Ben Rogerson (25) who recently sailed his Mini Transat 6.50m yachtMini Minxsolo in an eastabout direction, non-stop 1,924 nautical miles round Britain and Ireland, is competing at Cowes Week.

Rogerson’s circumnavigation, in support of the charitable organisation Toe in the Water, took 15 days, 3 hours, and 8 minutes to complete, and was part of his build up to a Mini Transat Campaign in 2011.

This week he has joined two race teams at Cowes, including a Sunsail charter yacht for the first few days where he took on a coaching role, and for the last three days he’s been racing as a crew member on a Farr 45 -Atomic.

Fresh from his circumnavigation, Rogerson confessed that it was a bit of a contrast stepping from the Mini Transat yacht to a Sunsail 37 but it was extremely enjoyable. Rogerson commented: “I spent over two weeks totally alone and having to handle everything on the boat myself, and then came to Cowes to join the Sunsail team on Barnett Ravenscroft and help them out with a bit of round-the-cans coaching. They were a great team and sailed well. They got some good results including two thirds and have now rounded the week off with a very respectable third place overall.”

The last few days from Tuesday onwards Rogerson was crewmember on the Farr 45 Atomic and was also pleased the team that had only done half the week, managed to finish 13th overall.

As far as his Mini Transat campaign goes, Rogerson says now he has a boat he’s confident the plans for 2011 will slot into place. “I’ve been planning to do a Mini Transat for years but the only way I could afford to get on the ladder was to charter a boat. Luckily I foundMini Minxin Gosport and came to a deal with the owner, whereby I would do it up for him, in return for the use of it for a year and a half.”

Although Rogerson has already embarked on Mini Transat endurance racing with his sprint round Britain and Ireland, he has yet to enter the Mini Transat race circuit. “There’s still a lot to do to the boat but I hope to have it up to scratch by the end of the year ready to really start training.”

Once he has some serious miles under his belt, and gained some recognition that may help him to attract sponsorship, Rogerson hopes to build the boat he has already designed and use that for the 2011 race.