Sunsail Sunfast 37 wins Black Group overall

Neville Upton and The Listening Company team aboard a Jeanneau Sunfast 37 have won Black Group overall. Upton raced in the same fleet last year but just missed out on a Black Group win, so not surprisingly he is delighted to have finally clinched the title. “I think it’s a case of completing unfinished business,” said an extremely happy Upton.

“It feels great to have won the Black Group this year. I feel there is real closure on it. We have had a great week, it’s been really good fun and obviously to finish off winning it is pretty exhilarating.”

As CEO of The Listening Company – a contact centre specialist which employs 4,000 people across the UK who work for large corporations and Government providing variety of customer relationship services – Upton says they have eight core values, two of them are team-work and winning. “We have to win for our clients every day so it’s very important as a competitive advantage so we can give them competitive differentiation to be better.

“We get eight people on the boat, some of whom have never been on there before, so they are completely outside their comfort zone. You have to work together, it’s no good simply just having someone great steering the boat, every little bit of the team has to work really well, it’s perfect team-work environment and it is great way to get to know clients.”

Chatting about Cowes week in general, Upton added: “The racing was excellent, the courses were very good, and I think it is very well organised.

And will he be back next year to defend his title? Upton concluded: “I’ll definitely be back but it’s a matter of deciding which class. Sunsail is one design where you can take people on who have never sailed before and have a lot of fun. That is where the Sunsail formula is excellent and I don’t know what other classes there are that do that. We shall see.”

Click here for the Cowes week website