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SUNBEAT III
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SUNBEAT III
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Steve Kuhl, - Skipper
Andy Pickering - Co-Skipper
Andy Pickering and myself, Steve Kuhl, have both been sailing since the age of 7or 8. Andy on a 'Pond' in the midlands and myself on the Blackwater estuary on the east Coast of the UK. As with most kids who adore their sport we spent every waking moment on the water. Andy mainly in Lasers and myself mainly in Fireflys and Fireballs. My offshore racing began when I was about 16 on a 3/4 Tonner based at West Mersea and went on for several years participating mainly in East Anglian Offshore Racing Association races along with a few Cowes weeks and round the Island races. Throw in a few nationals along with a few World Championship events in both Dinghys and big boats and before I knew it I was 10 years older. At this point in my life I changed to cruising and along with a few friends from the Blackwater S.C. co funded a 46' Alan Hill designed ketch and we went off round the world for a few years. On my return I realised that I relly needed to work so spent the next few years working and dinghy sailing at the Blackwater S C. Andy, being a pond sailor missed out on all the big boat stuff untill he moved to Heybridge and joined the Blackwater sailing club still vigorously sailing his Laser. At this point he and I first met and raced against one another in Dinghy's. After a few years sailing Fireballs again I began to get itchy feet and bought a Jeanneau 31 which I kept in the Med for several years before buying a Jeanneau 37. My first Atlantic crossing was in 1998 followed by several months in the Carribbean. It was at this stage that Andy first got into bigger boats by agreeing to help me bring Sunbeat II back from the Carribbean via Bermuda and the Azores. He was hooked. 2002 saw a Jeanneau 43 - Sunbeat III- purchased (my current boat)and the ARC again. A win in class and 8th overall got us back into racing again and there followed over the next few years half a dozen Carribbean raceweeks. We have cruised thousands of miles together involving several trips to the Med, a couple more Atlantic crossings (there and back) along with more than a few trips between the East and South Coast. During last year we decided that we would like to do a fairly serious short handed race. With the Shetland Round Britain & Ireland Race in 2006 we decided to look no further
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