One of the UK's most exciting young sailors has confirmed his entry into the oldest solo round the world yacht race – the 2010 VELUX 5 OCEANS. Nineteen-year-old Oscar Mead will line up against some of the world's top sailors for the 30,000-mile VELUX 5 OCEANS race which starts in France in October.
Oscar hit the headlines last year after becoming, at the tender age of 18, the youngest person ever to compete in the Original Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR). Now a year older, the unstoppable young sailor has set his sights on the huge challenge of the VELUX 5 OCEANS, dubbed the Ultimate Solo Challenge.
Oscar will be the youngest ever skipper to enter the gruelling nine-month round the world race.
He said: “Racing across the Atlantic was one thing but going round the world in the VELUX 5 OCEANS is an altogether bigger challenge. “The race has been won by some of the world's leading solo sailors and I intend to add my name to that list. “There are a lot of sailors trying to break records for being the youngest to achieve certain goals but that is not me. “I plan to enter the VELUX 5 OCEANS not as an adventure but as a race which I will try to win.”
Oscar will put his yacht and powercraft design degree at Southampton Solent University on hold for a year while he takes part in the race.
Legendary round the world yachtsman and Clipper Ventures chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said: “I know from entering the race myself how hard the VELUX 5 OCEANS is. However Oscar is a very talented young sailor, as he proved last year when he raced across the Atlantic in the OSTAR. He has a huge amount of potential and I am delighted he will be taking part in the 2010 VELUX 5 OCEANS.”
Run by Clipper Ventures PLC, the VELUX 5 OCEANS starts from La Rochelle in France on October 17 and features five ocean sprints. After heading from La Rochelle to Cape Town, the race will then take in Wellington in New Zealand, Salvador in Brazil and Charleston in the US before returning back across the Atlantic to France.
