Conrad Humphreys, the winning skipper of the 2000-01 BT Global Challenge, has gone in to partnership with Motorola for a six-month period to enable him to enter the 2003 Transat Jacques Vabre, and take him one step closer to his dream of competing in the 2004-05 Vendée Globe.

Motorola, who previously backed Humphreys for the 2002 Route du Rhum, has committed to a new partnership with Humphreys and his business motivation and leadership company, 06T, until the end of 2003. As well as enabling Humphreys to charter a leading boat for the Transat Jacques Vabre, the programme, to be called ‘The Leadership Learning Partnership’, has been designed to bring together business leaders in an arduous, team-building environment designed to develop their leadership skills.

The partnership starts this Saturday (21 June) in the Round-The-Island Race, when Humphreys will play host on the Challenge yacht he skippered in the 2000-01 BT Global Challenge. The boat is to be rebranded and renamed ‘HELLOMOTO’ for the race, and the crew is to be made up of customers and employees of Motorola. A similar arrangement will also be in place for the Fastnet Race in August, when Humphreys will skipper the Volvo 60 formerly sponsored by Tyco.

For the Transat Jacques Vabre, which starts in Le Havre in November, Humphreys has an option to either charter an Open 50 or an Open 60. He is also already in the process of selecting a co-skipper and a full support team. All elements of the campaign will be in place by the end of August.

Humphreys commented: “This is not a one dimension sponsorship campaign, but a business partnership between ourselves and Motorola that we hope will be highly successful for both parties. The main objective of our company, O6T, is to secure agreements such as this with companies of Motorola’s size, so we are obviously thrilled. We will now have a very busy schedule throughout the summer, and I hope that the funding from Motorola, together with the team that we will put in place, will enable me to be a real contender when we line up in Le Havre for the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre. Furthermore, this agreement takes me one step closer to achieving my long-term aim of competing in next year’s Vendée Globe.”