Following the presentation of his project at the Dusseldorf Boat Show last month, Norbert Sedlacek has remained busy preparing his boat Nauticsport Kapsch for her entry in the Vendee Globe 2008-2009. During the show, he was able to announce that he has signed a new partnership with the Swiss watchmaker, Chronoswiss, and since then has been busy at work at the boatyard. Several hundred litres of paint, laqueur and anti-fouling have been prepared and the boat's colours are ready to be applied in the coming days. For several weeks, the team have been concentrating on the keel head mechanism, as this requires some fine tooling and precision work, in order to avoid the sort of problem, which forced the Austrian to retire from the last Vendee Globe. The first sea trails are planned for April, but before that there will be another occasion for the crowds to take a look at the project at the Tulln Boat Show in Austria on 6th March.Sam Davies's preparations for the Vendee Globe 2008-2009 have been continuing over the past few weeks in Lorient. Her monohull, Roxy has been fitted with new daggerboards, the roof has been extended and two new winches installed. The team is busy working on the paintwork on the Open 60, aboard which the English yachtswoman will be setting sail from les Sables d'Olonne in November. The deck is once again brilliant white and Roxy's colours are due to be applied this week. Meanwhile, Sam has been doing some weather training with the router, Jean-Yves Bernot in Port La Foret. This week, she is looking forward to training alongside Isabelle Joschke, as she gets ready for the Solitaire du Figaro.
Over the past few weeks, Derek Hatfield's campaign has been making progress. Following the Toronto and Vancouver Boat Shows, the Spirit of Canada team was pleased to announce that 5000 individual supporters have now contributed to the appeal and will have their name be painted on the hull of the Open 60. The aim of the campaign is to support the first Canadian boat to take part in the Vendee Globe and they hope to reach 10,000 signatures before the start in Les Sables d'Olonne. Some local fans have even signed up twice, no doubt tempted by the lucky draw, which will allow one of the supporters to win a trip aboard Spirit of Canada.
