Solo sailing's new star?

James Boyd speaks to BT winner Conrad Humphreys about his Vendee plans

Conrad Humphreys came into the public eye in June last year when he won the BT Global Challenge as skipper of LG Flatron, but his plans for a third circumnavigation are more ambitious still: to a build a new boat in which to win the 2004 Vendee Globe.

Humphrey's BT win came as little surprise for those who know Humphreys' background. Of all the skippers taking part he had considerably more oceanic racing experience having got most of a Whitbread round the world race under his belt aboard the unfunded Ukrainian entry Odessa in 1993/4.

The following year while completing his degree in Ocean Science and Meteorolgy in Plymouth, Humphreys skippered the winning team in the Student Nationals. That year his team came fourth at the Student Worlds in Marseilles, won Cowes Week and came second at Cork Week. This team included 420 National Champion Dave Lens with Nick Pearson on bow, who has since gone on to join GBR Challenge. Humphreys says that this campaign was also significant as it was his first experience of running a team and finding sponsorship.

Since the BT Global Challenge the 29 year old from Plymouth has been working out how to make the move back into professional sailing. "The ultimate aim was to do well in that event," he says. "You need to win it to get a chance to step form it".

While considering his options Humphreys has become smitten with Open 60 class. "I sailed with Mike [Golding] on the EDS Atlantic Challenge. It blew me away. It confirmed that that was the class I wanted to go into". He says that the budgets in the Open 60 class aren't that out of control and adds that he was also attracted by the comraderie among the skippers and how they would share their experiences rather than remain isolated inside their own campaigns.

"Subsequently I wanted to do some sailing on Ellen's boat to compare the 60s," he says. He got in contact with his old friend Mark Turner (who he sailed with on the British boatin the Teachers Round Britain Race) and got on Kingfisher for the delivery trip back from Brazil after the Transat Jacques Vabre last year. "That's given me 12,000 miles on the 60s and an indication of things that I think work well - from the simplicity of Mike's boat versus the easy ability to sail Ellen's boat".

Humphreys also says the Open 60 class suits what he describes as his Daly Thompson approach to sailing - he wants to be good at all the disciplines within the sport. "The Open 60s are offering that now with crewed races - some fully crewed, some solo - that's of real interest for me. That will produce an all-round sailor - between solo and leading a team, which is probably the ultimate. Then you can become the Daly Thompson of the sailing world. There are very few sailors in the world who can compete at different levels. That's where I want to go in the next 5-10 years of sailing. The Open 60 is the place to be for all of that".

The conclusion of all this is that Humphreys has now launched his new campaign, a bid to win the next Vendee Globe, racing non-stop singlehanded round the world against some of the world's top sailors in this unique discipline within yacht racing.

For Humphreys Mike Golding is something of a model, having also come from the background of a BT Global Challenge win. But Golding was fortunate. He was able to take his sponsor Group 4 with him, and Humphreys has to date not had the same luck with his Korean electronics manufacturer sponsor from the BT. "It would be lovely to continue the relationship," he says. "They are a good, global sponsor, and that's good to have when you are doing global races".

To run his Vendee campaign Humphreys has set up his a race management company called O6T Challenge on a similar lines to Offshore Challenges and Mike Golding Yacht Racing. Humphreys' no.2 on LG Flatron, Cian McCarthy, is planning to take part in the 2003 Mini-Transat and has a new Merf Owen design in build down in Totnes. McCarthy will be receiving some logistical support for his campaign from O6T.

To help him in his endeavours Humphreys has enlisted the support of many of his LG Flatron team from the BT Global Challenge. The campaign has a patron in film star Jeremy Irons who was a legger on board LG Flatron. "I wanted to tap off some of the skills that I had with me on the BT," explains Humphreys. "A director of the company is one of my BT leggers who is a senior director of BT." In addition there is a French bi-lingual secretary who is handling all the French language side of the operation, while another former crew has designed his website.

O6T Events will provide additional income for Humphreys while he gets the Vendee project going. This will come from using sailing for corporate motivation, leadership training and team building. For example he is currently selling spaces on the Challenge yacht to sail around the island with Jeremy Irons.

Continued on page 2...

Ecover trails Kingfisher during the EDS Atlantic Challenge last year