The Transat gets a title sponsor

Familiar name comes to the rescue as we wave goodbye to the 60ft trimarans

The Transat, formerly the OSTAR, the 'original' singlehanded transatlantic race, has a new sponsor. OC Events have signed a new title partnership agreement with Artemis Investment Management, one of the UK’s leading investment management companies, who already back Jonny Malbon's Open 60 campaign. The 13th running of The Transat will now be known as The Artemis Transat and will start on 11 May, 2008 from Sutton Harbour, Plymouth (UK), and finish, as it did for the first time four years ago, in Boston, USA.

Artemis Investment Management is committed to promoting offshore sailing in British waters. In addition to their IMOCA Open 60 campaign, Artemis Ocean Racing, they recently organised the Artemis Challenge during Skandia Cowes Week and the Artemis Trophy during the Rolex Fastnet Race. Having joined IMOCA as a Business Club Partner, the Transat sponsorship is another important step in the vision to further develop professional ocean racing in Britain.

Speaking on behalf of Artemis, CEO Mark Tyndall commented: "We are delighted to announce our support of such a classic ocean race as The Transat. It takes passion, persistence, skill, knowledge and dedicated teamwork to compete with the best in the offshore ocean racing world. All our activities in sailing reflect our company's core values and philosophy. We look forward to building a successful and enjoyable event with the race organisers."

Mark Turner, CEO OC Group added: "OC Events took over the running of this legendary race in 2004 and invested heavily to rescue it, and we are now looking forward to the 13th edition of the race in partnership with Artemis. This race is steeped in history from both sides of the English Channel and the Atlantic. We are honoured to be organising The Artemis Transat 2008, it is a huge team effort and it is fantastic to have the support of Artemis and the host cities of Plymouth and the South West region, and Boston on board with us for the next edition."

For the first time in 2008, the four yearly event, will be limited to just two classes of boat, the IMOCA Open 60 and Class 40, with the dwindling ORMA 60 trimaran fleet not invited.

Sailing Director of OC Events, Christine Salen, explains: "We wanted a strong and simple race this time, something the public could understand and without too many different types of boat. Therefore we chose just two strong classes in the professional and high profile IMOCA 60 and its young relation, the rapidly growing Class 40. The Royal Western Yacht Club still run a purely amateur event in 2009, an event that we hope will also benefit from this decision. Although it is in some ways sad to have no multihulls in this edition, we look forward to the rebirth of the ORMA class in the future, which might open up other options for 2012 and beyond."

The IMOCA 60 and Class 40 fleets offer a combination of Formula 1 ocean racing and a class for aspirant ocean racing professionals. Both classes are expected to be hotly contested.

The race will be part of the official IMOCA Ocean Racing World Championship 2008-2009 and importantly it will be the last opportunity to test themselves and their machines for the solo, non-stop round the world Vendée Globe race, starting in November 2008.

For nearly 50 years the world's elite sailors have been drawn to the challenge of crossing the chilly north Atlantic ocean along the 2,800-mile northern route against the prevailing conditions. Even in early summer, huge low pressure systems bring gale force winds and steep seas into the paths of competing boats. Then, as the fleet close in on the Newfoundland coast, the threat of icebergs becomes a reality combined with the risk of dense fog over the Grand Banks, making the final section of this 2,800 mile race a stressful one for the already physically exhausted skippers.

The sport has moved on, Chichester took 40 days to cross the Atlantic in 1960, however today's latest generation of fast, high-tech IMOCA 60 monohulls will race across in a little over 10 days.

As has been the case since the first running of the event in 1960, the fleet will come together in Plymouth, where more than forty IMOCA 60s and Class 40s will prepare for the on-slaught. The Plymouth race village for the fist time will be situated in the centre of Plymouth’s busy Barbican at Sutton Harbour (UK) where the IMOCA 60 fleet will be on display, with the Class 40 fleet will be berthed at the nearby Queen Anne's Battery marina.