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Monday, March 11, 2024
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SailGP returns to Bermuda with ApexGroup named Partner
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SailGP and the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) return with the world’s most exciting racing on water set to take place on Bermuda’s Great Sound on May 4th – 5th, 2024. In a new addition to this year's event, Apex Group will be the Title Sponsor and Official Financial Solutions Partner of the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix.
The news that international and island based Apex Group joins as Title Sponsor to the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix is a natural extension of the existing partnership that has seen SailGP adopt the league’s Exclusive Financial Solutions Partners’ Women’s Accelerator Program. SailGP has implemented the pioneering program to help increase representation of women at senior management levels, working towards driving more inclusive decision making through the league and the wider sport. In its inaugural year, 12 candidates have been selected from the depth and breadth of SailGP’s global company including athletes, commercial, communications, hospitality, technology, design, finance and strategy.
Peter Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of Apex Group, said: “I’m very pleased to continue our partnership with SailGP, who truly align with our commitments to innovation, sustainability and women’s empowerment. Apex Group has been evolving and driving positive change within the industry for over 20 years. Equally, SailGP has raised the bar when it comes to representing one of the most sustainable sports in the world. This is why our partnership works. We look forward to yet another opportunity to collaborate with SailGP working towards achieving a better, more sustainable tomorrow.”
This will be the third time that SailGP will bring its fast-paced, high-jeopardy racing to Bermuda’s shores, and the timing will coincide with the start of the island’s high season. Fans will have a variety of ticket options to choose from with racing taking place over the course of two days. Both land-based, and on-water options will be available. Giant screens, race commentary, live music, entertainment, and food and beverage are all part of what promises to create an exhilarating weekend with a great family-friendly, onshore party vibe. Tickets will go on sale later this month but fans are being encouraged to sign up to SailGP.com/Bermuda to be first in line as soon as the tickets go on sale.
Bermuda will mark the tenth event of SailGP Season 4 and it will be the biggest fleet of F50s the island has seen, with 10 teams on the start line – including newcomers Germany – and some new faces in the driver line up. Alongside island favorites including Australia’s Tom Slingsby, who leads the season, and New Zealand’s Peter Burling.
SailGP CEO Russell Coutts said: “As SailGP's global presence expands, I'm excited to see Apex Group deepen its partnership with us as Title Sponsor of the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix and be able to work together to drive positive change both on and off the island. The Bermuda event is both a fan and athlete favorite in the calendar and not only do we look forward to working together to have a positive impact on communities in Bermuda, but also the beautiful island and blue waters will be the perfect showcase for our high-octane, close to shore racing product.”
Apex Group will join the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix’s established partners; Appleby, BF&M, Bank of Butterfield, RenaissanceRe, Everen and Clarien who are all supporting the SailGP event return.
BTA CEO Tracey Berkeley said: “We are excited to welcome SailGP back to the island. It is an honor to have the league back on our Bermuda shores. It is encouraging to see the support of additional sponsors to highlight this world class event. We look forward to showcasing our beautiful Island.”
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Friday, March 08, 2024
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Gold Cup & Women's Match Racing Events Announced
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The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) is delighted to announce the 72nd edition of the Bermuda Gold Cup, a world championship stage of the World Match Racing Tour, to be held from October 28th to November 3rd, 2024, on Hamilton Harbour. For the first time ever, the event will also run concurrently with a new Women’s World Match Racing Tour Event during the same week.
The Bermuda Gold Cup returned to the World Match Racing Tour last October and ultimately saw Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson and his team raise the King Edward VII Gold Cup for the third time. Planning the dates for this year’s event has considered the much anticipated 37th America’s Cup, scheduled to conclude by October 20, 2024.
In a first-of-its-kind event in Bermuda, RBYC will this year take on the challenge of running both the Bermuda Gold Cup and the new women’s match racing event on the same racecourse, during the week-long spectacle. In order to host two events, the Bermuda Gold Cup format will be 10 teams in a single group. The women’s event will invite 8 of the world’s top female match racing teams and will be the first-ever women’s sailing regatta in Bermuda to also award prize money.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be able to offer this double-header of both top-level Open and Women’s Match Racing on Bermuda’s Hamilton Harbour,” said Jon Corless, a Past Commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the chairperson of this year’s Bermuda Gold Cup. “The World Match Racing Tour approached the Club about adding a women’s event on the calendar and our Organising Committee looked long and hard at the logistics of being able to offer two events in one calendar year. Running the two regattas concurrently will make efficient use of race management personnel and will only add to the already exciting match racing in the Harbour.”
“We are delighted RBYC has agreed to add a new Women’s World Match Racing Tour event to the Bermuda Gold Cup this year” added WMRT Executive Director James Pleasance, “Our key mission for the Women’s WMRT is to expand and promote opportunities for competitive women’s sailing at the highest level, and having a new event in such an iconic venue like Bermuda is doing just that.”
Both events will be sailed in the 33-foot International One-Design (IOD) sloop, a 1936 design with a long bow and stern overhangs and a keel-hung rudder. The format for the regatta will consist of a round-robin, quarterfinal, semifinal, petite final, and final rounds.
The King Edward VII Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Bermuda Gold Cup, is the oldest trophy in the world for a competition involving one-design yachts. First presented in 1907 by King Edward VII at the Tri-Centenary Regatta at Jamestown, Va., honoring the 300th anniversary of the first permanent colony in America, the trophy is the only King’s Cup ever to be offered for competition in the United States that could be won outright.
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Monday, March 04, 2024
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Dickinson Wins UK Club Regatta
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Stephen Dickinson took to the cold waters off the Burghfield Sailing Club in Reading.
Sailing in the Winter Warmer 2024 Solo PM Series, Dickinson would win his first regatta, finishing 2nd in the first race and he would win the second race.
Richard Goss was second, and Richard Willetts was third.
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Tuesday, February 27, 2024
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Evans Helps Black Magic Sail to Victory in Australia
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Rockal Evans was in the boat Black Magic skippered by Mark Tolhurst competing in the International 5.5m Australia Championships.
In the Scratch Series which saw a total of seven races sailed, Evans and crew finished third tied on 18 points with second-place finisher John Bacon sailing Ku-Ring-Gai, the class was won by Thomas Spithill sailing Rhapsody.
In the SailSys PHS Class, Evans’ boat was declared the winner with 18.5 points, Skagerak sailed by Gerard Smith was second with 19 points, with Damian Macey sailing Baragoola finished third with 22 points.
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Wednesday, February 07, 2024
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SailGP Women’s Accelerator Program
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SailGP, a global leader in purpose driven and sustainable sport, and its Exclusive Financial Solutions Partner, Apex Group, have today launched the league’s first ever Women’s Accelerator Program. Having signed a new three-year sponsorship deal in June 2023, SailGP and Apex Group have been working together to bring the latter’s change-making Women’s Accelerator Program into the world of sport for the first time.
The recent 2023 McKinsey Women in the Workplace report, the largest study of women in corporate America, recorded that there are only 28% women at C-Suite/Senior Vice President level, 37% at Senior Manager/Director Level and 40% at Manager level. SailGP’s figures are higher with 36% at Head of Department level and 42% at Director level, however there is still a gap at the top that this program will seek to close.
In partnership with Apex Group, the program aims to increase representation of women at senior management levels, working towards driving more inclusive decision making through the league and the wider sport. Breaking boundaries in sailing since October 2021, SailGP’s Women’s Pathway ensures female athletes race on board all ten national teams at every single SailGP event, a milestone for womens sailing. The league has an ambition to have a female driver by Season 6.
The program is based upon Apex Group’s Women’s Accelerator Program, which was designed and launched in January 2022. It has proven to break down gender-related barriers in the 13,000 strong financial services giant, as it operates in another traditionally male dominated industry. Over 50% of Apex Group’s participants secured promotions, progression or new roles in its inaugural program, and the firm doubled the size of its intake the following year.
The program was conceived by Apex Group’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Rosie Guest, who said: “When we were originally discussing a potential partnership with SailGP, one of the most important things to both businesses was how we could be mutually impactful for one another in the areas that matter most. The discussion became really animated when we started talking about our Internal Women’s Accelerator Program within Apex Group, and the tangible and immediate improvements in gender equity we’d seen as a result. We are now extremely proud to be able to share that IP with SailGP and guide them in the construction and delivery of a Women’s Accelerator Program for both their athletes and corporate team members, to ultimately support progression in another equally male dominated industry. I can’t wait to see the results of the program at the end of this year!”
Participants will move through the program together and can expect the following opportunities:
• Sessions with inspirational leaders in key areas that women are known to face during career progression, both in sport and in business • Peer learning via round table sessions, small group coaching, and the ‘Accelerator Project’ • Support through coaching and mentoring and the opportunity to refine their own mentorship skills • Reflection to recognize their progress made on their leadership journey • Support to create and implement their own development plan
Fiona Morgan, Chief Purpose Officer at SailGP, said: “It’s easy to get lost in the challenges and barriers faced when driving inclusivity in sport and business. It is vitally important that we keep pushing and showing the value of change. SailGP has an ambition to be the most inclusive league in sailing and change the face of the sport. We are proud of the Women’s Pathway but we are fully aware that we can do more and need to do more. This first ever Women’s Accelerator Program, with thanks to the Apex Group, has the potential to make a real difference both on and off the water and I am so proud of the program to drive more inclusive leadership”
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