Getting a Brit to the Vendée start line...

It's no mean feat getting to the start line of any race. There are personal challenges to overcome, sacrifices to be made and of course the financials play a part in there too... Except this isn't any old start to any old race, it's the Vendée Globe!

The Vendée Globe is simple. It's a 28,000nm, nonstop, solo race around the world on 60ft state of the art racing yachts. The boats are the Le Mans of the car racing world, incredible amounts of research goes into not only making them fast, but also reliable and simple enough so that tired drivers don't make a race costing mistake. This is where I hope the proud British engineers will make their mark.

The race is not only about the boat, the human side of things are incredible too. Most skippers will spend ~80days with about 5hours max of sleep, clutching at 20min catnaps as and when the boat and conditions allow. It's a serious human endeavour! This is where I hope the talented British sports scientists will make their mark.

The biggest hurdle that sailors like me are currently facing isn't time on the water, the #vendee2020vision initiative by Whitecap is taking care of that, but rather the financials. It's by no means a cheap endeavour, but the rewards for a partner are almost incalculable. I estimate 5x your investment, but with a good activation budget, really the sky (and 10x maybe even 20x) is the limit! This is where I hope a united Britain will make their mark.

Whitecap, with support from Artemis Investment, are already leaving their mark. #vendee2020vision is an initiative for 10 of the top British solo sailors to improve their skills on and off the water. They have given us the unique opportunity to spend 3 days with Dee Caffari training aboard the boat and a day with the commercial team.

#Vendee2020vision has a simple aim - To achieve a British winner of the Vendee Globe race in 2020. It's already leaving it's mark, will you embrace this quintessentially British undertaking and leave yours?