DMS – Class 40

PROFIL

Pete Goss, is a British yachtsman who has clocked up 250,000 nautical miles (460,000 km) at sea.

A former Royal Marine, he is famous for his pioneering project Team Philips. He received a Legion  d'Honneur for saving fellow sailor Raphaël Dinelli in the 1996 Vendée Globe solo around the world yacht race. During a severe storm in the Southern Ocean, he turned his boat around and spent two days sailing into hurricane force winds, finally finding Dinelli in a life-raft that had been dropped by an Australian Air Force plane shortly before his own yacht had sunk. He trained the original set of amateur crews for the British Steel Challenge, and competed in the race on board  Hoffbräu Lager, coming 3rd overall.

Goss currently lives in Torpoint, Cornwall and has three teenage children.

In June 2008, Goss launched a replica of a 19th century wooden lugger called The Spirit of Mystery. Four months later, he began a voyage from Cornwall to Australia on the boat, which has no modern electrical or navigation systems.

GOSS GOES SOLO AGAIN – The Route du Rhum 2010

Pete has partnered with Team Concise, winners of last year’s Class 40 World Championship, to enter a brand new boat in the 3,500-mile race commencing on Sunday 31st October 2010. Together with title sponsors DMS, this formidable team believe they can be very competitive in this gruelling test of man and boat.

Racing a Class 40 is going to be very different to his last challenge of sailing ‘Spirit of Mistery’, a 37-foot wooden lugger weighing 16-tonnes, to Australia at an average speed of about 4 knots. The Class 40 weighs a quarter of that and can sail consistently at speeds in excess of 25 knots.

‘Team Concise’ is made up of two halves, with the current young World Championship crew working up the boat to defend their title in Gijon in July before they compete in the Seven Star Round Britain and Ireland race. Pete will be working in parallel with this programme until Concise 2 moves to Plymouth in August when he will start his own full-time preparations. According to Pete, “mixing it up with the young guns” will be a tremendous help as he gets to know the boat.

It is this sort of experience that Pete brings to the ISAF World Championship winning team. Team Concise owner Tony Lawson said: “This is a truly symbiotic relationship. Pete will race a brand new boat prepared by my boys as part of his short-handed offshore racing program. Meanwhile we can benefit from the advice and inspiration of this world-renowned offshore sailor, building on our knowledge base as we prepare for bigger challenges ahead. We hope it is the start of a long-term relationship”.

Asked if this race signals a return to a career as a solo ocean racer, Pete said: “I have never had a career, just a series of adventures and who knows where this one will lead. I never say never, so let’s see where this adventure takes us.”