growing up in a small town in The Riverland, he dreamt of one day becoming a professional sailor and building boats, so after completing high school he worked as a shipwright’s apprentice. This third boat is a Restricted 21 and Grant spends 30 – 40 hours per week working on the boat, after hours and on weekends.

All five chosen crews will make excellent Skandia Squad members, each with a unique story to tell.