Channel 4 will screen action and drama from the Velux 5 Oceans solo yacht race, Clipper Ventures announced today. It is the first time in 20 years that the channel has committed to broadcast sailing. Footage will be transmitted from competing boats using the best in modern technology; in addition to this, live video meetings with skippers will be hosted during the race.

The Velux 5 Oceans (formerly the Around Alone) is celebrating its Jubilee year as the oldest, and for many the toughest, yacht race in the world. Competitors will leave Bilbao, Spain, on October 22, and there are only two stops during the course of the circumnavigation – in Freemantle, Australis, and Norfolk, USA – before the return to the Bilbao finish line.

The 2006 race marks the return of 67-year-old veteran Sir Robin Knox-Johnston – the first man ever to sail round the world single-handed – to competitive sailing. Racing onboard new Finot-designed Open 60Grey Power, he hopes to complete the 30,000 mile course in just 112 days, taking 200 days of his 1969 record!