BP Crew

Leg One Portsmouth, UK - Buenos Aries, Argentina

Valeria Rosa
Valeria is Italian and works for BP as a Logistics Analyst in the UK.

Alexander Zamorouev
Sasha is Russian and works for bp as a Geophysicist in Houston, Texas.

Leg Two BA Argentina - Wellington, New Zealand

Colin Barber
Colin is Scottish and works for BP as an airfield operator at Inverness Airport.

Giles Mackey
Giles is Irish and works for BP as an Environmental Engineer in Algeria.

Leg Three Wellington New Zealand - Sydney, Australia

Joanna Henderson
Jo is Scottish and works for BP as a Mechanical Engineer in Grangemouth, Scotland


Pieter Tol
Pieter is Dutch and works for BP as a Financial Controller in The Hague, Netherlands.

Leg Four Sydney, Australia - Cape Town, South Africa

Josef Chmielowski
Joe is from the Alaska,USA and works for BP as a Geophysicist in Alaska.

Warren Millward
Warren is South African although he has lived in Edinburgh for over 10 years and works for BP Offshore UK, as an Operations Technician on the Miller platform in the North sea.

Leg Five Cape Town, South Africa - Boston, USA

Matthew Cannon
Matthew is English and works for BP as a Risk Management Analyst in the UK.

Gabriela Froes
Gabi is Brazilian and works for BP as a Legal Manager in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


Leg Six/Seven Boston, USA - La Rochelle, France - Portsmouth, UK

Andrea Morrell
Andrea is American and works for BP as a Tank Planner at Carson Refinery,Long Beach,CA USA.

Dennis Boyd
Dennis is American and works for BP as a Fuel System Design Manager in Chicago, USA.

The Team

June James
Shore Manager

Simon Timson
Sports Coach



Claire Blakeway
BP Project Manager

Ruth Cullis
BP Shore Manager

The Core Crew

Laura Alexander - Core crew
Laura is 30 years old and a Senior Account Manager from West Sussex, UK Laura's partner is also competing in the 2004/5 Global Challenge race.

Stephen Allberry - Core crew
Stephen is 54 years old and a Librarian from West Sussex, UK. Stephen signed up for the race with a legacy from his aunt, who was a Sea Ranger skipper in Lymington, UK. Stephen was one of the core crew, that won the Round Britain and Ireland 2004 Race.

John Bass - Core crew
John is 36 an Internet Consultant from Essex, UK. John's initial plan to retire and live on a yacht somewhere took a more adventurous turn when he came across the Challenge Business website while looking for training courses. "I got confirmation of my crew place standing outside Sydney Opera House just before midnight New Years Eve 2003" "It felt like the fireworks were just for me, I couldn’t have been more thrilled if they had"

Holger Bindel - Core crew
34 year-old Holger was born in Germany but moved to UK where he's been working as a GP since February 1997. Holger's family are still in Germany and divided in their attitude towards the adventure. His father is quietly proud while his mother is a little scared. All of his friends are half jealous and half think he is crazy for taking on such an adventure.

Oliver Browett - Core crew
Olly is 23 years old, the youngest of the BP Ocean Racing team. He grew up in Darlington and Sheffield but read Chemistry at Bristol University and also in Germany. He then studied for an MA in Biotechnological Law and Ethics at Sheffield University. Before signing up for the race he had never been on a yacht. Olly was one of the core crew that won the Round Britain and Ireland 2004 Race.

Jane Cook - Core crew
Jane is 46 years old and a Project Manager from Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK Jane is the only Scot in the core crew. She has also challenged herself to learn to play the bagpipes in the nine months prior to the race.

Naomi Cudmore - Core crew
Naomi is 29 years old and lives in a cottage in Somerset which she is renovating, although this has gone on hold of late, since she started raising money to go on the Global Challenge yacht race!

Major Malhi - Core crew
Major is 52 years old and the only Indian to be taking part in the race. He was born in India and came to the UK in 1960. He went on to set up his own forklift truck business which became highly successful and he sold this in 1990 and semi retired. Major spends much of his time in Spain and India but when he is in the UK he spends time between Birmingham and Telford visiting his mother and his children, Rochelle 32, Melissa 28, Kass 24 and Carla 21.

Robin Phillips - Core crew
Robin is 50 years old and a Retained Leading Firefighter from Cheshire, UK. Robin raised over £1,200 for the race charity, Save the Children, in a 48-hour rowing event in Crewe Town Square in the UK.

David Pugh - Core crew
David is 43 years old. A Builder from Wolverhampton, UK one of David's hobbies is sailing dinghies - mainly on lakes. David decided to participate in the 2004/5 Global Challenge after watching and supporting his wife when she participated onboard the winning yacht of the 2000/1 event. David "Cop" was one of the core crew that won the Round Britain and Ireland 2004 Race.

Goldie Raley - Core crew
Goldie is 34 years old and a geography teacher at Pocklington School in East Yorkshire, so you can call her ‘Miss’. Goldie grew up on a farm in North Yorkshire and she considers this to be the main reason for her lifelong pursuit for adventure.

Andrew Smith - Core crew
Andrew is 40 years old and a Engineering Project Manager from Lancashire, UK. Andrew loves gourmet cooking and fine wines, which he says he'll dearly miss whilst at sea for long periods of time.

John Stewart - Core crew
John is 34 years old and an IT Project Manager. Orginally from Ireland, he now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In order to get race fit, John decided to take up triathalons and has completed Sprint, Olympic and 1/2 Ironman distances.

Christian Talpo - Core crew
Christian is 30 years old and a Restaurant Manager Originally from Italy he now lives in Hong Kong. Before signing up for the Global Challenge, Christian had never sailed before. However, he's always been an adventurer and has already spent a month hiking through the Nepalese mountains and has also participated in two 30km Action Asia Adventure Races. Christian was one of the core crew, that won the Round Britain and Ireland 2004 Race

Richard Wardley - Core crew
Richard is 33 years old and a technical software engineer based in Essex. He became aware of the race when invited on a corporate day, sailing on one of the race yachts before the start of the last race in 2000.

The Skipper

David Melville's career, has never taken him far from the sea. Although growing up in landlocked St Albans, where it 'all started', meant that his love for the water began with dinghy sailing in local reservoirs.



Joining the Merchant Navy at 16 as an apprentice Navigation Officer, David learnt seamanship and navigation. Leaving to study for a Marine Geography degree David began yacht sailing and racing in earnest. After setting up his own charter company, Carmel Yachts, David went back to study for a Postgrad in International Shipping, Trade and Finance. From here David became a director for a company specialising in financial risk analysis within the shipping industry, launching a subsidiary company in America where he became President during what David describes as his 'yuppie' stage in life!

However in 1998, the pull of the ocean bought David back to professional sailing and he has proved this was the right move by already carving out a successful career in yacht racing, winning the highly competitive second leg of Challenge Business' inaugural Challenge Transat 2002 aboard Vail Williams. David came second overall. The crew were reunited for the 2003 Round the Island Race and came in first out of the twelve Challenge yachts entered. David also skippered BP Explorer to a first place win, in the closely fought Round Britain and Ireland 2004 race that completed on June 11th 2004. He intends to be a serious contender in the Global Challenge 2004/5.

So what are David's expectations for the race? "It's quite a bloody business - it's not called the world's toughest yacht race for nothing. It's going to be hard going but I hope the camaraderie amongst the crew will knock the hard edges off the most of it."

Being a good skipper is what got David to the position he is in now but what, in his opinion, will make the difference? "You have to be good at sailing. There's a lot of talk about good management but you have to get the boat going fast, in the right direction. The second thing is to get the crew to come along with you."

So, what would be his luxury item, as he cannot take his wife and newborn baby? "A Max Sea lap top routing system

London Boat Show

The core crew of BP Explorer is announced at the London Boat on Jan 17th 2004.The core crew consists of 15 paying crew volunteers and a professional skipper. The Challenge 72 yacht is number 39 and it is sponsored by BP. This would be the second time that BP have sponsored a yacht in the Global Challenge.

Back Left to Right : Rob Philips, Christian Talpo, Richard Wardley, Andrew Smith, Holger Bindel, Oliver Browett, Stephen Allberry.
Front Left to Right : David Pugh, Major Malhi, David Melville, Naomi Cudmore, Laura Alexander, Goldie Raley
Missing from the photo is John Stewart, John Bass and Jane Cook.