Andrew Pindar new Sail 4 Cancer Patron
Sailing respite charity Sail 4 Cancer has announced that Andrew Pindar has joined its group of Patrons. He joins other well-known supporters like Sir Ben Ainslie and Dee Caffari MBE.
Sail 4 Cancer provides water-based days out and short-breaks for families affected by cancer. Set up in 2001 by five keen sailors who had all lost a close relative or friend to cancer, the charity now supports more than 500 people annually.
The charity focuses on sailing days, riverboat adventures, ocean cruises and coastal park holidays to give families a break from the relentless stress of living with the disease. They also support young carers who care for a family member with cancer and provide confidence-building sailing weekends for teenagers recovering from cancer.
Commenting on his new role Andrew highlighted why he is supporting the charity: “Having seen what sailing can do for so many people of all ages, abilities and those afflicted by illness it is with great pleasure that I have accepted the invitation from the trustees of Sail 4 Cancer to become a Patron of the charity. The sport has given me enormous pleasure over the four decades that I have been involved with it and I hope to utilise the connections I have been fortunate in making over the years to the benefit of the charity and its beneficiaries”.
As a sometime sailor Andrew became involved in more serious yachting over thirty six years ago by sponsoring the North Sea Race from his home town of Scarborough to Ijmuiden in Holland. This proved to be the start of a relationship with boats, people and water which has evolved to make the Pindar name synonymous with some of the most notable sailing campaigns of recent years. He has supported many sailors of many nationalities in teams and events from dinghy classes to ocean racing yachts. The names of these athletes include; single handed round the world sailor Emma Sanderson (Richards) MBE, the quadriplegic sailor Hilary Lister, 2012/6 Olympic Gold winner Hannah Mills, ocean racer and environmental campaigner Jo Royle, Volvo Ocean Race winner Mike Sanderson, ocean record holder Brian Thompson, six time world match race tour champion Ian Williams and through a ground breaking deal in American sport the whole US Sailing Team.
Having sailed round the world no fewer than six times the Pindar name has, for the last six years, been in partnership with global shipping and logistics company GAC trading as GAC Pindar. Today GAC delivers the logistics for the Extreme Sailing Series, the Volvo Ocean Race, Oman Sail, the M32’s series and World Match Racing Tour, the GC32’s and has recently announced a new ground breaking logistics four year partnership with World Sailing, designed to benefit sailors from the 145 member nations and support the return of sailing to the Paralympics.
GAC Pindar continue to sponsor Ian Williams in the World March Racing Tour and Hilary Lister in her latest hair brained schemes, whilst wearing a separate hat Pindar were instrumental in the formation of the Portuguese entry in the Extreme Sailing Series in 2016 and run a thriving charter and sail training business with its two Volvo 60 yachts in Abu Dhabi.
