St. John's (NL), March 3, 2008 - Derek Hatfield, Skipper of Canada's first Open 60 Spirit of Canada is coming to St. John's on Wednesday March 5th at 5:30pm.

In eight short months Derek will represent Canada in the Vendée Globe round the world sailing race. This is the hardest race for any sailor, around the world, without assistance, non stop and singlehanded. This is his second race around the world, in May of 2003 Derek became the 126th person to ever race around the world single handed by finishing the Around Alone Yacht Race. In September 2002 fifteen skippers set off to race around the world an in May 2003 nine skippers had finished. Derek raced a 40' Canadian built Spirit of Canada finishing 1st in his Class and became only the second Canadian to ever race around the world alone.

Derek will be in St. John's for the first time to talk about his first race around the world, the trials and tribulations as well as the build of the first state-of-the-art Open 60 here in Canada and preparations for the big race in November. Derek will also highlight his plans for this campaign and how it can help promote Newfoundland and Labrador as the Ocean Technology capital of Canada! His Vendée Globe race is a great opportunity to promote our province's Innovative Ocean Technology sector.

Derek's presentation is free and open to the public and is sponsored by NavSim Technology Inc. NavSim extends thanks to the Marine Institute on Ridge Road for its support in this venture.

The time of the presentation is Wednesday, March 5th at 5:30pm - 8pm at Marine Institute, Ridge Road.

Local contact information:

Jaye Gordon
Market Development Manager
NavSim Technology Inc.
709-726-7779 ext. 30
jgordon@navsim.com
www.navsim.com

About the Vendée Globe The Vendée Globe is a non-stop single-handed race around the world without assistance. Skippers are both Captain and crew totally responsible for their own performance and survival.

On November 9th 2008, 27 skippers will start the race heading towards the three great capes, marking the southern tips of the African continent, Australia and America. The Vendée Globe will start, for the 6th time, from the harbour of Les Sables d'Olonne in France, where it was born. It is not by chance that this single-handed race, where the adventurers are conquering not the peaks but the oceans, is referred to as the "Everest of the Seas".

For more information please visit: http://www.vendeeglobe.org

About Derek Hatfield and Spirit of Canada
Derek Hatfield was the 2003 Canadian Rolex Sailor of the Year and is the 126th person in history to finish a single-handed race around the world. Competing in the Open 40 Spirit of Canada, he finished first in his fleet and in 3rd place overall in Class II in the 2002/03 Around Alone race, despite a life threatening and catastrophic capsize near Cape Horn.

Spirit of Canada Ocean Challenges is a team of sailing and marketing professionals that are currently preparing to compete on the world stage in the IMOCA Open 60 Class and become the first to fly the Canadian Flag in the Vendée Globe. The International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA) is the ISAF sanctioned class responsible for the Open 60 monohull racing yachts. The aim of the team is to complete the build of a new, competitive Open 60 sailboat to compete in and for the IMOCA World Championship culminating in the 2008 Vendée Globe.

For more information please visit www.spiritofcanada.net.

Contacts

Patianne Verburgh
Spirit of Canada Ocean Challenges
416-816-7446
patianne@spiritofcanada.net

Jaye Gordon
Market Development Manager
NavSim Technology Inc.
709-726-7779 ext. 30
jgordon@navsim.com
www.navsim.com