Tim Kent, American solo sailor, has announced his plans to compete for the Open 50 monohull FICO-Lacoste World Championship title on his Jim Antrim-designed boat ‘Everest Horizontal’.

The event for Open 50 monohulls comprises four races, the first of which is the 28,000 nm ‘Around Alone’ in which he is currently competiting and lying second overall in Class 2. The second race in the championship is the inaugural ‘Saguenay-St Pierre-Vendee’ race, a crewed event for Open 50 boats. Starting on 15 June 2003 from Saguenay, Quebec, Canada, competitors sail to the St Pierre Islands off the coast of Canada for a 48 hour layover and a round the buoys regatta. They then head across the Atlantic to the finish in Les Sables D’Olonne, France, home of the legendary Vendée Globe solo non-stop round the world race. The third race, also a crewed event, is the famed ‘Rolex Fastnet’; a short, sharp sprint competition which leaves from Cowes, Isle of Wight, England at the end of Cowes Week Regatta on 10 August, and takes the fleet around the infamous Fastnet Rock in the Irish Sea and finishes in Plymouth, England.

The fourth and final race is the doublehanded ‘Transat Jacques Vabre’, which starts in Le Havre, France this November. This classic race sees both multihulls and monohulls battle through the stormy Bay of Biscay in the North Atlantic, before crossing the Doldrums and Equator line and racing to the finish in Salvador, Brazil with the South Atlantic trades. Kent’s potential podium finish on the current leg of the Around Alone would catapult him into a dominant position in the FICO-Lacoste rankings heading into the rest of the series.