TeamSnell Completes Myth of Malham race and Successfully Qualifies for the RORC Rolex 2013 Fastnet in August 2013
June 23, 2013 by Ivan Snell
At 08:57 am on Monday 27th May TeamSnell crossed the Myth of Malham race finish line off Hurst Castle at the entrance to the approaches to the Western Solent. This gave TeamSnell its final two hundred nautical miles, completed in one day and twenty-three hours, towards a total of three hundred nautical miles that TeamSnell has to achieve in offshore races this summer to qualify for the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013 race in August this year.
Organised by RORC, in association with the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS), the Myth of Trophy race started on Saturday 25th May from the RYS line taking the fleet of one hundred and twenty yachts two hundred and thirty nautical miles West along the south coast, round the Eddystone Rock lighthouse, Plymouth, before returning to the Solent.
Initially TeamSnell, racing its’ Beneteau First 40.7 yacht Parallel Blue, had a good start and kept pace with the other thirty yachts in its’ IRC Class II. A tactical error unfortunately saw TeamSnell sail ten nautical miles further offshore during Saturday night than the rest of the fleet. Everyone was becalmed over night for six hours and once a sea breeze kicked in the majority of Class II, whom had stayed inshore, benefited from the more direct rhumb line to Eddystone Rock lighthouse.
During the return leg back to the Solent, TeamSnell were without electronics due to a faulty battery calling on navigator Richard Clarke’s old school navigational skills to navigate Parallel Blue to the finish line. Without instruments and the yacht’s chart plotter TeamSnell made good boat speed downwind back to Hurst Castle flying its no.3 kite in twenty to twenty-five knots of breeze.
Skipper Ivan Snell commented after the race: “the campaign has gone really well. Better than I thought actually. We have qualified with one training week end and only two RORC races”. ”This has really reduced the pressure now. TeamSnell can look forward to our final preparation for the Fastnet which will be a few races around the cans in the Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes week in August without the concern of having to enter another qualifying race to gain the necessary miles” he concluded.
Read more about the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013
Read more about the Snell Consultancy corporate sailing
TeamSnell Successfully Completes Cervantes Trophy, 200 Nautical Miles Left to Qualify for the RORC Rolex 2013 Fastnet
May 6, 2013 by Ivan Snell
At 22:32 pm local time on Saturday 4th May TeamSnell crossed the Cervantes Trophy finish line at the entrance to Le Havre harbour. This gave TeamSnell its critical first 100 nautical miles towards a total of 300 that TeamSnell has to achieve in offshore races this summer to qualify for the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013 race in August this year.
Organised by RORC, in association with the Société des Régates du Havre and the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS), the Cervantes Trophy race kicked off on Saturday 4th May from the RYS line taking the fleet across the channel to finish in Le Havre.
In strong thirty knot (Beaufort Force 7) winds TeamSnell, racing its’ Beneteau First 40.7 yacht Parallel Blue, had a good start and kept pace with the other 16 yachts in IRC Class II. The total entry comprised of 104 yachts with competitors from Belgium, Britain, France, The Netherlands and Russia.
TeamSnell with its Anglo Canadian Dutch crew was at a disadvantage from the start with the unexpected absence at the last minute of two of its key crew members. Dutch bowman, Jan Meijer, experienced logistical difficulties traveling from Amsterdam and the mainsail trimmer, Peter Buckley, fell ill on the eve of the race with suspected food poisoning. Despite this, and the rough sea state which had several crew members succumbing to severe sea sickness, TeamSnell completed the race in just over 12 hours finishing mid-class.
Watch leader and downwind helmsman Jeremy Millar, a former Canadian Olympic sailing team trialist commented: “this was an awesome first race for TeamSnell in challenging conditions. Our training to date has paid off and the team is really starting to work well together. Its a great base for all our crew and Skipper Ivan Snell. I am convinced we will do even better in the next qualification race at the end of May.”
Read more about the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013
Read more about the Snell Consultancy corporate sailing
Snell Consultancy Director – Guest Speaker at the SAP Magic Circle
March 14, 2013 by Ivan Snell
Today, Thursday 14th March 2013, in a session on programme implementation best practice Ivan Snell, Snell Consultancy Director, and Matt Dobbins, Head of SAP (UK) Consulting Services, spoke to an audience of over 100 SAP customers and partners on the benefits of programme quality gates, adopting a thorough testing approach and utilising early planning for testing entry and exit meetings. The venue was the Magic Circle’s infamous London headquarters close to Euston train station.
Ivan and Matt drew on their experience of recently delivering one of the largest ever global forecasting and planning implementations, utilising SAP’s Business Planning & Consolidation (BPC) software application, to a UK based oil and gas UK based major.
Ivan described the critical decisions that were made to choose his clients implementation partner. “There was no way this strategic project for the Group Finance Head of Planning and Group Financial Controller could fail” he said. He continued: “Why would you not choose the company that wrote the software, as your implementation partner, provided you had the highest confidence it could deliver? The outcome was highly successful with the project being delivered on time, to budget, with the expected levels of data accuracy in the financial consolidated statements achieved”. He closed off the session saying: “The project has been highly acclaimed with industry recogn14thition and, of course, Matt and I have been rewarded with promotions in our respective organisations”.
TeamSnell Enters the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013 – 11th August 2013
January 7, 2013 by Ivan Snell
Snell Consultancy is proud to announce that today it entered a yacht to race in the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013, sponsored through the TeamSnell sailing brand.
Sunday 11th of August 2013 will see over 300 yachts setting sail from the start line off the Royal Squadron at Cowes for the Western Approaches of the Solent before sailing along the South West coast of England, out into the Irish Sea to the famous Fastnet Rock and back to the finish four to five days later in Plymouth Sound.
“The RORC Rolex Fastnet is one of the most challenging and demanding yacht races in the world. Despite being held in the summer you never quite know what the UK weather is going to do and there have been some years with extremely severe weather conditions. Since the Fastnet disaster in 1979 all yachts and their crews’ safety equipment has improved without recognition and the race is now extremely professionally managed by RORC and the prime sponsor Rolex who stipulate mandatory training and pre-qualification criteria for all competitors. Even so, it is not to be taken lightly and the safety and security of the yacht and its crew will be paramount, not only throughout the race but also during the training and mandatory RORC qualification races” said Snell Consultancy director, Ivan Snell.
The Rolex Fastnet Race is the culmination of many months of preparation and planning; starting from today when the entry opens online, through qualifying and on to the day of the race itself. TeamSnell wishes all its fellow competing yachtsmen the very best of luck and fair winds this summer during the qualification races and the event itself.
Read more about the RORC Rolex Fastnet 2013
Read more about the Snell Consultancy corporate sailing
SAP BPC Planning & Forecasting Business Transformation, Programme Managed by the Snell Consultancy, Awarded the Silver Award of the SAP UK and Ireland Quality Awards in the Large Implementation Category
January 6, 2013 by Ivan Snell
A planning & forecasting business transformation programme which the Snell Consultancy programme managed for a global oil & gas company headquartered in London, UK, has been awarded the silver award of the SAP UK and Ireland Quality
Awards in the large implementation category.
Snell Consultancy director, Ivan Snell, seen here receiving the award with our client’s business and IT sponsors said: “we are delighted for our client that the programme has been awarded such an accolade and proud to have taken such a leading role in its successful delivery”.
Each year, SAP presents awards to recognise customers who have achieved excellence in planning and executing their SAP projects, delivering significant benefits to their organisations. SAP announced nine winners, who were awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze accolades. Each winner showcased the quality processes they put in place during planning and implementation phases, clearly demonstrating how fundamental they had been to the overall success of the project, resulting in significant benefits to their businesses.
The judging panel was made up of representatives from SAP and external experts who judged against strict criteria including adherence to SAP’s Ten Quality Principles, demonstration of time-to-value and a focus of how quality excellence was achieved through the entire implementation cycle.
“Successful implementations require focus, direction and clear quality standards. These customer projects were not easy tasks and deserve the recognition they have received with these awards. These prestigious customers make the extraordinary look ordinary, excelling in execution and delivering significant business benefits,” said Tim Noble, Managing Director for SAP UK & Ireland.
Noble continued; “Through the SAP Quality Programme, we aim to work even closer with our partners and customers and ensure that their software implementations are successful, providing fast time to value. I would like to extend my congratulations to each and every one of the customers and partners we recognised through this programme.”
Read more about SAP’s Quality Awards
Read more about the SAP BPC project
Read more about the Snell Consultancy
Read more about SAP Business Planning Consolidation for NetWeaver