Thirty thousand miles alone

Sailing a boat around the world is the ultimate physical, psychological and emotional challenge for any individual.

For those brave individuals who dare undertake it, racing a yacht alone around the world is one of the toughest, most risky disciplines within any sport.

This pastime is frequently described as the maritime equivalent of scaling Everest. In fact while more than 15,000 people are estimated to have scaled Everest, only 163 people have sailed around the world singlehanded, around one third the number of people who have been into space.

The VELUX 5 OCEANS has a bright future and a team in place to build an event that is even more successful than last time with a committed sponsor onboard 3 years before race start as well as the vision and financial backing to create a new dimension on ocean racing. Clipper Ventures retained the experienced team from the previous race in order to learn from the previous edition and improve all areas of the race (event, marketing, communications, race management, sponsor relations), as well as hiring skilled professionals from other sporting fields such as F1.

The vision is to further strengthen the brand "The Ultimate Solo Challenge" and to focus on the skippers and their stories / personalities. The Race Management has a vision of an event that is global, inclusive, accessible and open - not only in terms of communications and media, but in terms of the participating skippers and sponsors, as well as being contemporary, high tech and cutting edge.

The race format (route, dates, stopovers, etc) is currently being finalised and will be announced over the coming weeks and months. The level of interest from host ports across the world has been extremely strong. The race will start and finish in Europe, and will have stopovers in Australasia and USA. The race management team is considering stopovers in South Africa and South America and will make a decision after consultation with skippers and sponsors

What is the VELUX 5 OCEANS?

THE ORIGINAL
The VELUX 5 OCEANS is the original single-handed round the world yacht race. Run every four years since 1982, the race is the longest and toughest event for any individual in any sport. Single-handed around the world's oceans in thoroughbred racing yachts represents The Ultimate Solo Challenge. The ultimate in human endeavour, only 90 people have so far completed this race.

THE CHALLENGE
The solo skipper is the central character of the VELUX 5 OCEANS. These unique individuals must demonstrate determination, skill, courage, endurance and competition at the highest level in order to succeed. The skippers must face the mental challenges of being alone, tired, cold and wet thousands of miles from land. They must endure the physical, physiological and psychological challenges of seven months racing around the world. Each skipper must be navigator, weather guru, cook, sailmaker and computer wizard while racing alone at sea. Although they rejoin family and friends ashore at stopovers, they must wrench themselves away to face the vast oceans alone again.

THE HERITAGE
With a rich sporting heritage, the VELUX 5 OCEANS has been contested every four years since 1982, previously under the titles of 'BOC Challenge' and 'Around Alone'. The race celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007. Over 25 years, the event has created an enormous sporting heritage of endeavour and achievement, including many peaks of excitement, dramatic rescues and tragic loss of life. The race has consistently attracted competitors from diverse countries around the globe.

THE FUTURE
The next VELUX 5 OCEANS will take place 2010-2011 and promises to reach a global audience as the dramatic stories are followed live across TV, radio, print, Internet and via mobile technology. We will be in touch - we hope to send out a newsletter every 3 months.