Supreme team

Mike Golding announces Ecover's crew for the Calais Round Britain Race

Mike Golding and a distinguished crew will be competing in the Calais Round Britain Race that starts this weekend - Sunday 22 May 2005. The five man crew onboard Ecover will be one of seven Open 60s participating in the 1850-mile dash around the British Isles.

This is the second edition of the Calais Round Britain Race but boats have been racing around the coasts of the British Isles and Ireland for hundreds of years. In the first Calais Round Britain Race, Vincent Riou aboard PRB won the race taking just 9 days 9 hours and 48 minutes to complete the course. Ecover finished third just three hours behind the winner.

This time aboard Ecover Golding has been joined by Volvo Ocean Race skipper Neal MacDonald, Brian Thompson, Laurent Mahy and Graham Tourell.

“It will be good to be back out racing again," commented Golding. " Ecover is in great shape and is a credit to my shore team that have worked really hard since the end of the Vendee to make sure that she was ready for this race. We have an impressive crew and it will be especially good racing with Brian and Neal on the team. Brian has sailed with us several times and was my co-skipper on the last Transat Jacques Vabre. He is fresh from winning the Oryx Quest and so is in fighting form. Neil is well known to us as a talented sailor he is quite simply one of the best offshore sailors in the UK. I am confident that with this team we stand a very good chance of winning the event, though looking at the opposition – they have great teams also! For us the icing on the cake would be to also beat the Dover-Calais record, but we have to put a few miles under our belts before we get to do that,” commented Golding.

Mike Golding (GBR)
Born 27 August 1960, married, lives in Warsash, UK.
Mike Golding is the 2004 IMOCA World Champion and is currently leading the IMOCA and FICO World Championships. He finished a heroic third in the Vendée Globe 2005. In 2004, he won The Transat, the Défi Atlantique and was first monohull in the FICO World Championship and third overall. He has sailed around the world five times and held the single-handed, non-stop, eastabout round the world record for 7 years.

Graham Tourell (GBR)
Born 13 September 1976, single, lives in Southampton, UK.
Ecover’s project manager since 2000, Graham Tourell better known as ‘Gringo’, is also a talented sailor. He started working with Mike Golding as skipper of Golding’s Challenge 67. He has participated in several races around the British Isles and also in the EDS Atlantic Challenge, 2004 Calais 1000 Miles and several Fastnet Races not counting the thousands of miles sailed on boat delivery. He also is a very competitive windsurfer.

Laurent Mahy (BE)
Born 3 July 1976, single, lives in Arzon, France.
Service Manager, and now Sail Designer, Laurent Mahy joined the North Sails France team in March 2000. He is involved in the sail development of the Figaro, Open 60 ORMA and IMOCA boats. Laurent sails on all kind of boats combining work with pleasure. He crossed the Atlantic first when he was 15 and since then has taken on most sailing opportunities. In 2004, he participated in the Swan Cup, Key West Week and Spi Ouest France. He also raced a Mumm 30, J/109, Corel 45 as well as with Josh Hall on Gartmore during the EDS Atlantic Challenge 2001.

Neal McDonald (GBR) Born 22 July 1963, married, lives in Hamble, UK.
A veteran of ocean racing, Neal McDonald is respected for his technical knowledge of the design and structure of boats and their rigs, as much as his relaxed and professional leadership in skippering and managing yacht racing teams. Neal raced on board Silk Cut in the 1997/8 Whitbread Round the World Race and skippered the Swedish entry, Assa Abloy to second place in the Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2. He was also part of Grant Dalton's Club Med team in The Race 2000. His status in the sport is such that Volvo have selected Neal to represent competitors as a Technical Advisor for the new Volvo Ocean 70 race yacht.

Brian Thompson (GBR)
Born 5 March 1962, married, lives in Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK.

In 2004, Brian Thompson finished second in the FICO-Lacoste Crewmember World Championship, a three year average of worldwide offshore racing. That says a lot about a very tall man who has spent the past few years sailing with the best teams on the best racing boats. From IMOCA Open 60 monohulls to ORMA Open 60 trimarans to the maxi-cats, Brian has taken part in all the biggest sailing events and records. His last achievement is his victory in the crewed round the world Oryx Quest skippering Doha 2006 with an international and cosmopolitan crew.