… on the importance of the right kit
Hi, I’m Justin Clohessy and I’m skippering the Infinity 88. We call our team Bikinis and Bowlines. We came across this event through Bruce (Parker-Forsyth), and when he mentioned it we decided it would be a perfect opportunity to come and experience the lovely Seychelles and get some sailing in.
And so we handpicked teammates who we thought might enjoy the experience and we put a team together and rented a lovely 454L cat and so far we’ve been very impressed and very happy with the experience.
We were so keen to get on the team sheet that we became the first team to enter the event!
When I put the team together I approached two companies:
- Sebago Shoes and their Docksides – arguably the best sailing shoe available. They offered us a lovely shoe in our team colours at a discounted price. They were also very supportive when we had to change some shoe sizes.
- We also approached Helly Hansen’s local office and ordered kit for our team. They were incredibly helpful.
We have certainly picked two top notch sailing gear suppliers. Our kit and shoes are of the highest quality, and have saved my crew from injuring themselves and from being sunburnt. One cannot underestimate the importance of having the right equipment when you do an extreme sport like sailing.
You need a good pair of shoes which allows you to have grip on the deck when you’re moving forward and aft, protects your toes from kicking hatches, and protects your feet when you are on an unstable area because it gives you good grip.
On the clothing side of things, our Helly Hansen kit is just the most comfortable and most effective UV-protected sailing gear that I’ve ever experienced. They have given us the maximum protection from the elements and comfort in this environment.
The beauty of the event for us this week – and we’ve talked about it quite often – is the beauty of the Seychelles, the beauty of the people, the beauty of the environment, and the warm welcome from Tourism Seychelles and our event partners.
We were all very well aware of the Seychelles’ drive to protect their natural assets, which we fully support and admire. This is a spectacular destination.
What has been the most amazing is the wonderful sharing of this beautiful part of the world by the locals. We wouldn’t have thought to come here if it wasn’t for this event. It is a beautiful part of the world and we’ve already put our names down for next year!
Encountering the rich marine life here has been so rewarding. We’ve seen fish! We’ve seen turtles! We’ve seen sharks… We actually believe that the turtles here are our good luck charm and that they wish us good luck along our way. We’ve encountered a few this week, and the crew gets very excited when we see a turtle swim by.
Bruce, Hylton (Hale), the Seychelles Tourism and Creole Travel Services teams, and all the wonderful partners of the Seychelles Challenge for making this event possible.
We’ll be back!
