Brit sailor at Geelong

Among the competition will be Ian May's team from the UK

Over 70,000 sailors are expected to visit Skandia Geelong Week (22-26 January), Australia's oldest and largest sailing regatta which is officially twinned with Skandia Cowes Week, the UK's oldest and largest regatta.

For one group of Hampshire-based sailors, Ian May and the crew of Charlie Fish, the journey began six months ago and 12,000 miles from Geelong.

Last August, during Skandia Cowes Week, a group of visiting officials from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club were asked by Skandia to select a crew worthy of an all expenses paid trip to race at Geelong. When the Australian contingent got talking to Ian May and his crew they knew they were on to a winner and invited the crew to race Charilie Fish at Skandia Geelong Week.

It wasn't just their sailing skills that won them the trip. Skandia Geelong Week organiser Doug Jarvis was bowled over by the enthusiasm of skipper Ian May and his crew.

"We need to be ever aware of how we promote this sport. It is important to be a good sailor on and off the water. In this case we looked for a crew who performed well in both arenas," says Doug. "Ian's crew were approached without introduction in the beer tent and with no hesitation they engaged in conversation, answered all our silly questions, and in no time all invited us to inspect their moored boat. Their reward for being friendly and genuine promoters of sailing is this trip to Geelong courtesy of Skandia."

Skandia, the international long-term savings company and sponsor of Skandia Cowes Week for the past 10 years, is sponsoring Skandia Geelong Week for the next five years.

Andre Oszmann, Skandia's group marketing director says, "Our success in sailing sponsorship began 10 years ago with Skandia Cowes Week and we continue to drive sailing forward with campaigns ranging from the super maxi Skandia to Skandia Sam Davies on the Figaro circuit and the Skandia Star Campaign with Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell heading to compete in Athens later this year.

"We are proud to include Skandia Geelong Week in our growing portfolio of sailing sponsorships, Set Sail. Our vision is to develop Skandia Geelong Week to become equal in stature to Skandia Cowes Week and build on the achievement of making sailing more accessible to everyone on an international basis."

Skandia's Sam Davies and her TJV team mate Nick Moloney will both attend Skandia Geelong Week, alongside Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner super maxi Skandia, owned and skippered by Grant Wharington.