Bubb confirms Route du Rhum

Kenmore Homes to back British solo sailor

Nick Bubb is to compete in this autumn Route du Rhum on a brand new chartered Class 40 currently in build over in France.

The Class 40 is a 40 foot long race boat with a fixed keel and water ballast, it is essentially a cross between a Mini Transat and an Open 60 and is therefore an ideal stepping stone towards his long held ambition to race in the Open 60 class. He will be up against 30 other Class 40s in a fleet that includes, past winners of the Mini Transat, Figaro and Admiral's Cup as well as several ex Vendee Globe skippers.

The Route du Rhum starts on 29 October from St Malo and after around three weeks of racing will arrive in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. As well as Class 40s, the fleet of over 80 will include Open 60 and 50, mono and multihulls and smaller monos and multihulls. The Class 40 division is the largest fleet and should see some of the closest racing.

Bubb has just arrived in La Trinite, France where he will join the build team to help finish the boat and get her in the water as soon as possible, sometime around the middle of September. He will then have a lot of sea trials to complete before heading off on his 1000 mile solo qualifier.

Having supported Bubb through his Mini Transat sailing as well as being title sponsors of his 30 ft trimaran in the recent two handed Round Britain Race, Kenmore Homes are back once again, this time in partnership with the Kenmore Property Group and Aggmore Property. The boat will be christened Kenmore Homes and Bubb hopes to confirm further technical partners in the near future.

Bill Thomson, Chairman of Kenmore Homes had this to say about their latest venture. "We are thrilled to announce that Kenmore Homes will be the title sponsor of Nick's next project, the 2006 Route du Rhum. After four years of supporting his career it is exciting to move up a level and to be involved in arguable the worlds biggest solo ocean race. We are also supporting Nick's long term ambition to race the next Vendee Globe in 2008 and have begun looking for major partners to help realise this goal."