By Richard Crockett

Immense interest in the race

Since the first announcement that the Race from Mauritius to Durban will be staged in September 2010 there has been an immense amount of interest shown from a broad spectrum of people.

And this interest is not just from this country as we have expressions of interest from Mauritius and now have the guys on Reunion Island on the mailing list and being kept in the loop too.

Start Date
The race will start on Saturday 4 September.

Sponsorship
The biggest effort at the moment is being focussed on finding an overall event sponsor. This is time consuming and not always positive. However all is not lost as a potential sponsor I have been working with came back to me just a few days back with the following:

"I've just returned from the international distributor meeting, where this particular opportunity was discussed. With a Marketing opportunity of this magnitude, we would need to request financial assistance from the Brand-Owners. They are examining and investigating at present, and will revert to me once a decision has been made, or further detail requested

I shall be in touch, and will undertake to give a nudge to speed up the process."

So that iron in the fire is beginning to warm, while another is about to be placed into the fire as well.

My request to anyone who may have any sponsorship leads is to please contact me personally so that I may follow it through.

Assurance
From a personal perspective I would like to assure all potential competitors that should we not secure an overall event sponsor, the race will continue with smaller individual sponsors.

Visit to Reunion and Mauritius
I will be in Reunion and Mauritius towards the end of December. I hope to drum up some support in Reunion, and will meet our hosts at Grand Baie Yacht Club.

Notice of Race and Safety Instructions
These will be issued in early January.

Expressions of Interest
Since my last correspondence I have added a few more names to those known to be interested in competing.