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”.
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.
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
As the leading yachts in the 2009 Rolex Sydney to Hobart enter Bass Strait on day two, one yacht has found itself in seriously hot water, but this time with smiles all around. Ichiban made some very smart strategic moves overnight and managed to get a free ride from the warm waters of the strong south going East Australian Current.
This 70 foot yacht has literally “smoked” down the New South Wales coast and is only 26 nautical miles behind its 100 foot long super maxi counterparts. In yacht racing terms this is a huge coup.
With much media attention on the weather forecast and what it might bring, many forget to consider the all important 3rd dimension….the current. Ichi Ban owned and skippered by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Matt Allen has applied some real smarts over the past 24 hours by paying attention to the EAC, the famous Ocean Current that pours south along the coast. By sailing a route further offshore overnight Allen and his highly regarded navigator Conrad Humphries have sought out and ridden a magic carpet of current of up to 4knots. Ichi Ban is now in a strong position to threaten her larger rivals for a handicap win in Div 0. The three 100 footers, Alfa Romeo, ICAP Leopard and Wild Oats, who have been locked in a ding dong tussle since the start have clearly paid less attention to the Ocean Current by sailing closer to the coast.
However, with the front runners slowed by light and tricky conditions as they approached Bass Strait, this year’s handicap winner is likely to come from the ranks of the smaller boats and knowledge of what the EAC is up to has favoured the brave who have been prepared to go out wide around the back of an eddy situated between Sydney and Ulladulla.
Many of the yachts in this year’s event are using new technology produced by Ocean Current specialists Tidetech which in the lead up to the race has provided navigators with the best ever understanding of the Ocean Currents.
The low pressure system remnant of a tropical cyclone crossing the continent is setting up a tricky wind pattern for the Rolex Sydney Hobart race, for its Boxing Day start. While the scenario is still changing, pockets of light breeze to be negotiated between two major wind systems look to have removed the prospects of a record-breaking run by one of the hi-tech collection of maxi yachts in the fleet. Barry Hanstrum, senior forecaster for the NSW Bureau of Meteorology, predicts that the fleet of 100 boats will probably start in a light to moderate southerly, which would mean a spectacular spinnaker start in Sydney Harbour on Saturday, then a beat to windward in 10-20 knots as the fleet reaches the open sea. While the wind would back to the east – northeast offshore, a low pressure trough would create lighter air inshore. A west to southwest change on Sunday night in the Bass Strait of 20-30 knots would continue into Monday, December 28.
Along with over 40 international athletes including Michael Johnson and Haile Gebrselassie , Conrad Humphreys has been included in a new book written by Jane Poynter which is launched tomorrow in New York at the United Nations Headquarters. The book is called Champions for Change – Athletes making a world of difference and includes breath-taking images and interviews with many of the world’s greatest athletes who are encouraging their fans to take steps to reduce their impact on our environment. Details of the book will go online shortly, but if you would like to order a copy, please contact Teresa.Page@sportenvironment.com, or ring 01752 600111.
“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.
The low pressure system remnant of a tropical cyclone crossing the continent is setting up a tricky wind pattern for the Rolex Sydney Hobart race, for its Boxing Day start. While the scenario is still changing, pockets of light breeze to be negotiated between two major wind systems look to have removed the prospects of a record-breaking run by one of the hi-tech collection of maxi yachts in the fleet. Barry Hanstrum, senior forecaster for the NSW Bureau of Meteorology, predicts that the fleet of 100 boats will probably start in a light to moderate southerly, which would mean a spectacular spinnaker start in Sydney Harbour on Saturday, then a beat to windward in 10-20 knots as the fleet reaches the open sea. While the wind would back to the east – northeast offshore, a low pressure trough would create lighter air inshore. A west to southwest change on Sunday night in the Bass Strait of 20-30 knots would continue into Monday, December 28.
Along with over 40 international athletes including Michael Johnson and Haile Gebrselassie , Conrad Humphreys has been included in a new book written by Jane Poynter which is launched tomorrow in New York at the United Nations Headquarters. The book is called Champions for Change – Athletes making a world of difference and includes breath-taking images and interviews with many of the world’s greatest athletes who are encouraging their fans to take steps to reduce their impact on our environment. Details of the book will go online shortly, but if you would like to order a copy, please contact 
Hobie Tiger F18 (2007)2007 race specked boat, Smoke STX Mainsail and Fully battened jib, Spare furling jib and furling system, 2 spinnakers, 2 tramps, new daggerboards, latest rudder system, spare rudder blades, Catrax, Covers and foil bags, large selection of spares, new refit complete (Sept 09), excellent condition, fast boat. £8195.00 (inc. VAT)
