Solo, Round-The-World Sailboat Skipper Will Display Boat At Baltimore Marine Center/Marine Max Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006
Tim Troy's 60-Foot Boat Being Preparing For Crossing Atlantic To Spain For
Start Of VELUX 5 OCEANS Race
Fewer Than 200 People Have Sailed Around The World Alone
CROWNSVILLE, Md., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Tim Troy of Crownsville, MD
who is participating in the VELUX 5 OCEANS, a solo, round-the-world
sailboat race, will display his boat and answer media questions regarding
his voyage on Thursday, August 17, 2006 at Baltimore Marine Center/Marine
Max - 1800 Clinton Street. Troy will host a limited number of media
representatives on a first- call basis for morning and afternoon sails in
addition to offering dockside interviews.
The America One Challenge Team, headed by Troy, fields his IMOCA Open
60 class Margaret Anna, named for his daughters, for the race. Troy, the
48- year-old managing partner of the Delmarva/CSI Company in Maryland, and
a seasoned blue water sailor, took up the sport at twelve years of age when
an uncle took him for a two-week sail on the Chesapeake Bay. He is a
two-time winner of the Bermuda 1-2 race, a single-handed competition
between Newport, RI and Bermuda. He has over 100,000 miles of blue water
sailing experience. His French Open 60 was built by the MagOCEA group in
1998, the same builder that built the PRB, the boat that won back-to-back
Vendee Globe races.
The Margaret Anna is 60 feet in length and weighs just nine tons. She
has a beam of 19.25 feet and draws 14.75 feet. The keel accounts for 3.5
tons of the total boat weight. It is a unique cantilever design that allows
for maximum performance and speed. There is also a water ballast system and
a forward dagger board to improve up-wind performance.
During the trans-Atlantic crossing from France to the United States,
the boat consistently exceeded 20 knots and Troy believes she is capable of
much more.
Peter Vaka is heading the effort to communicate with the world media
during the preparation phase and continuing through the race. Sandy Clark,
an accomplished sailor, sail maker and designer is the third member of the
team.
The VELUX 5 OCEANS, the oldest, toughest and most prestigious solo,
round- the-world yacht race, starts October 22 from the Spanish port of
Bilbao- Bizkaia. The race follows a Grand Prix format from Bilbao-Bizkaia,
Spain to Fremantle, Western Australia and then to Norfolk, Virginia USA
before a final transatlantic sprint back to Bilbao-Bizkaia in Spring 2007.
The race attracts both the elite of yachting as well as novice daredevils
to spend months at sea alone. Skippers will each cover 30,000 miles; cross
five oceans, and in the course of the race face some of the harshest
condition in nature. The 2006- 2007 race is expected to have between ten
and 20 boats from sailing nations around the world.
Doug Hofman, a Minnesotan, is the other U.S. skipper participating in
the event. This is the Jubilee year of the race and sailing legend Sir
Robin Knox-Johnson, the first man to ever sail non-stop, single-handed
around the world is making a return to solo competition in his Open 60 Grey
Power.
The race has a rich sporting heritage having been contested every four
years since 1982, previously under the titles of 'BOC Challenge' and more
recently 'Around Alone.' Visit http://www.velux5oceans.com and
http://www.sailamericaone.org for additional information.
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