When a crew comprising two round the world skippers and one of Scotland's leading offshore sailors set off on delivery trip from the Solent early next week they will be charged with bringing north one of the most exciting charter yachts to grace Scottish waters for some years.
The round the world skippers are Irish Whitbread race skipper Joe English and naval architect and surveyor Paul Jeffes who skippered Courtaulds Interspray on the first British Steel Global Challenge. Making up the core of the brains trust will be Oban Yacht Services' Jon Fitzgerald, who represented Scotland in the Teacher's Round Britain Challenge.
They will be sailing the Whitbread 60 Tokio, which led the 1993-4 Whitbread race for five legs under the charge of Chris Dickson, up to her new base at Kerrera, off Oban, where she will be based and available for charter.
The new owner of the Bruce Farr designed boat is Minerva Leisure, which operates mainly in the prestigous corporate charter market with a Bavaria 44 based mainly out of Kip Marina. The boat is one of two commissioned for the Tokio team, the other John Swarbrick design was sold prior to the start of the Whitbread Race which has just finished.
Built at a cost in excess of #1m, Tokio is in mint condition, having had only a couple of careful owners. She was first run by the French based Corum Sailing Team as Corum Meteorite, as part of a proposed entry for the most recent Whitbread. She was then the tuning partner for Swedish Match, which finished third this 97-98 Whitbread.
The boat is in exemplary condition and as well as the full inventory of dozens of sails which goes with the well kitted out Whitbread 60 come newer sails bought and tested as part of the Swedish Match programme. The intention is to keep the spartan racing interior as close to the original as possible to give a realistic feel of what the type of racing boat is about and not compromising the performance too much.
Hot running water will be added, as will a basic central heating sytem below decks. The choice will, of course, be up to the charterers, but the initial plans are to sail to well respected hotels for accommodation, a very popular formula with Minerva clients to date.
Fitzgerald's enthusiasm brimmed over during one balmy West Highland day when he revealed his desire to run a Whitbread 60, and it sparked off a plan which the company owner Melvyn Percy believes will help cover the costs of running what has to be the ultimate sailing toy.
The range of potential charter plans is not yet complete and the company has already attracted enough interest from existing clients to make the whole project a viable proposition.
However, circumnavigating Mull in a day is not beyond the realms of possibility, while many of the inner Hebridean islands become a much more immediate prospect.
The boat will take up to between 15 and 20 paying guests, with the obvious attraction that Tokio will be costed on a daily basis, and within the confines of safety requirements the more guests, the cheaper it works out per head.
It will, of course, be the ultimate day out for sailing afficionados who will rise to the challenge of crewing a cutting-edge racing boat which has the potential to top 20 knots.
Similarly, fully crewed, it will be one of the most prestigious corporate entertainment vehicles in Britain, for companies wishing to seal a business relationship against the perfect backdrop of West Highland scenery.
As with the best charter operations the key is flexibility, and if visiting executives want to sweat over the winches just as Chris Dickson's crew did when they built up a seemingly unassailable 10-hour lead on the the first leg of the Whitbread race in 1993 then they can.
But if they want instead to be sailed at speed by a professional crew then the option will be there.
If there is demand to go further afield, then it's very much a case of the price being right, and the Tokio will be available.
One race on the itinerary for the not too distant future is the ARC Race from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, but Kerrera is intended to be the boat's home.
Equally they are detemined it will not be campaigned relentlessly and become neither a tired old race boat nor a floating museum piece.
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