Following a call for competitors in the JPMorgan Assessment Management Round the Island Race to use the event to raise money for charity, Volvo Extreme 40 (VX40) Motorola Skipper, Conrad Humphreys has risen to the challenge and will be raising money and awareness for Prostate Cancer by flying a branded spinnaker in support of the charity, donations can be made online directly to Prostate Cancer at www.justgiving.com/conradhumphreys.

The start of the race this Saturday will be the first time that the five, identical VX40s will have raced in a category 4 race and outside of the Grand Prix Volvo Ocean Race, in-port circuit. They will certainly provide a spectacle on the race course, which is the kind of attention that Humphreys and his crew are hoping for on Motorola. Through the event the crew will raise awareness of prostate cancer, a lesser known cancer which affects so many but is rarely talked about.

Conrad Humphreys comments: “Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in men. Each year in the UK about 22,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and 9,500 die from the disease.

“Despite these figures there’s a real shyness amongst men to check and get checked out. The purpose of this charity appeal is two-fold. We’re asking men to dig deep in more ways than one; raise money for cancer and be a little bit more aware! Ignorance isn’t bliss.

“There are going to be approximately 13,000 people out on the water during the Round the Island Race so it gives us the perfect, high profile opportunity to raise some awareness.

“It’s great to have the chance to showcase these boats to such a huge audience in one of Europe’s biggest regattas.”

The brand-new state-of-the-art Volvo Extreme 40s will start with the multihulls at 6.20am, but will have their own class.

The current multihull record for the JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race was set in 2001 by Francis Joyon and stands at 3 hours 8 minutes 29 seconds. The speed of these cutting edge boats could mean new record are set as Humphreys continues:

“If the conditions are right we could certainly see records broken. We’ll be watching the forecast very carefully in the final few days in the lead up to the race and are looking forward to seeing how the boats perform in a different type of race involving such a huge fleet.

“It’s going to be an extreme ride for all the VX40s taking part and will certainly be one of the highlights of the day.”