The Venture Cup Offshore Race has been cancelled. The official statement made was as follows:
It is with enormous regret that we must advise you that the 2016 Venture Cup has been cancelled.
Delivering an event of this scale was always going to present challenges, but we felt we had the team and support to make it happen. However, we began suffering acute cash-flow problems at the end of March. Regardless of the funding commitment to the overall event, without positive cash-flow we were being strangled. Right across the month and into May we actively sought to source solutions. Only a week ago we had a potential answer on the table which not only resolved the issue but secured the event into the future. Unfortunately this, and other avenues, have failed to materialise and we have reached a point where we can no longer proceed in good faith.
We would like to both thank, and apologise to, the teams, stakeholders, authorities, communities and individuals who’ve put so much faith into this plan over the past year. We can assure you that we left no stone unturned in our attempts to resolve this issue, but we must now act prudently and that means cancelling the event when we are unable to guarantee that we can continue to operate.
For those teams who have paid their entry-fees, these are currently in the process of being returned.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely
The Venture Cup Team