ARTIST AND SAILOR LIA DITTON GETS CREATIVE IN THE ATLANTIC

Added: (Mon Jan 04 2010)

Pressbox (Press Release) - PRESS RELEASE UK – 4th January 2010
For immediate release

ARTIST AND SAILOR LIA DITTON GETS CREATIVE IN THE ATLANTIC

Twenty-nine year old British artist and sailor Lia Ditton has announced her intention to race in the Barcelona World Race 2010. As training for the race Lia is competing in the Atlantic Rowing Race 2009 which starts today. Both races will take 2-3 months to complete and are raced in a two person crew. Lia will take inspiration from the Atlantic Rowing Race and from the Barcelona World Race to develop two new major art works that coincide with each event.

Lia is best known for her 2006 performance art piece ‘Absolute Solitude’, in which she lived onboard a yacht outside the Tate Britain for 28 days. The piece took inspiration from her single-handed race across the Atlantic in the 2005 Faraday Mill OSTAR. Describing her next piece, ‘Colours of the Atlantic’, Lia says “in the course of the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing race, every 24 hours, I will pick a colour – the colour which comes immediately to mind. In the process, I will be leaving a trail of colour across the Atlantic. The idea came to me when I was recovering from a very painful injury last summer. To help deal with it, I would describe the colour of the pain to my friend Gail. Colour, we decided, was a common language. After the race I may have a silk scarf made in Varanasi, India with all the colours laid out in sequence. Or I may make a sculpture with pillars of crushed coloured glass that rise up according to the wave height logged at the time. Such is the wonderful thing about making art. The idea too goes on a journey- to fruition.”

The Barcelona World Race, a non-stop and round the world race from Barcelona to Barcelona, is a double-handed sprint in Open 60 yachts. It is one of the most challenging events open to professional sailors today and will push all competitors to their absolute limits. Most sailors are used to racing either solo or with large crews and Open 60s (which are raced in the Vendee Globe) are usually reserved for single-handed races, making the Barcelona an unusual format.

In early December Lia received an email from expedition manager, Margaret Bowling telling her that a place was available in the upcoming Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race on the pairs boat Dream Maker with Detective Inspector Mick Birchall. Knowing that the race would be perfect training for the Barcelona World Race, Lia flew straight out to the Canaries to meet him. Given Lia’s vast knowledge of the ocean (she has over 75,000 sea miles under her belt) she was an obvious choice for Mick, who is new to the world of offshore racing. So, with what they thought was 2 days to go until the race start, he asked her to join his crew. Fortunately for Mick and Lia the race was subsequently delayed by a month due to an unseasonal and extended period of poor weather. This gave them time to make a few small adjustments to the boat which will ensure they have ever chance of smashing the ocean rowing record for a mixed pair.

The Atlantic Rowing Race will see Lia and Mick rowing in shifts totalling 12 hours or more per day each. The race is widely acknowledged as one of the most physically demanding endurance feats in the world. But, unlike the Barcelona, the row will be very slow, giving Lia the opportunity to take stock of her surroundings and focus on the majesty of the ocean- the perfect source of inspiration for an artist whose roots lie in sailing. Lia says “in August 2005, while hurricane Katrina grew in momentum, I was professionally routed to the latitude of the Azores high. For 15 days I sat on a glassy sea and fish came to visit. Whales tried to mate with the middle hull and at sunset the sky broke out into a stunning spectrum of colour and the night was peppered with stars. Until then I had only skimmed the surface. I had raced across the Atlantic.” The moments of quiet contemplation that an ocean row offers will ensure ‘Colours of the Atlantic’ is a truly unique work of art.

ENDS

Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45708366@N06/

Contact:
Margaret Bowling
PR Manager
07739432105
wherefewdare@yahoo.co.uk

About Lia:
www.oarsomechallenge.co.uk
Lia grew up in Suffolk and lived in Southampton for some time before moving to Bristol where she is now based. She graduated from the Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2006. She has completed 12 ocean crossings, 3 racing solo plus other races and deliveries spanning some 75,000 miles. Lia was the youngest competitor and only woman to finish the Farady Mill OSTAR 2005 and one of only four women and the only British female entry into the Route du Rhum 2006. After the Route du Rhum she decided to enter the Barcelona World Race and took a break from the world of competitive solo sailing in order to gain as much experience as possible on 60ft – 105ft multihulls crewed by some of the best sailors in the world.

About The Atlantic Rowing Race 2009:
www.atlanticrowingrace09.com
The race is described as “The Toughest Rowing Race on Earth” by the organisers Woodvale Challenge and requires the teams to row 2500 Nautical miles (2,876 miles, 4630 kilometres) from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean. Rowing alternately two hours on and two hours off during the day and 4hrs on 4hrs off during the night, the team will each row for at 12 hours a day each. The race is non-stop so have to be self sufficient in terms of food and water and equipment. If they take a resupply from one of the races support boats they will be disqualified from the race. The crew are competing in the pairs class and are the only mixed pair in their class. They will be racing one female pair and twenty male pairs. They aim to break the mixed pairs record of 57 days.

About The Barcelona World Race 2010:
www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en
The second edition of the Barcelona World Race starts on 31st December 2010. It is a two-handed non-stop round the world race in IMOCA Open 60s. It is a unique two-handed round the world race, will again bring together in this second edition the international skippers at the top of their professional sailing careers. This ‘two-up’ challenge links the two worlds of solo and fully crewed oceanic racing, and it will maintain its tough but rewarding ‘duo’ format: from Barcelona to Barcelona, around the three capes, a circumnavigation of 25,000 miles across the planet’s most challenging oceans. An ocean race of the future, followed by millions thanks to the latest communications technology that in only one edition has already been deemed a classic.