White & Falle qualify for the Transat Jacques Vabre

Steve White and Philippe Falle qualify for the Transat Jacques Vabre Aboard Spirit of Weymouth, an Open 60

Steve White and Philippe Falle completed their 1000Nm passage yesterday morning to qualify for the Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV) aboard Spirit of Weymouth, an Open 60 owned by Steve White. Hampered by the high pressure system that is stuck over Britain, the pair took five days to complete the 1000Nm’s, an average of 200 miles a day.

Whilst the average wind strength was less than ten knots, Spirit of Weymouth did record a respectable twelve hour run of 150 miles. The route took Steve and Philippe west from Portland Harbour to a waypoint 300 miles west of Ushant before heading north to Fastnet Rock and then back to Portland. The wind strength and direction was seldom kind or favourable and Spirit of Weymouth actually sailed an extra 165 miles to complete the set course.

Steve White, an upcoming star of British ocean racing, recently entered the Vendee Globe 2008. Having completed this years Rolex Fastnet Race, the TJV will be Steve’s first serious ocean race aboard Spirit of Weymouth providing him with a fantastic opportunity to develop his skills, knowledge and understanding of Open 60’s in preparation for the Vendée Globe. Steve will then enter the B to B race, a single handed race from Brazil to Brittany starting between the 25th and 30th November. The B to B race will act as the qualifying race for the Vendée Globe.

White has taken a tough route into the world of Open 60 sailing. Winning his inaugural singled handed race, the OSTAR in 2005 aboard the Open 50, Vail Williams (formerly known as Airco Distributor of the legendary Mike Plant), provided him with a very solid foundation. White previously worked with sailing hero Pete Goss and then Sir Chay Blyth’s Challenge Business as a 1st mate then as skipper training crew for the Global Challenge 2004 Race. During his time at Challenge he was the first mate on the winning boat of the Transat race from Southampton to Boston. Steve has had a burning desire and passionate ambition to compete in the Vendee Globe for the past ten years.

Unlike the other Challenge Business prodigies, Golding, Humphries and Caffari, Steve has not had the benefit of big corporate sponsorship for his campaign. To date White, a family man with four children has funded the campaign himself by re mortgaging his house, taking out huge personal loans and securing small interim sponsors. His debts are now huge and he has put everything on the line to fulfil his long term goal. His shore team are working hard to secure a sponsor. The entry in both the TJV and Vendée Globe is still subject to securing financial support through corporate sponsorship.

Philippe Falle, Racing Director of Sailing Logic (the countries leading offshore race training and race charter company) has teamed up with Steve for the TJV. Falle is no stranger to offshore racing and has been one of the leading skippers of British offshore racing for the past three years. Falle’s successes include winning his class in the Rolex Fastnet 2005, winning the RORC championships and coming 2nd in the Round Britain and Ireland race last year in Class 1.

Falle also comes from a Challenge Business background having been a crew volunteer on the 1996 BT Global Challenge Race and subsequently as skipper training crew for later Global Challenge races. Philippe then worked with Formula 1 Sailing, founded by Alex Thomson for a year before setting up Sailing Logic Racing with Allie Smith, Mike Golding’s former operations manager. It is very seldom that Philippe is not on the podium when racing offshore with Sailing Logic and is planning a British Tour de France a la Voile 2008, and Figaro 2009 entry.

Spirit of Weymouth was originally Gartmore, owned and campaigned by Josh Hall. She was later chartered by Pindar for Emma Richard’s entry in the 2002/03 Around Alone Race. Built in 1998 Spirit of Weymouth is one of the oldest Open 60’s to enter the TJV. She has water ballast but no swing keel and is a relatively simple boat to sail. Whilst she is not in the same league as the modern multi million dollar Open 60’s she will provide White and Falle with a superb opportunity to move into the Open 60 arena.

With the combined experience of White and Falle and the intriguing route they have taken into the Open 60 arena, this entry in the TJV will be an interesting story. It will be a huge learning curve for both of them and a good solid performance must not be ruled out. To follow the campaign you can read Philippe’s daily blog which always provides entertaining reading. It is a very candid and honest account, recording the highs and lows of this story.