Tony Bullimore
Blue Ocean Wireless Solo Round the World Challenge

Dateline: December 23, Hobart, Tasmania. 
The final countdown has begun for Tony Bullimore’s challenge to break the 70 day barrier for sailing solo non-stop around the world.  His 102ft catamaran Doha 2006 was lifted back into the water at the Incat shipyard in Hobart on Thursday and she will undergo final tuning and preparations over the Christmas break.

“We are just waiting for the last sails to arrive from South Africa, some new logos to be put on the hull and for the satellite communications equipment and onboard camera systems to be commissioned, and I will be ready.” Tony said in Hobart today.

The British solo sailor is full of compliments for Simon Redding, Doha 2006’s shore support manager who has been working to service the giant catamaran and her rig in preparation for the challenge ever since the Bullimore arrived in Hobart earlier this month.  “Simon has done a fantastic job to get the boat ready and make final checks on all the equipment to ensure that everything holds up during the record attempt.”.

“We have also been helped by an enthusiastic team from the Bellerive YC whose many members worked to strip the boat out when we arrived and have helped with the final preparations . We couldn’t have better hosts in Hobart.” Says Tony.

Team Bullimore Challenge Club announced

This enthusiasm, coupled with the thousands of e.mails received from well wishers across the Globe, has prompted the launch today of the Team Bullimore Challenge Club to give the public the opportunity to actively support this record attempt.

The first to join within minutes of the Club going live on the www.teambullimore.com was Alison Robbie who will now have her name written on the multihull, and will receive an autographed photograph of Tony Bullimore and Doha 2006.  She will also receive latest updates, have access to onboard pictures and video, and have her name put forward for a sailing trip with Tony after the record.

By visiting the web site  www.teambullimore.com anyone can sign up and support Tony’s challenge.

 The Course

The 27,000 mile course will take Bullimore straight down into the Southern Ocean where the westerly winds in the Roaring Forty latitudes will slingshot him across the first 5,000 mile stage to Cape Horn. He will then follow the South American coast northwards to the Equator, from where he must pick his way through the calms of the Doldrums and those associated with the Azores high pressure system, to round the island of Flores before returning southwards to the Cape of Good Hope.

Lee Bruce will be advising him about impending weather systems on a daily, if not hourly basis and once in the Indian Ocean, the British yachtsman will rely on his weather router to help him to avoid the worst of the Roaring Forty winds that will speed Doha 2006 towards Cape Leuwin marking the Western tip of Australia, and passed the point where Bullimore famously spent 5 dark days capsized during the 1997/8 Vendee Globe Race. Once across the Australian Bight, he must navigate his way around Bass Strait and back to Hobart - all in 70 days!

The course has been sanctioned by the World Sailing Speed Record Council www.sailspeedrecords.com which will time Bullimore's start and finish from Tasmania and monitor his progress around the world. The distance is exactly the same as if he started from Ushant on the north west tip of France where Dame Ellen Macarthur, the current record holder began her 71day 14hour 18 minute voyage last year.

The campaign is sponsored by the Doha 2006 Asian Games Committee,  the Qatar National Bank, International developer’s Qatari Diar, and Mistral Internet.