2002
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Ocean Planet Report
August 30, 2002
Ocean Planet Around Alone Update:
Prologue Race and ‘Sail for America’ announcement
Wow, the prologue will be fun and the scene in NY is getting bigger all
the time. What an honor it is going to be to represent the US in class
one! Check it out:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Newport, RI, September 3, 2002 Clipper Ventures plc, organizers of the solo around the world yacht race, Around Alone 2002-03, today announced a partnership with the Newport International Boat Show as sponsor of the prize for the event’s Prologue Race from Newport to New York. The Prologue Race, a crewed, 160-mile race to Manhattan, will set off from the Newport Boat Show’s location in Newport Harbor on Thursday, September 12, the opening day of the Show.
The actual start of the Around Alone race was diverted from Rhode Island to New York City to allow the race to be part of “Sail for America”, one of the events marking the first anniversary of September 11th. The partnership of the Newport Boat Show with the Prologue Race will help to recognize Newport’s homeport status of Around Alone 2002-03. According to Nancy Piffard, Show Director, “The Boat Show will run September 12 -15, the same days as the events in New York, so this sponsorship will allow the Show to honor those who died in the September 11th attack by drawing the attention of our audience to the commemorative activities in New York.”
The Prologue Race will be a unique part of the Around Alone race because the participants won’t be alone! Along with the fourteen skippers of these 40′ to 60′ sailing yachts, crews of up to five sailors will be part of teams taking the boats to New York. The NIBS PRIZE, as this Newport International Boat Show Prologue Race Award is called, will be awarded to the crew of the winning boats in the Newport to New York leg. Each skipper will receive a two day stay at Newport’s beautiful Castle Hill Inn & Resort when the Around Alone yachts return and cross the finish line in Rhode Island Sound next Spring, and each crew member will receive a gift certificate from this acclaimed restaurant/hotel.
Pre-show viewing of the race preparations will be part of the Boat Show experience for many. And, as the racing yachts proceed by the docks of the Show, exhibitors and visitors alike will be part of the send-off for this international yachting event and add to the message that New York and the rest of America is “setting sail” once more. Indeed, the nearly 400 boats being displayed in the water at the Show, along with more than 500 on-land exhibits, will be true testimony to the strength of the American economy and the American spirit that race participants and the world’s press, gathered in Newport for the Around Alone send-off, will take with them.
Last year, over 20 million dollars worth of cruising yachts, accessories and equipment was sold at the Newport Show by the companies who already had their displays in place as the tragedy of September 11 unfolded. This year, most of those same companies and more will be back in Newport carrying on with “business as usual”, serving the American boating enthusiasts The Newport International Boat Show will be long remembered not because of the NIBS PRIZE but more because of the way it represents the strength and the excitement of the international boating community at this premier boating event of the year!
The Newport International Boat Show is for people with a passion for boating and, just as importantly, it is representative of the American public’s passion for life.