Conrad thanks the readers of Coast Magazine, a magazine which celebrates the British coastline in all its spectacular, quirky, life-affirming glory, for nominating him for the Coast Awards 2011. He has been recognised for his efforts with creating and organising The Blue Mile, and from the nominees has been short-listed for the title of “Unsung Coastal Hero” in the Coast Awards 2011. This category is one of eight categories that went before the judging panel in early December, and the results will be announced in March 2011.
When sanofi-aventis wanted a motivational speaker for their business strategy team event, they were looking for someone who had pro-actively demonstrated strong leadership skills in difficult and challenging situations with a team of people and was able to communicate in a clear way. They found their perfect speaker in Conrad. As part of their two-day event, Conrad provided a key-note speech followed by an interactive Q&A session, which inspired and energised the already high-performing group. With sanofi-aventis’ values of customer focus, initiative, accountability, success and collaboration, Conrad’s experiences from his round the world races were highly relevant and he received excellent feedback from the delegates.
Canada Life, a leading provider of group insurance solutions chose Conrad to speak to over 250 of their employees at their recent regional staff conference. Focusing on topics such as leadership in difficult times and team working, Conrad used his sailing experiences as metaphors in the business environment. He received outstanding feedback with the client saying that everyone felt inspired and uplifted. Ian McMullan, Managing Director of Group Insurance, Canada Life commented of Conrad’s presentation “Truly engaging, inspiring and uplifting. Conrad was able to weave Canada Life’s Business themes throughout and wonderfully complemented my messages on the day”.
Earlier this summer I decided to join the Artemis Academy to prepare for the Figaro in 2011 and a return to solo sailing. It has been over four years since I last competed in a single-handed event, having switched to multihulls in 2005 with the Extreme 40 (2005-7) and the F18 (2007-9). The multihull sailing has proved invaluable because you learn much more about flow (over sails /foils) than in keelboats. It also sharpens your instinct. I employed ex-Olympic Tornado sailors in the early days, as the Extreme 40 is a very different discipline to the Open 60. The last three seasons with the F18 have also been brilliant, particularly racing the Archipelago Raid against people like Eric Proust and Martin Strandberg. The steep learning curve of sailing multis has been invaluable but now I want to turn my attention back to single-handed sailing, with the aim of a return to the Vendee Globe in the near future.
My last campaign with communications giant, Motorola gave me the opportunity to take part in the Vendee. What not many people realise is that my relationship with Motorola was more than just sailing. It started in 2002, just ahead of the Route du Rhum, when Motorola as a company was in decline after the telecoms crash in the late 90’s and had laid off thousands of staff. Knowing that I had recently led a team to victory in the BT Global Challenge, they asked if I would create a leadership programme for their staff and in return, they sponsored my entry into the turbulent 2002 edition of the Route du Rhum. In 2003 with the TJV, I was still engaging Motorola’s employees, even doing live phone-ins from the Atlantic. Securing backing from a major sponsor comes with many additional responsibilities, some not always geared to racing. I’ve learnt a huge amount about delivering value for sponsors over the last 10 years particularly since the Vendee through my own company Sport Environment.
So, in 2010 now with a beautiful young family (Katelyn who is three and Isabel one) settled, I’ve decided to return to solo sailing, but with a balanced campaign that will start next year with La Solitaire du Figaro and then move onto the Transat in 2012. I’m realistic about my chances in the Figaro and I’m looking forward to lining up against the best solo sailors in the world. By joining the Artemis Academy this year, I have access to a structured training programme, advice and coaching. From here, I will charter a Figaro in 2011 and look for a sponsor to cover some of the costs. I see 2011 as a transition year, balancing some amazing work commitments, before returning to sailing full time in 2012.
I look forward to building a new highly visible campaign over the next 5 years with some fantastic partners.
I have been watching with great interest this year’s Route du Rhum (RdR), the incredible solo race from St Malo to Guadeloupe. I remember well the excitement and intrepidation I felt when I was about to start my first solo Transatlantic race in the 2002 edition of the RdR, when I raced in the Open 40 “Hellomoto”. This was a true baptism of fire for me as we were about to head into the worst storm of the race’s 30 year history and the fleet was decimated as we reached the Bay of Biscay. Two thirds of the fleet abandoned the race, including myself as my boat was dismasted and I had to limp back to the safety of Brem-sur-Mer under jury rig.
Really enjoyed watching Franck Cammas’ performance in this years’s Route du Rhum. Great credit to his routing team as well. They went the right way and whilst the handling of this monster trimaran was a probable factor for going south, it was the best option and I was a bit surprised that Oman and Sodebo didn’t head that way.
This summer I attended the trials for the Artemis Academy to get a feel for the Figaro. After a break from solo sailing, I’m very keen to give the Figaro a shot in 2011. It will be a challenge with work and family, as both have grown steadily over the last three years, but having watch La Solitaire closely this year and followed the struggles that Jonny Malbon faced, I’d like to give it a go. More news to follow on this….
Conrad Humphreys has been awarded University Colours in recognition and appreciation of his outstanding contribution to sport in the community. He was among a distinguished line up of sports and recreation ‘champions’ including Plymouth Albion Rugby Chairman, Graham Dawe at the ‘Partners Through Sport Celebration Dinner 2010’ event on Saturday 18th September. Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies MBE compered the event and Conrad was presented with the colours in recognition for creating and organising The Blue Mile – Race for the Environment, designed to engage people actively with our water environment.
I grabbed some time off with Vikki and the girls during August after the Blue Mile inaugural event. We headed to La Torche (Finisterre) and then camped next to the Raz de Sein, in a great spot called Baie des Trépassés. Whilst there wasn’t a great deal of surf about, the sun shone and the girls got to play in the waves and rockpools. I was surprised at how quiet this part of Brittany is compared with further south – lovely spot. The wind blew for one day, which allowed me to kitesurf out to the Lighthouse in the Raz de Sein, the current was amazing, swirling and boiling around the point – I didn’t hang around too long in case the wind dropped!
The time away also allowed a chance to think strategically about the next few years. The Blue Project is now quite established with Teresa managing its day to day operations with the help of Paul and Vikki. The Blue Mile was a great success and all of the partners have expressed interest in building it further for 2011. Whilst the Blue Lecture Series didn’t go ahead this year, we are looking to get this off the ground and already have some great speakers interested in 2011.
I pleased to see Pete Goss’ entry into the Route du Rhum this year, and it certainly got me thinking about this wonderful race which was my baptism into solo sailing. The race in 2002 will go in history as the event that rocked the world of the ORMA 60 fleet, when a powerful storm caused widespread damage to the fleet. I was sailing an innovative Open 40 (Syllogic), which we had just christened “Hellomoto” after an 11th hour sponsorship from Motorola. The race was the start of a wonderful journey towards the Vendee Globe in 2004/5 with Motorola, although soon after I was dismasted in the Bay of Biscay early in the race, it was not the start that I had hoped for….more about this little adventure can be read here… http://www.conradhumphreys.com/racing/conradhumphreys_journey_routederhum_2002.html
I will be heading down-under for my 5th Sydney Hobart at the end of the year and will be putting together a new project for 2011, looking towards the 2012 Artemis Transat.
A packed audience joined Conrad Humphreys to listen to him speak about sport and the environment. He was joined on stage by Ray Mears, who delighted the crowds with his tales of survival. Both speakers were part of the line up for this years Explore the Outdoors Show 2010.
“The afternoon slot of any workshop usually suffers from the post-lunch slump. But if anyone had plans to join the sleepy sloths outside in the zoo, they would have been rudely awoken by Conrad Humphreys and his salty stories of the sea.
Conrad, still only in his mid thirties, is a triple round-the-world yachtsman and the youngest skipper to ever win the prestigious BT Global Challenge, which he did at aged 28 in 2000. A surprising choice as a source of learning for a group of environmental scientists and engineers perhaps, but an inspirational choice, we soon discovered. Because, like Defra, competitive sailing involves responding to a rapidly changing environment, where you need to create a knowledge sharing environment to inspire and manage effective team working. As well as being an expert yachtsman, Conrad’s experiences on the high seas has given him incredible insight into team building, performance management and motivation – skills that he sums up as ‘creating a culture for success’ and which the audience agreed were vital for raising Defra’s game.
To help us learn more about these vital skills, Conrad took us on his voyages around the world, introducing us to his team mates, the places they visited, the troubles they met and the ways they worked together to win. We met the former mathematician put in charge of food, who produced a spreadsheet calculating menu plans of the limited food on board based around a combination of precise calorie counts and people’s preferences. And we heard about the horrific storm that injured two members of a competing team.
So what were the secrets to Conrad’s success? Far from giving us an alpha-male style lecture about drive and the ambition to win, Conrad talked about building a vision, sharing values, involving people in decisions, devolving leadership and creating an environment where people want to be. “If people really believe in something they’ll go to extraordinary lengths,” he explained. Getting his team used to feeling like winners was important too. “Winning is addictive, so you need to make it a habit by getting your team to picture what it would be like to succeed and to have small wins so they understand what it feels like.”
Perhaps the most important thought came in one of Conrad’s asides – important as it put into words something that many of us immediately identified with. A culture for success is one where “we never step over a job.”
Melanie Smallman, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Conference 01.12.09
Saavis, the multi-national IT company chose Conrad to speak to their customers at their recent user meeting. Clients included The Discovery Channel, Easy Jet, Adidas, Nokia and a host of others. Feedback was exceptional and the client was delighted with the impact the Conrad made on the evening.
I grabbed some time off with Vikki and the girls during August after the Blue Mile inaugural event. We headed to La Torche (Finisterre) and then camped next to the Raz de Sein, in a great spot called Baie des Trépassés. Whilst there wasn’t a great deal of surf about, the sun shone and the girls got to play in the waves and rockpools. I was surprised at how quiet this part of Brittany is compared with further south – lovely spot. The wind blew for one day, which allowed me to kitesurf out to the Lighthouse in the Raz de Sein, the current was amazing, swirling and boiling around the point – I didn’t hang around too long in case the wind dropped!
I will be heading down-under for my 5th Sydney Hobart at the end of the year and will be putting together a new project for 2011, looking towards the 2012 Artemis Transat.
“The afternoon slot of any workshop usually suffers from the post-lunch slump. But if anyone had plans to join the sleepy sloths outside in the zoo, they would have been rudely awoken by Conrad Humphreys and his salty stories of the sea.
