THE BOAT

This project simply wouldn’t be possible without sponsors. Since the beginning, our objective has been to try and run the entire project (excluding the race entry fee) on a budget of £0, thus ensuring that as much money as possible is raised for charity. This is clearly no small task in itself. Most ocean rowing crews estimate that it costs around £50,000 for them to actually be able to enter the Atlantic Rowing Race, including the race entry fee, purchasing a boat, and buying all of the equipment they need. Only once that money has been raised to cover their own costs can they actually start the task of charity fundraising.

While we won’t have to spend ~£20,000 buying a boat, we face the much more daunting task of designing, testing, validating and building our race boat – all for as little cost as possible. Fortunately, thanks to the incredibly positive attitude of several companies and people, we already have a great deal of what we need to build the boat in place, hopefully allowing us to design and construct our boat for a cost to the project of £0.

KIT AND PUBLICITY

Once the resource to construct the boat is secured, we must turn our attention to all of the kit we need to allow us to cross the ocean quickly, accurately and safely. You’ll find a list of everything we’ll be taking with us here. All of this totals at least £25,000 – a significant dent in our potential charity funds if we can’t secure the right sponsorship deals. We’re looking for people and companies not just to donate money to the project, but also to help with our kit requirements by donating matierals in-kind. You’ll see details of the amazing organisations that are helping us already by looking through the Bronze, Silver and Gold sections of the menu above.

On top of the costs of building and equiping the boat, we’re looking at how we can publicise the project to the very maximum of its potential. This thinking in turn leads to more expense, unless sponsors can be found to support it. Once again, several firms have already risen to the challenge – this website, for example, has been designed and coded by one of sponsors free-of-charge, and we have a design agency working on our printed material. When the race boat is ready, we’d like to hold a formal launch evening, where we can thank our sponsors, unveil the boat and hold a fundraiser. All of this will require planning and sponsorship to ensure a net gain to the project and the charity funds.

CHARITY

Of course, the whole aim of this project is to raise £250,000 for charity. To this end, all other work and costs aside, we need to as many finanical donations as possible. We’re hoping to raise money both through large corporate sponsors but also through public and private donations – which will all eventually be possible through this website. Details of what we can provide in return for businesses that support us can be found in the Sponsorship Structure section, or by downloading our Sponsorship Brochure.

BENTLEY MOTORS

Bentley Motors are staunch supporters of the project. The diverse and skilled Engineering department at Bentley is supporting the design of the boat, and the creative Marketing team have agreed to help us with publicising the project as much as possible, through the vast array of connections available to them. Through the large-scale publicity that we’ll generate through Bentley, we’ll be able to highlight all of our sponsors in an effective way. A serialised newspaper story, a TV documentary and Project Torpedalo on Bentley motorshow stands are all currently being investigated or negotiated. By sponsoring the project, with Bentley’s help you can be sure of brand exposure and guaranteed publicity.