New opportunity for British Keelboat Academy

Niklas Zennström makes available his Farr 45

Rán Racing have cemented their support of the British Keelboat Academy, by making available their recently acquired Farr 45 Kólga to the BKA squads offering the young sailors the opportunity to put together a Farr 45 campaign in parallel with their own Team’s activities.

Furthermore the team have organised for a number of their sailors to race with the Academy on board Kólga providing top notch coaching input from some of the best sailors in the UK if not the World.

RYA Racing Manager, John Derbyshire, one of the BKA’s Directors commented: “This is a really exciting opportunity for the Academy and it’s sailors. Not only does it give them the chance to compete in one of the most competitive big boat racing classes in the UK, it also allows them to learn from and develop relationships with what we hope will be really useful contacts for them in taking their sailing forward.”

Fellow Director and UKSA Operations Manager Ben Willows added: “We are extremely grateful to Niklas Zennström and Rán Racing for their investment and support of the Academy. Making Kólga available to us adds a significant value to what we can offer our sailors and we’re really excited about working with such a high calibre team and making the most of the opportunities it will no doubt create for the sailors.”

Rán Racing will be making provision for the running costs of the boat including yard fees, insurance costs and someone to look after the boat and carryout on-going maintenance. The more long term plan will be to pass on this roll to one of the academy sailors offering the opportunity to gather some hands-on experience in preparation for working in the industry.

Niklas Zennström owner of Rán Racing commented: "We are really looking forward to working with keelboat racing’s fledgling stars and helping to make provision for their further development. Not many opportunities exist bridging the gap between club racing and professional campaigning so this really is an exciting program.”

Working with some of the UK’s top young aspiring keelboat racing talent within the Academy, Rán Racing are anticipating an exciting talent spotting opportunity for their teams across their wider TP52 and Mini Maxi campaigns.

“We are already having some of the BKA sailors join the Rán team on our Farr 45, and I see this as an excellent opportunity not only to help the next generation of big boat sailors but also to build the Rán team," Zennström concluded.

The Academy have already got to start on their Farr 45 campaign sailing competing in the Hamble River Sailing Club Big Boat Series. They then plan to train hard over the winter in preparation for the Warsash Series, RORC East Challenge, Royal Thames and Royal Southern Farr 45 events with the possibility of going to the National Championships in Weymouth in June.

BKA’s partners include B&G, Wild Graphics, Hamble Yacht Services, Harken, Henri Lloyd, North Sails, Ocean Safety, Premium Liferafts, TT Rigging and RORC.