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Icom Supports The 2008 Round Britain Offshore Powerboat Race

The race is on! More than 80 boats, crew and support teams are preparing for the first ‘Round Britain Powerboat Race’ in 23 years.The race promises to be an action-packed, non-stop endurance event and will be one of the most spectacular British marine sporting events seen in recent years.

The scale of this event is huge; the competitors face a gruelling, 1,600 mile trip around the coasts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Beginning and ending in Portsmouth, the race will start on Saturday, 21st of June and finish some 10 days and 10 locations later. There will be over 100 stop-offs, with some legs of the race being well over 200 nautical miles.

ICOM are providing radio communication equipment to ‘Two Scoops’, a 39ft Hunton powerboat skippered by Iain May.

‘Two Scoops’, has been causing quite a stir within the media. Its celebrity crew is made up of ‘Top Gear’ cameraman and skipper Iain May, ‘DIY SOS’ presenter Nick Knowles, ‘Top Gear’ presenter James May and navigator Jeff Hunton, this places ‘Two Scoops’ firmly in the public imagination.

‘Two Scoops’ skipper Iain May and the Powerboat event have an interesting connection – in 1969 Iain’s father competed in the first ever race.

When asked about his motivation for taking up the challenge, Iain said, ‘In 1969 my father finished 11th in this race, on a boat called Translucent. I have always been keen to emulate his success. I think I have selected an ideal team mate in my ‘Top Gear’ colleague James May. James and I have worked closely together over the last 5 years and we have often talked about taking on a challenge of this nature’.

ICOM UK was approached as a preferred partner to provide VHF communications for the ‘Two Scoops’ crew during the event. With ICOM UK’s products being fitted as standard on the Hunton Production boats, and reliability and quality of paramount importance; ICOM was the first choice of the crew. When provided with an IC-M505 Fixed VHF/DSC transceiver, and an IC-M71 handheld transceiver Iain May commented ‘It’s great; the VHF unit works with our crash helmets and also talks to the rest of our navigation gear. We’ve also got a Procom antenna to get maximum range.”

Icom would like to wish the “Two Scoops” crew lots of luck on race day!

Icom UK Marketing - marketing@icomuk.co.uk