British team boosted by Olympic addition at the helm in Volvo Extreme 40 series

Hugh Styles, Tornado Olympiad, will be at the helm of the recently announced Team Basilica an all-British entry in the Volvo Extreme 40 series.

Styles’s skills will compliment the other team members who will be sailing their cat under the burgee of Hayling Island Sailing Club, bringing some extensive expertise previously seen in Olympic and World Class racing events.

Styles said, “After being introduced to Basilica and offered the opportunity to helm for the team, I could not say yes fast enough. The VX40 is the pinnacle of cat sailing, it is the extreme form of sailing to which every sailor strives. I am delighted and proud to be part of Team Basilica’s VX40 British entry.”

Nick Gorringe, Managing Director of Basilica Computing Ltd is a keen sailor himself. He recently took part in the Global Challenge 2004/5, and expressed his pride in being able to back a truly British entry, “We are delighted to have an all British team of Olympic and International sailors representing us in this new and exciting extreme multihull series.”

Team Basilica

Hugh Styles- An Olympic Tornado sailor who represented Team GBR at the Sydney Olympic Games 2000. He has won medals at World and European Championship levels. Previously ranked 2nd in the ISAF Tornado world rankings, a position he held for 2 years running. Prior to switching to Tornado sailing Hugh was Laser European champion.

Peter Greenhalgh- Represented Great Britain at every level from the British Youth Squad to GBR at the Sydney Pre-Olympics 49er Class. With six years of Olympic sailing as his grounding, he then moved onto winning the much coveted 18ft skiff worlds with his brother Robert and became an integral part of J-UK, commissioning and coaching sports boats. Peter’s brother Robert is also sailing on ABN Amro One in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Alister Richardson-Twice young sailor of the year, Alister began his professional career at a young age. Moving on from youth sailing he decided to team up with Peter Greenhalgh embarking on six years of Olympic sailing. Since then he has sailed with Hugh Styles in the Tornado and won the International 14 European and National Championships.

James Grant- Having competed at all levels, James found success in many of the skiff classes. He was an integral part of Robert Greenhalgh’s Ultra 30 Grand Prix winning team. James also found success in many of the top keelboat classes, for example Farr 40s, and again sailing with Robert Greenhalgh in the Tour de Voille to 4th place. Working in parallel with professional sailing, he has been coaching top youth sailors to become future Olympians.