New crew for Skandia Open 60

Round the world duo to compete in November's Transat Jacques Vabre

The Open 60 Skandia will compete in November's two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race in the monohull division with the highly talented and experienced duo of Brian Thompson as skipper and co-skipper Will Oxley. Holder of multiple records, skipper of multihulls and monohulls, Thompson's CV is extensive and he has raced Open 60s many times before including the 2003 Transat Jacques Vabre, finishing in third place with Mike Golding. Oxley was a natural choice as co-skipper after navigating the giant catamaran Doha 2006 to victory in the Oxryx Quest under the captaincy of Brian. Oxley has also raced on board the Open 60 Skandia (under the colours of Team 888) before after finishing in second place as skipper on Compaq in the 2000/01 BT Global Challenge round the world race.

The bi-annual 4,500 mile Transat Jacques Vabre race is open to both 50ft and 60ft monohulls and multihulls and is ultimately a highly competitive race. The monohull race starts on Saturday, 5 November from Le Havre, France to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil and Skandia will tackle the winter conditions in the Bay of Biscay before heading south towards the warmer trade winds north of the Equator. Brian and Will must complete a 1,000 mile qualifier onboard Skandia before heading to the start port of Brazil arriving one week before the start.

The plan is that after the Transat Jacques Vabre, Nick Moloney who competed in the Vendee Globe race will sail Skandia back to the UK early next year on his own to complete his solo world tour that ended so abruptly off the coast of Brazil when keel failure ended his long-held dream of a solo circumnavigation: "I can't seem to let this one go and really want to finish the solo world tour by sailing Skandia back to the UK," explained Moloney. "People remind me I raced solo from Brazil in Le Defi race in November 2003 as my qualifier for the 2004 Vendee Globe, but it's not the same thing. For four years I dreamt of completing the Vendee Globe course and I like to finish what I started - Skandia are unflinching in their support for me to complete this goal which is fantastic."

Skandia supported Nick Moloney's Vendee Globe dream, teaming up Fund Managers Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Gartmore and Invesco to create the Skandia MultiManager campaign. Although Nick's dream ended when, lying in seventh place, Nick's campaign acheived excellent results for Skandia and also raised over £15,000 for Sail4Cancer, Skandia's official 'Set Sail' charity: "We were very proud to have supported Nick throughout his Vendee Globe and were equally proud of NIck's dedication to get to the start line of this and the tenacity he demonstrated throughout the race. He has been a terrific ambassador for Skandia and we are happy to support this final 'sign-off' trip for Nick."