Moloney postcard

Skandia skipper gets some R and R while boat comes out of refit

Nick Moloney has spent the past month in Australia catching up with his friends and family. Until now, Nick's sailing programme has only allowed him to make fleeting visits back home, so with a only few weeks until the start of the 2005 programme of events and with his shore team back in Cowes busy working on Skandia, Nick has used this opportunity to take a well-earned rest and spend some time in his home town of Victoria, Australia. He will return to the UK at the end of the month for a full-on programme of corporate sail days and will be looking forward to getting back out racing on board Skandia as skipper for the Round the Island Race on 18th June, and the Fastnet Race in August.

Meanwhile back in the Cowes, work continues on the refit of his Open 60, at Medina Yard, Cowes. The shore team headed up by new recruit Matt Lees, have been working hard on getting the boat ready for her the start of her sailing season: “No major changes are being made to the boat at this time and she will remain in a similar configuration as when she raced in the Vendée Globe. We will however be removing the generator and, of course, most of the spares that were carried for the round the world race. A full service of all the winches and running gear has taken place and we have found no major problems for a boat of this age. A new keel has been completed by Hercules Engineering [ Skandia lost her keel off Brazil] and this keel is the same base design as the previous one but with some slight adjustments,” commented Neil Graham, Technical Director of the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team.

The re-launch of Skandia is currently scheduled for the last week in May. This will be followed by a week of re-measurement and tuning, which Nick will be back for: “So far everything is going to plan and she should be up to full race spec and back on the race course for the Round the Island Race on 18th June, followed by the Fastnet race in August that follows Skandia Cowes Week which we are all looking forward to very much,” said Matt Lees, Moloney's Boat Captain.

Skandia will not be competing in the Calais Round Britian Race, however Nick says he'll be following the race on the internet "like everybody else."