Nick Moloney : « “We had an amazing qualifier on the ‘Black Pearl’ from the UK to Spain »

October 5th : Following on from his solo Vendée Globe campaign, Offshore Challenges Sailing Team skipper, Nick Moloney, has become a member of Paul Cayard’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ campaign, acting as a consultant, coach and back-up navigator to the ‘Black Pearl’ crew. Currently Nick has no plans to actually sail during the race, but is really enjoying this new role in the team : “It’s great to be able to sail on these new boats, and push them 110%, unlike in the Vendée Globe - something that I found hard to accept in the solo discipline. I’m working closely with Paul and Jules Salter to support the critical role as onboard navigator in this exciting project, which is fantastic experience for me.

“We had an amazing qualifier on the ‘Black Pearl’ from the UK to Spain via the west coast of Ireland. It was great to spend time off the South Coast of Ireland as I have qualified for many races in that area on my own. This time I was with a team of great friends on a new breed of boat, putting her through her paces. We had some great laughs as a group whilst travelling along at 30+ knots – skipper Paul Cayard described a section of the journey like ‘being dragged down a cobble stone street in a barrel ‘ a pretty good description !

“The new boats are very fast, which is cool. We managed a 24-hour stint covering in excess of 450nm during that period and we were testing, so not pushing or sailing direct course. It made me laugh, in 1997 we set a 24-hour monohull World Speed Record of 434nm, on the V70 we crushed that, and even stopped for lunch and backed off during the night to give the team good night sleep...ha ! Awesome !!”

In Paris today, Nick will be meeting up many old friends and competitors at the official IMOCA Vendée Globe debrief. And his mind is still firmly focused on his planned solo trip back from Brazil on board the Open 60 Skandia early next year. This delivery will complete his solo circumnavigation following his retirement from the Vendée Globe off the coast of Brazil, after suffering irreplaceable keel damage.

September 11 : Nick Moloney : « I really want to finish the solo world tour by sailing Skandia back to the UK »

The Open 60 Skandia will compete in the forthcoming two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre race in the monohull division with the highly talented and experienced duo of Brian Thompson as skipper and co-skipper Will Oxley.

Holder of multiple records, skipper of multihulls and monohulls, Brian’s CV is extensive and has raced Open 60s many times before including the 2003 Transat Jacques Vabre, finishing in third place with Mike Golding. Will was a natural choice as co-skipper after navigating the giant catamaran Doha2006 to victory in the Oxryx Quest under the captaincy of Brian. Oxley has also raced onboard the Open 60 Skandia (under the colours of Team888) before after finishing in second place as skipper on Compaq in the 2000/01 BT Global Challenge round the world race.

The bi-annual 4,500 mile Transat Jacques Vabre race is open to both 50ft and 60ft monohulls and multihulls and is ultimately a highly competitive race. The monohull race starts on Saturday, 5th November from Le Havre, France to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil and Skandia will tackle the winter conditions in the Bay of Biscay before heading south towards the warmer trade winds north of the Equator. Brian and Will must complete a 1,000 mile qualifier onboard Skandia before heading to the start port of Brazil arriving one week before the start.

The plan is that after the Transat Jacques Vabre, Nick Moloney who competed in the tough solo non-stop round the world Vendee Globe race will sail Skandia back to the UK early next year on his own to complete his solo world tour that ended so abruptly off the coast of Brazil when keel failure ended his long-held dream of a solo circumnavigation : « I can’t seem to let this one go and really want to finish the solo world tour by sailing Skandia back to the UK, » said Nick. « People remind me I raced solo from Brazil in Le Defi race in November 2003 as my qualifier for the 2004 Vendee Globe, but it’s not the same thing. For four years I dreamt of completing the Vendee Globe course and I like to finish what I started - Skandia are unflinching in their support for me to complete this goal which is fantastic. »

Skandia supported Nick Moloney’s Vendee Globe dream, teaming up Fund Managers Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Gartmore and Invesco to create the Skandia MultiManager campaign. Although Nick’s dream ended when, lying in seventh place, Nick’s campaign acheived excellent results for Skandia and also raised over £15,000 for Sail4Cancer, Skandia’s official ’Set Sail’ charity : « We were very proud to have supported Nick throughout his Vendee Globe and were equally proud of NIck’s dedication to get to the start line of this and the tenacity he demonstrated throughout the race. He has been a terrific ambassador for Skandia and we are happy to support this final ’sign-off’ trip for Nick. »