Today on the River Thames, Seb Josse’s BT Open 60 was officially launched after an extensive race refit. And it proved to be a sweet moment of success for Seb and his teammate Ellen MacArthur as the all-girl band, the Sugababes, joined the duo onboard the BT IMOCA 60 to sing one of their latest hit records as she sailed under Tower Bridge.

After sailing back under Tower Bridge, the BT IMOCA 60 then berthed alongside the Royal Navy’s HMS President where she was officially christened by CEO of BT Global Services, Francois Barrault: “I am delighted to launch the BT Open 60, a unique collaboration that captures the powerful potential of the BT Team Ellen partnership. Working together, we aim not only to win races, but also to demonstrate how innovative approaches to communications and technology can help to create a better world.”

Seb Josse from Concarneau in France will now race the BT IMOCA 60 in the forthcoming solo transatlantic race, The Artemis Transat, which starts from Plymouth on 11th May. Not only is this race the oldest solo race in history but one of the toughest challenges for any solo skipper to cross the North Atlantic alone and is a major stepping stone towards Seb’s ultimate goal of competing in his second solo, non-stop round the world, Vendée Globe race that starts in November: “I have raced around the globe three times so far – with a crew non-stop, with a crew with stops, solo non-stop – every element of racing and being at sea is a pleasure for me. Every race is a new challenge, a new battle, a new discovery. No ones knows what will happen in the next Vendée Globe – all we know is that never before have so many pro teams lined up on the start line together. Today is a culmination of three months of hard work by the shore team to get our BT IMOCA 60 into the highest possible race spec with the objective of being very competitive but also able to complete a long distance race around the world.”