EVENTS | NEWS | TALES FROM THE SAILING COMMUNITY
Sponsorship search leaves Hare worried about making the cut for Vendée Globe
Funding issues threaten to stymie Pip Hare’s plans to race in the 2024 edition of the Vendée Globe as her Medalliacampaign threatens to hit the financial buffers.
Although Hare retains the support of main sponsor Medallia, both her team’s second tier sponsors have stepped back, citing ‘world economics’. Now she is seeking partnerships to take their place.
In a statement posted on Facebook, she said: “With 30 weeks to go to the start of the Vendée Globe Race, we are facing the reality of having to halt preparations if we are not able to bring funding to the campaign.
“The final act is the big one, we have created huge potential and an incredible platform with genuine commercial value for new sponsors to benefit from.”
The 24,000 mile solo singlehanded race around the world starts in November 2024 and offers one of the ultimate challenges in offshore racing. The top teams generally have a budget of around ¤20m in the year preceding the race and while Hare’s budget is less, she still requires substantial funds to undertake big jobs such as replacing the bearings in the canting keel. Those wishing to sponsor Pip’s challenge can find out more at piphare.com
Don Street 26 July 1930 – 1 May 2024
One of the most colourful sailors, cartographers and marine journalists around has passed away at the ripe old age of 93. Don Street was a fixture of the yacht cruising scene from the 1950s up until he passed away. He had countless books published and his Imray/Iolaire charts are still the industry standard in much of the Caribbean. Indeed, Street’s name is synonymous with the Caribbean and his claim to have made bareboat cruising possible out there is only half said in jest.
Back when he started cruising the Caribbean, it was a mysterious place full of forbidden shores and unmarked reefs. Street was part of a wave of sailors who bust down the door and opened up this cruising ground – for better or worse.
To add to his mythical status, he did it all in Iolaire, his beautiful classic engineless yawl. The pair becoming inseparable for many years.
It wasn’t until 1969 that Street met with Tom Wilson, of Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson, and the pair agreed to collaborate on the Imray-Iolaire charts of the Caribbean. Prior to this, sailors were obliged to rely on the Admiralty’s old charts that dated back to when the area was initi
