April
23, 2001
News
and Appearances
After
participating in the weather and navigation seminar sponsored
by the British Mini Class in late March, Gale flew to France to
clear the boat through customs and re-rig it for the upcoming
qualifying races in May. Due to problems with the cradle in Charleston,
the shipping was delayed and she did not have time to prepare
the boat in time for the Challenge Mini regatta, a crewed series,
on April 20th. Fortunately, this was not one of the mandatory
qualifying races.
Gale
returns to Annapolis on April 24th for a week. She is participating
in the Baltimore
Waterfront Festival, April 26-29, with a booth in the Olympic
Watersports pavilion. For more information, check
the festival website. This will be a fun event with lots of
attractions. Team Illbruck, training in Charleston, SC, for next
year's Volvo Ocean Race, will have two of their Volvo 60s at the
show and Gary Jobson will be in attendance. Gary kindly provided
the narration for Gale's video that will be playing at our booth.
Look
for Gale on Coffee with...
on the Channel 13, WJZ Morning Show with Don Scott &
Marty Bass on April 27th. This segment usually airs around 6:30
a.m., so set your VCR if you're not an early bird.
Team
U.S. Challenge will also be participating in the Maryland
Maritime Heritage Festival in Annapolis, May 4-6. Although
Gale will be racing in France at that time, we will have the posters
& T-shirts at our booth. Stop by & say hello!
RACING
SCHEDULE
On
April 30th, Gale returns to France for the first two qualifying
races in May.
To
qualify for the Mini-Transat, each potential competitor must complete
1,000 miles solo under non-racing conditions and also complete
1,000 miles solo in any of a half dozen or so races specified
by the French Mini Class. The Mini-Transat is limited to 55 competitors.
Of this number, 25 slots are for the radical ultra light Prototype
boats like Gale's, 25 are reserved for the Series boats which
are one design conventional style vessels with doghouses &
ports, and the remaining five slots are wildcards for competitors
selected by the race organizers. The plan is to complete the racing
qualifiers as early in the season as possible to ensure that our
boat wins one of the limited slots.
The
first qualifier is the 300-mile Select 650 Race starting on May
5th. The race starts in La Baule, on the southwest coast of Brittany
near the mouth of the Loire River. The course runs south around
two small islands, Ile d'Yeu and Ile del Groix, and back to the
finish at La Baule.
The
second qualifier on Gale's schedule is the Mini Pavois Solitaire
Race on May 20th. This race starts at La Rochelle in the middle
of France's west coast, proceeds around Cape Finisterre on the
tip of Brittany into the English Channel, rounding near Portsmouth,
and finishes at Saint-Quay-Portrieux, a small village on the Gulf
of St. Malo.
Completion
of these two races will give Gale the needed 1,000 solo racing
miles.
The
Mini Fastnet Race, although not one of the required races, is
also on the schedule. The course starts on June 10th at Saint-Quay-Portrieux,
rounds Fastnet Rock, and finishes back at Saint-Quay-Portrieux.
This is a double-handed race.
LONG
TERM GOALS
The
2001 Mini-Transat is the first stage of Gale's five-year solo
racing program that will culminate in the 2006 Around Alone Race,
the well known single-handed around the world race.
After
the finish of the Mini-Transat, Team U.S. Challenge will start
an Open 50 racing program in 2002. Gale will compete in international
short-handed races such as the Route de Rhum, Transat Jaques Fabre,
and Europe 1 Man Star.
In
2004, we will commission an Open 60 for a venue of short-handed
& Grand Prix events to complete Gale's training for the 2006
Around Alone.
TRAVEL
PACKAGES
Gale's
niece, Tara, and her employer, Global Travel, are putting together
travel packages for our Team. They will be offering reasonably
priced itineraries for France—La Rochelle boat show, Mini-Transat
race start, wine tours, weekend in Paris; Canary Islands for
the race stopover; and Brazil—weekend in Rio, travel to
the colonial capital of Salvador in Bahia for the finish of
the race, Amazon tour. All transportation, transfers & lodging
will be included. These packages can also be customized for
individual preferences. Look for more information soon or contact
Tara for specifics.
VOLUNTEERS
NEEDED
Gale's
team, Team U.S. Challenge, needs some helping hands. We could
use some volunteers to help man the booths at the Baltimore
and Annapolis shows. We also need people to manage the team
gear sales program, the yacht club outreach program, our public
appearance & promotional program, and to coordinate our
mailing program. In addition, we will need consultants, outfitters,
and support staff for the Open 50 and 60 campaigns. If you can
contribute your time & skills, please contact Kathy
Weber, 410 263-5983.
PARTNERSHIP
We
still working on obtaining Title and Supporting Partners. These
will be the primary corporate entities linked to Team U.S. Challenge's
campaigns and will receive exclusive promotional packages featuring
boat graphics & signage and exposure through all campaign
efforts and events. They will also receive exclusive rights
to use Gale & the boats' images and to feature Gale at public
appearances.
We
have developed a variety of partnership opportunities at lesser
levels of financial support. Anyone interested in a high exposure,
multi-national advertising and publicity opportunity, should
contact Cheryl Jersey,
410 268-5475, for details of the partnership program.
Please
support the following firms who have donated services and/or
products to Gale's campaign:
