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by Jennifer Dart
The Westerly News
May 9, 2007

The boats arrive in Ucluelet June 24 and leave June 27.

The start of the 2007 Cadillac Van Isle 360 is fast approaching and race organizers are in high gear preparing for this year's sold out event.

Forty-two boats, the largest fleet in the history of the race, are expected on the start line in Nanaimo Harbour on June 16.

"If you line up all the boats end for end they occupy 1,680 feet of water with 420 sailors on the boats at any one time. It will certainly make some of the start lines very exciting," says Race Director Wayne Gorrie.

The Race Committee, who actually run the 'on water' parts of the race are also in high gear. Principal Race Officer, Dave McCallum, is very excited with the calibre and number of boats this year.

"The extra boats will definately be a challenge but we are up for it," he says. "Some of these boats are capable of very high speed so one of the biggest challenges we face is beating the boats to the next town or stop. We are literally in a race of our own. We start the boats in one town, stand down, get all the equipment and gear back onboard our land yacht (an Arbutus RV motorhome used as a mobile race office), drive like mad to the next stop and set up the new finish line before the first boats get there. There have been a few close calls over the years but we've always managed to pull it off."

This year, however, McCullum and the rest of the Race Committee: Steve Ellis, Don Bonner and Bob Davis will have the assistance of a rather large motoryacht.

Kim Alfreds, a two time winner of the Cadillac Van Isle 360 multihull division with his previous boat the F31 Trimaran, Cheekee Monkee, has gone over to the 'Dark Side' and purchased a motoryacht.

Alfreds has generously offered the use of his new 87 foot Queenship, Souvenir, to assist the race committee on some of the inside legs from Nanaimo to Port Hardy.

For more information on the race and to read about each of the boats entered, visit www.vanisle360.com

The boats arrive in Ucluelet June 24 and leave June 27.

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Copyright The Westerly News, a Canwest Company. Reproduction of this article or photographs, in whole or in part, is illegal without the written consent of The Westerly News (westnews@ukeecable.net).
The Westerly News is published each Wednesday in Ucluelet. Phone: 250 726-7029

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