Hi there all you Solo Globe Challenger supporters. I arrived back from my shakedown test sail to Auckland last Wednesday and am into the job list again as it is only 16 weeks before I leave for the big one.

Whilst I was away, Dave Cook and Ken Stokes have organised a fundraising night for me to be held at Lake Macquarie Yacht Club (Ada Street, Belmont) this Saturday night, 24th June starting at 7.00pm. The boys have done a great job of organising the night but we do need some more backsides on seats.

The theme of the night is to have fun with the main thread being a betting night on previously run horse races with a prize for the best dressed lady "racegoer". We will also have the enormously popular "3 darts into the $20 note game" as well as "the nearest coin to the bottle game". At interval I will provide an update on the progress of the project and we will auction off a day for 8 people on Lake Macquarie on board Solo Globe Challenger to be utilised on a day of the successful bidders choosing.

We need you to help us by coming along and ideally if you could organise some friends to come with you? Perhaps they might not have any connection with sailing at all? How about a table of 10? Entry is $10 per person and with finger food being provided at interval and buy your own drinks from the bar. Each "bet" is $2 so you can see it will not be an enormously expensive night but I can assure you it will be a hell of a lot of fun.

Please give me a call on 49458256 or 0407 425793 or by reply e-mail if you can attend, bring some friends etc. Solo Globe Challenger will be at the marina and open for inspection.

See you all soon.

Tony Mowbray