Ben Fogle wins inaugural Big V Race from Portsmouth to Cork

Ben Fogle together with the team on the Farr 45 John Merricks win the inaugural Big V Race from Portsmouth to Cork © Ingrid Abery / www.hotcapers.com

Big V glory for Ben’s young guns

Travel writer and presenter Ben Fogle has set a new World Sailing Speed Record in the inaugural Big V Race from Portsmouth to Cork. Ben, racing with the RYA’s Keelboat squad, finished the race in a time of 49hrs, 19 minutes and 39 seconds.

The Big V race is organised by Virgin Money, the innovative insurer behind Big V Cancer Insurance, which launched earlier this year. The Cork Week feeder race was created to help raise awareness and funds for the Everyman Male Cancer Campaign and all proceeds from the Big V race will go to Everyman.

Reflecting on the record Ben said; “I am absolutely delighted. It was incredibly close throughout. We got off to tremendous start and the guys worked so hard to get us into a great position ahead of Team Caffari. Even though the winds completely left us, the team were brilliant and they got absolutely everything they could out of the boat. Team Caffari took a real risk by going further west but we just got our heads down and concentrated on doing everything right and it paid off.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. It was a real privilege to sail with the RYA Keelboat squad, and I will certainly be following their progress in future. However, hopefully the real winner overall is cancer awareness. The Big V is a great event and it will help to fund more essential research by Everyman into male cancers, so I am delighted to have been a part of it and I look forward to coming back and trying to better the record in 2008!”

Ben’s boat, the Farr 45 John Merricks, was skippered by Luke McCarthy. The crew was picked from the RYA's Keelboat Programme which is designed to give talented young sailors the opportunity to break into the world of top level keelboat sailing.

Virgin Money’s Marketing Director Trevor Field said: “Everyone is pleased for Ben and the RYA Keelboat crew, they were magnificent throughout. It was a tight race between Ben and Team Caffari from start to finish and the range of conditions created a real test for all the teams.”

“The inaugural Big V Race has been a great success. It should certainly have helped warm everyone up for Cork Week. Hopefully by creating this event, Virgin has added something a bit different to the racing calendar, and we very much look forward to 2008!”