We are taking advantage of Zoom to hear from a speaker who would not normally be able to travel to Ruskie Rural Hall - we will be joined by Mark Denton, award winning skipper of BP Explorer from the BT Global Challenge.

The BT Global Challenge is a unique race that takes place every four years that sees 12 teams compete for the coveted Princess Royal Trophy on a westabout route around the world, against the spin of the earth. The route covers 32000 miles and is split into 7 legs of varying durations. It starts in Southampton, visits Boston, Buenos Aires, Wellington, Sydney, Cape Town, La Rochelle and finishes back in Southampton. It’s the ultimate challenge in amateur sailing.

Each team is made up of 17 diverse amateurs from across the globe who pay for the privilege, and led by 1 professional sailor on identical 72-foot steel ocean racing yachts. Each team is balanced by male to female ratio, age spread, weight and experience. However 70% of the people who apply have never sailed before.

They call it the World’s Toughest Yacht Race… And you will see why!

This is a Zoom meeting so no competitions or hostesses