Uli Grobe from Frankfurt, Germany has become the proud owner of an Ocke Mannerfelt V24 Batboat that he is intending to campaign in Britain this season.

Grobe made the trip to Guernsey recently to pick up ‘Diablo’, the boat previously raced by Channel Islander’s, Dave Corbet and Kerry Le Patourel.

The next thing on the list for the new competitor will be race training and a dunk test in his home country. 

3 Offshore Class 3 races are slated for Britain this year, the Fortitudo Property Poole Bay 100 and Falmouth Marathon Regatta in June and the Cowes Poole Cowes race in August.

Grobe’s V24 will slot into the newly formed UKOPRA Class 3N, which currently has 5 boats signed-up, however, if more of these hulls are registered before June, a standalone class is envisaged and a reboot of the once very exciting One-Design Championship.