“Ajay Rau” first Indian to race The Rolex Sydney Hobart
Sydney: December 26, 2009, will be a historic day for Indian Yachting as Ajay Rau becomes the first Indian to crew in one of Yachting world’s most prestigious Ocean Races. The Rolex Sydney Hobart.
The Rolex Sydney Hobart 628 mile course is often described as the most grueling long ocean race in the world. There is always a high element of risk involved when sailing this race. In the 65 year race history there have been numerous casualties from boat damage to death. The lineup has always been impressive with world class sailors taking part from the Volvo Ocean Race to the America's Cup crews. It is encouraging to see an Indian among the legends of the sport. A fleet of 100 yachts will compete in this year's race, which starts at 13:00 AEDT, 26 December 26, 2009.
Team Merit
Ajay Rau is crewing for team “Merit”, a Volvo 60 ( 2001 Volvo Ocean Race Yacht). The Team is skippered by Leo Rodriguez (Aus). The 18 member Squad is dominated by sailors from Australia. However there are a few sailors from Great Britain and one sailor each from New Zealand, India, Holland, Finland and the USA. . The team has retained most of its victorious crew from last year’s race where it won the PHS division.
Earlier this month Ajay trained on the Merit; sailing 386 nautical miles (50 hours) from Southport to Sydney. The team has been making constant changes to the boat and training hard in Sydney in preparation for the big race. For the Start Ajay has been assigned the job as the head sail (Jib) trimmer and grinder.
“ I would like to thank my family, well wishers and Sponsors, without whom none of this would have been possible. I am also very fortunate that Leo Rodriguez has given me this opportunity to be part of the team, despite my inexperience in this kind of racing.”- says an elated Ajay.
Media Information
Rigorous Preparation, Single minded determination, Superlative timing. Welcome to the 2009 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.The Rolex Sydney Hobart has become an icon of Australia’s summer sport, ranking in public interest with such Australian events as the Melbourne Cup horse race, the Davis Cup tennis and the cricket tests between Australia and England. With spectator numbers on Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Harbour foreshore expected to reach around 500,000 people, together with Seven Network’s Australia wide television audience of 500,000 viewers, and the addition of Yahoo !7’s national and international audience reach (for more info visit http://au.sports.yahoo.com/) it is predicted that the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race will be one of the most viewed sporting events in the world in the month of December.
YouTube - Interview with Ajay Rau, the first Native of India Participating in a Rolex Sydney Hobart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
You can watch India’s Ajay Rau and his team live in this incredible race through the following feeds:
Log onto www.svsvideo.tv and view live coverage of the race. This is one of the rare opportunities where viewers will be able to communicate with the team during the race, making the experience very personal. Additionally fans will be able to keep track of all the boats by accessing the Yacht tracker program and receiving mobile updates. (For more information visit http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/ )
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