THE TEAM


John Bankart
One of the new breed in ocean racing, with a world record plus a circumnavigation as skipper already under his belt, John is an achiever with the personality & dedication needed to win Vendee Globe 2004-2005!

Sailing internationally since the age of 12, John has grown through the ranks from dinghy sailing through to maxis, has competed in 4 Sydney to Hobarts & the notorious Fastnet.

Skipper of the yacht Maiden in "The Hong Kong Challenge" around the world, John placed 4th overall, won legs 1 & 4, appearing on the podium 7 times!

An experienced Open 60 sailor, John was navigator of the Magna Data, smashing the previous non-stop around Australia record in less than 44 days! With only 3 on-board this was a perfect lead up to Vendee Globe 2004-2005.

Ranked an Ocean Yachtmaster, John is also an accomplished instructor & was instrumental in training a crew in the '96/97 BT Global Challenge around the world. His experience includes sailing schools, race training, outside consulting, running training & teambuilding courses with Australian & UK companies.

'John is a skilled communicator', John Palmer of UV Productions commented; 'John proved himself able to talk to the camera in a style which made valuable and inspirational contribution to the coverage of the Around Australia race'. (TV documentary 1999)

'A professional and enthusiastic skipper' Nick Lloyd, PSION, UK

'John is an extremely competent, trustworthy and professional skipper' Greg Burton, The Challenge Business, UK

'John was particularly charismatic and an excellent ambassador for the race and Nuclear Electric' Chris Daniels, Seeboard PLC, UK

Merfyn Owen
Owen Clarke Design Group
 Principal designers of Kingfisher, 2nd place boat in the Vendee Globe 2000, the Owen Clarke Design Group & their design partners will produce a new 60 foot design for the 2004-2005 Vendee Globe race. The boat will begin build in Australia in 2002 for an Australian syndicate headed by John Bankart.

The latest design will be a derivative of Kingfisher, the Open 60 built for Ellen MacArthur's record-breaking Vendee Globe campaign. The Vendee Globe is a non-stop singlehanded round-the-world race. When designing Kingfisher, the designers in addition to the obvious need for high performance concentrated their efforts on reliability, improved safety, ease of handling and directional stability. These are all considered equally important to the success of an Around Alone project.

Designer principal Merfyn Owen, when asked about the new design commented: "A new weather and yacht performance model is being created for the next Vendee. It is this study that is being carried out by the design team first. Lessons learnt from the design, build and sailing of Kingfisher will then be incorporated in the new yacht. For instance the balance and directional stability of Kingfisher has been highly encouraging. We therefore see no grounds not to retain the twin rudder/swing keel arrangement for both safety and performance reasons. As well as closely working with the client, development for the next boat is likely be focused on rig and sail plan optimisation aimed at the new course."
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Alan Nebauer
Alan Nebauer, Project Consultant for John's Vendee Globe 2004-2005 campaign, has an extensive personal background in high performance ocean racing.


Alan has competed in the BOC Challenge (Around Alone), skippering Newcastle Australia, and has also acted as Project Manager for Balance Bar, another Around Alone campaign out of the USA, so is quite familiar with solo around the world yacht racing.

Alan was heavily involved with John in preparations for the non-stop around Australia record in the yacht Magna Data in 1999, cementing a close working relationship.

As one of Australia's top solo skippers, Alan will be involved in every aspect of design, construction & preparation of boat & skipper. Alan's extensive experience & knowledge will be invaluable to John and the Vendee Globe 2004-2005 campaign.

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