Celebs head for Melbourne

Star-studded sailing to take place during Volvo Ocean Race stopover

Three-time Olympic rowing gold medallist James Tomkins is swapping oars for sail power as a competitor in the Volvo Ocean Race Melbourne Stopover’s Celebrity Sail.

Tomkins will be one of 15 sporting stars, media personalities and entertainers thrown in the deep end when he takes part in the celebrity sailing event on Victoria Harbour on 3 February, 2006 - the day before the in-port race by the Volvo Ocean Race teams.

In a celebrity version of the in-port race, five crews will set sail in 7.5-metre Beneteau keel boats, with spectators able to watch all the action from the Waterfront City Race Village at Docklands.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Tomkins said. “I’ve been around the water all my life, but it’s usually been rowing, so I might miss having the oars to bail us out of trouble. Victoria Harbour is not exactly a big body of water, and with five teams out there at once there’s bound to be a few collisions. I’ve been studying the footage from John Bertrand’s America’s Cup win and I’m planning on implementing that into our race strategy. I’m not in it to make up the numbers, so I hope the rest of my crew are keen to win.”

Mixed teams of three celebrities and two experienced sailors will compete in a series of races to determine the winning crew, with training and boats provided by the Sandringham Yacht Club.

Tacking, gybing, trimming the sails and rounding the marks will be essential ingredients to success as the teams race around the specially-designed course.

Run by the Sandringham Yacht Club Boating Academy, the celebrities’ sailing instruction will cover rigging the boat, rope work, sailing techniques and safety, including man overboard procedures.

Personalities already on-board for the Celebrity Sail include model and super-fit triathlete Grace McClure, Robert 'Dipper' DiPierdomenico, Fox FM’s Jo Stanley, and Brownlow medallist and Sydney to Hobart veteran Gerard Healy, with more names to be announced early in the New Year.

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is expected to arrive in Melbourne from 17 January after finishing leg two from Cape Town, South Africa, of the 31,250 nautical mile around the world race.

The Melbourne stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race will be four weekends of celebrations at Waterfront City, Docklands, including Melbourne Food and Wine on the Water, a huge program of free public entertainment presented by the City of Melbourne, plus sailing and boating fun on Victoria Harbour and Port Phillip Bay.

Waterfront City Race Village will be home to the leading-edge Volvo Open 70 yachts and team displays, with visitors able to see the crews in action during the in-port race on 4 February and the race re-start on 12 February.