Gala event

An update on Hellomoto skipper Conrad Humphreys freshly returned from the Vendee Globe prizegiving

It has been two months since Conrad Humphreys sailed into Les Sables d'Olonne at the finish of his remarkable circumnavigation and in this time he has been back to France for two special occasions. Firstly, after his success in completing the Vendée Globe in 7th place, Conrad was invited to Motorola's main plant in Angers by Motorola France Managing Director, Bruno Girard. There, Conrad took a tour and, for the first time, met all the employees who'd been following his progress avidly and sending him messages of support throughout the race. It was a great opportunity for Conrad to say a personal thank you to everyone there for keeping him going!

Also, Conrad has just returned from the Vendée Globe Official Prizegiving on 7 May (his wife Vikki's birthday coincidentally!), and in his words "no other prizegiving could even come close to this event!" Indeed, over 50,000 people filled the 3 mile long, wide sandy beach at Les Sables d'Olonne for a spectacular evening show on a huge lit up stage with a 60 foot 3-D 'globe' and giant video screen erected on the breakwater just for the occasion - certainly on a par with the VE celebrations in London's Trafalgar Square!

All the skippers who took part were invited up individually, and Conrad was interviewed about his experience of changing his rudder, considered one of the most amazing recovery stories of Vendée Globe history by everyone. Conrad was able to say his own thank you to his team and Motorola for all their support. The French MC then thanked Conrad for being one of the most happy and talkative skippers of the 2004 race, to which Conrad replied that he had in fact enjoyed the race so much, despite all his troubles, and hoped to be back in 2008! All the skippers joined each other on the stage and the special video of race highlights shown on a giant screen to the thousands of public filling the beach was immensely moving to watch.

Conrad came away clutching a personally inscribed silver dish to mark his participation in the Vendée Globe and was evidently moved himself by the occasion. "It was very nostalgic for me to go back to Les Sables d'Olonne after nearly two months since I finished the race, to meet up once again with all the skippers and be part of this massive public show, which was a big 'thank you' to the people of Les Sables d'Olonne. The fireworks at the end were incredible, the whole event just spoke volumes of the passion that this race envokes in the general public, not just here, but all over the world. The Vendée Globe will always be such a unique race in this respect."

And so now the Vendée Globe race is officially over, Conrad and the Motorola Ocean Racing team are now preparing for the rest of the 2005 racing season. The shore team has been quietly busy since the Open 60 Hellomoto went into refit after Conrad's Plymouth homecoming in March this year. Shore Manager Joff Brown and his new team of Alex Sizer and 'Scottie' have been working hard in the V1D2 boatyard in Caen, Northern France, on repairing and reconditioning the boat to be ready for the 2005 IMOCA racing season.

Importantly, a complete structual survey was done on the keel and the ultrasound did not come up with any defects and so next week the keel will go back into the boat, then Hellomoto will be lifted back into the water, after which the rigging will be going in. New bearings were built for the keel and calculations were made so that the team were able to re-mill the stainless steel, barrel-shaped pin, which holds the keel in place, to reduce its size slightly and make it round again after the wear and tear from thousands of miles of racing. Half of the standing rigging from Future Fibres has been replaced where there was chafing also. The first trialling on the water will take place at the beginning of June, and the team will be testing the North Sails' mainsail from the Vendée Globe, which has been re-shaped, before a brand new mainsail is ordered.

The first race the Open 60 Hellomoto will be competing in is the crewed JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island race on June 18th, followed by the Rolex Fastnet Race in August and the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre in November.