The Royal Southern Yacht Club today is a modern yacht club with traditional values.

16-day Open Regatta is topped off with a Mount Gay Rum Red Cap Party! 

Taking centre stage in this Summer’s line-up of 175th Anniversary events being hosted and run by the Royal Southern Yacht Club is the Club’s 175 Anniversary Open Regatta, supported by Mount Gay Rum, Piper-Heidsieck Champagne, Gaastra and Swarovski Optik.

This 16-day racing festival commences with registration on Friday, May 25th, the Titanic themed Crew Ball on Saturday, 26th  and, with an occasional reserve day built in, works its way through to the overall prizegiving on Sunday, June 10th.

The Royal Southern 175th Anniversary Regatta, incorporating both its regular May and June Summer Series Regattas, comprises 16 days of activity ashore and afloat, encompassing all classes of day boats, keelboats and ocean racing boats that regularly support the Club and even introduces some spectator-friendly model boat racing.

This Regatta is also the ideal platform for the Club to showcase its expertise in running major sailing events. Beneteau, Contessa, Farr, Impala, J-Boats, Laser SB3s, Sigmas, Quarter Tonners, Mini Tonners, Six Metres, Sportsboats, Foxers, XODs, IRC classes, Club classes and more  are all embraced in the amazing racing schedule.

To date the Royal Southern is anticipating that 33 classes and over 500 sailors will participate in what will be the largest gathering of competitive yacht racing ever run under its burgee.

50th Cowes-Deauville Race

The 175 Anniversary Regatta programme also includes the 50th running of the Cowes-Deauville Race [June 1st-2nd], organised in conjunction with the Royal London Yacht Club, Deauville Yacht Club, the Junior Offshore Group and, for the first time, the Royal Ocean Racing Club.

With VIP guests and sailors from both sides of the Channel participating and with some J80 in-shore team racing also taking place in the Solent and in the Baie de Seine, the 50th Cowes-Deauville promises to deliver a vintage year in both quantity and quality of competing yachts.

Red Caps at the Southern

The Royal Southern is delighted to announce that Mount Gay Rum, ‘the rum that invented rum’, has awarded the 175 Anniversary Regatta Red Cap status and will be supporting various events during this Anniversary year as a Corporate Partner.  The Anniversary Regatta will be rounded off in style with a fabulous Mount Gay Rum Red Cap Party on Saturday, 9th June. Mount Gay Rum will also host pre-event cocktail receptions for the 50th Cowes-Deauville Race and the Biscay 2012 Offshore Race in September, supplying Mount Gay Rum Eclipse and Mount Gay Rum Extra Old to wet the palate.

Alvin Saal, Brand Manager for Mount Gay Rum, is delighted with the brand’s association with the Royal Southern’s 175th Anniversary in 2012, commenting: “We are very happy to be involved in the Royal Southern’s Anniversary events and to enjoy such a great opportunity to extend our international yachting events support and celebrate with the UK sailing community in this way.”

Mount Gay Rum joins the Royal Southern’s growing family of 175th Anniversary corporate partners including Piper-Heidsieck champagne, Gaastra yachting wear, and Swarovski Optik.

Details of the 175th Anniversary Regatta, classes and dates can be found here: http://www.royal-southern.co.uk/175 .

Media Enquiries:
Peta Stuart-Hunt
Marketing & PR Communications
Royal Southern Yacht Club

T: +44 (0) 1590 679 621
M: +44 (0) 7711 477 707
peta@prworksuk.com
Skype: PRPETA

Contact:
Natalie Gray
Sailing Secretary
Royal Southern Yacht Club
T: 023 8045 0302
sailing@royal-southern.co.uk

Phoenix Futures (a charity providing services for people with drug and alcohol problems) and the Tectona Trust (a charity dedicated to improving access to the world of sailing  http://www.tectona.org.uk/trustees.htm) are planning a very special project and we would welcome your support.

From August 2012, we will be giving the opportunity to 160 Phoenix Future’s service users to sail the beautiful Gaff Ketch Tectona sail boat 1,800 miles in 11 legs around the coastal waters of Britain. Starting from Portsmouth, sailing up past Lands End and Liverpool to the west coast of Scotland and through the Caledonian Canal, coming back down along the east coast of England and finally arriving back; 10 to 12 weeks later.

Sailing the Tectona is hard, physical work involving team-work and a commitment to learning new skills. The service users would be involved in every aspect of running the ship, day and night, from planning and navigation to hoisting, trimming and reefing the sails; from keeping lookout and steering to hauling up the anchor.

Professional crew provided by Cremyll Sailing (a sail training charity) will ensure safety, teach techniques and encourage service users to reflect on their experiences on a daily basis.

The objective of this innovative project is to give those that are currently engaged in intensive in drug and alcohol rehabilitative treatment, and have already demonstrated a strong commitment to their goal of recovery, a goal to aim towards, and offer an alternative form of therapy which will enhance their treatment.

The adventure begins on 1 August 2012 and we need your help and support to make sure it will happen.

What’s the benefit of this project?

Sail training is proven to increase individual’s self-esteem and confidence, it also provides an arena for service users to gain awareness of one another and learn how to work as a team to achieve a common goal.

Each service user would also obtain a RYA competent crew certificate which is a recognised qualification and a great starting point for anyone thinking about a career in sailing.

We believe that it is important to find new and adventurous approaches towards therapy and recovery from addiction.

This project will open up the world of sail training, and the benefits that come with it, to many people who wouldn’t normally have such an opportunity. We believe this sailing experience will be something that is remembered for life by the participants.

An educational opportunity

Plymouth University are currently researching with the Tectona Trust the benefits of sail training and the effects it has on people’s behaviour after they have experienced both the serenity of the sea and the diverse challenges faced at whilst at sea.

To-date the evidence suggests that it is certainly positive. Sail training has a very similar benefit to other projects that Phoenix Futures run nationally. In order for people to recover they need some time out to reflect, do something that is good for their self confidence, great for their self-worth and building a new self-belief.

This voyage will provide another valuable opportunity for Plymouth University and the Tectona Trust to understand better the positive impact of sail training.

“I went on a sail training trip with my service last year and now work as a volunteer on the same boat, it’s been life changing in more ways than anyone could imagine” Darren Long – Former Phoenix Futures Service User

We really need your help to make this happen.

The total cost of this exciting project is £70,000. This cost includes food and the professional crew’s salaries for the three month period of the voyage.

How can you be part of this very special project?

There are lots of ways you can get involved; here are just a few ideas:

• You can purchase a place on the first leg of the journey from Plymouth to Portsmouth and experience sailing the 80ft Tectona for yourself – price on enquiry

• You could sponsor a service user to take part – £438

• Donate directly to this project at Justgiving – all donations  no matter how much are very much appreciated

• Donate equipment, food, waterproof clothing
•  Arrange a fundraising event in your community to support this special project

• Be the official headline sponsor of the The Voyage for Recovery and add your name to this innovative project

For more information go to www.phoenix-futures.org.uk or call us on 0207 234 9762 to find out how you could get involved on we’d love to speak to you.

Who are we?

Phoenix Futures

Phoenix House (operating as Phoenix Futures) is a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 284880) and in Scotland (No. SCO39008).

Company Limited by Guarantee Number 1626869. Registered Tenant Services Authority Number H3795.

National Housing Federation Member.

Registered Office
Phoenix Futures, 3rd Floor, ASRA House, 1 Long Lane, London, SE1 4PG

Thank you for your interest, we hope you will join us so that together we will make The Voyage of Recovery a project we will all be proud of for many, many years to come.

Cowes, Isle of Wight: The Island Sailing Club (ISC) is delighted to confirm that the first entry registered by the Race Entries team at 12.04am for this year’s J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race is Inseyandra, a Bavaria 46, owned and skippered by Martin Thomas from Kings Langley in Hertfordshire.  Martin is a Yachtmaster Instructor and Principal of Solent Sail Ltd, an RYA sailing school, and he will be racing on 30th June with an amateur crew of ten on board.

In what has become an annual tradition at the ISC, Lea Bennett, Club Secretary, telephoned Martin Thomas this morning to congratulate him on being the first entry and also revealed to him that he had in fact just pipped the triple Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie CBE to the post with his Race entry which was filed just two minutes later!

Martin Thomas said:

“I am extremely happy and very proud to be the first entry in but also feel incredibly privileged to be racing against an Olympic champion in surely one of the only yacht races where this is actually possible!”

As it commences an eighth year as Race Title Sponsor, J.P. Morgan Asset Management confirms that Ben, whom the company also Title sponsors, has indeed entered this year’s Race and, furthermore, it’s the only time when he will be competing outside of the Finn class before the Olympics. In this most historic of sporting years for Great Britain and one in which Ben, GB’s most successful Olympic sailor ever, is hoping to make history, he will skipper J.P. Morgan Asset Management Winston (GBR 2806L), a very competitive Beneteau First 40.

Ben AInslie: In it to win it in 2012. Photo: Paul Wyeth

The first Race start is scheduled for 0700 on Saturday 30th June. If you’ve never done the Race and are contemplating entering this year, take a look at the Race Overview http://goo.gl/PWnH2 and First Timers’ Guide http://goo.gl/0PPLh.

Race website
Visitors to the Race website will appreciate the new-look, user-friendly and feature-packed site launched today to coincide with this year’s entries opening this morning. The overall design is such that the Race organisers, Title Sponsor and Race Partners alike hope it will encourage, inform and entertain first timers and regular racers alike with its stunning imagery, Race news, special features and practical hints and tips.

The Race organisers welcome feedback via the online Forum http://goo.gl/5RQWB, on the Race Facebook page http://www.facebook/roundtheisland or via the Race Twitter feed http://www.twitter.com/roundtheisland

Early bird entries close at midnight on February 25th.

Peta's communications consultancy is set fair for 2012

PR Works, the Lymington, Hampshire-based PR consultancy that is owned and run by the marine leisure PR communications specialist Peta Stuart-Hunt, is going from strength to strength, announcing that three new clients have joined its marine leisure market portfolio in 2012.

PR Works has been appointed to run the PR & media communications for the Brewin Dolphin 12mR World Championships & British Open Tour, being held in the Solent in the UK from 27th June to 15th July 2012. The individual regattas are being hosted in turn by the Royal Southern Yacht Club, the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Household Division Yacht Club, the Royal Thames Yacht Club and the Royal Solent Yacht Club. Modern and classic 12 Metre yachts from around the globe will converge on Solent waters for 17 days of sailing providing an impressive sight for on-water spectators as well as for those viewing from the shore. First built in 1907, the class, designed to the newly created 12 Metre Rule, was used in the Olympic Games of 1908, 1912 and 1920, but is probably best known for its racing prowess in the America’s Cup from 1958 to 1987.

Peta will also handle the event media campaign for the second running of the Westward Cup also taking place in June.
The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) has confirmed that it has extended invitations to eight of the most beautiful Big Class yachts in the world to come and grace the shores of the Solent and race in the second edition of the Westward Cup regatta, taking place 11-16 June 2012. Run in association with the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) and the Yacht Club de Monaco (YCM) with the RYS as the Organising Authority, the Westward Cup was first held in July 2010 and was a tremendous success for everyone taking part. It marked the revival of and interest in Big Class yacht racing in the Solent and around the world.

On the new technology front, PR Works is working with Marine Blast Multimedia that has just launched the first of its kind, a series of ‘one stop’ Marine Directory Apps for iPhone and Android platforms that enable individuals, businesses and event organisers operating within the leisure marine market to connect smoothly, and for free, to thousands of contacts within the industry. The Marine Blast Directories, currently covering England, Scotland and Wales, and with Ireland coming on stream shortly, also include listings for major global yachting events, as well as links to sailing news sites and regional sailing events with fresh content being added and updated regularly.

Peta also continues in her role as Press Officer for the 2012 J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race run by the Island Sailing Club, as well as handling all the Club and Event PR for the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble, including a range of signature events taking place during 2012 to celebrate the Club’s 175th Anniversary. These include the Biscay 2012 Offshore Race, taking place in September.

www.prworksuk.com
Twitter: @prpeta
Facebook: PR PETA | PR WORKS

ENDS

Image caption: The beauty of Big Class yacht racing in Cowes during the inaugural Westward Cup in 2010.
Credit: Franco Pace. www.francopace.it <http://www.francopace.it> 

Cowes, UK: The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) has confirmed that it has extended invitations to eight of the most beautiful Big Class yachts in the world to come and grace the shores of the Solent and race in the second edition of the Westward Cup regatta, taking place 11-16 June 2012.
 
Run in association with the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) and the Yacht Club de Monaco (YCM) with the RYS as the Organising Authority, the Westward Cup was first held in July 2010 and was a tremendous success for everyone taking part. It marked the revival of and interest in Big Class yacht racing in the Solent and around the world.
 
The Clubs have now extended invitations to the owners of the following yachts to race in June:

Altair                             Cambria
Elena                            Eleonora
Lulworth                        Mariette
Mariquita                       Moonbeam IV

Speaking on behalf of the RYS, David Aisher, Rear Commodore Yachting, commented that after the immense success of the inaugural event in 2010, the organisers are delighted to once again be staging the Westward Cup in Cowes and are hoping for maximum take-up of the invitations to enter the Westward Cup 2012. He said:

“The Westward Cup is a unique event for these exquisite racing yachts. Apart from the competitive and challenging racing opportunities that the Solent and adjacent waters can provide, there is the relaxing and welcoming atmosphere of Cowes and the many clubs here, the true ‘home of yachting’ to many of these yachts. The RYS will provide a base for the owners and their guests, and, by staging the Westward Cup in Cowes, will also be providing the devotees of Big Class yachting a spectacle rarely seen in Solent waters.”

The RYS will run the racing along the successful lines of 2010, making maximum use of the waters around the Isle of Wight to ensure the captains and crews enjoy challenging and competitive racing that only these waters can deliver. Racing will be scored under the International IRC Rule.

The RYS may also produce results under a modified CIM rule to enable comparison of results using a rule used at other regattas by these magnificent yachts. It is also the intention to include a race around the Isle of Wight, subject to weather conditions.

http://www.rys.org.uk
 
– ENDS -

Media Enquiries:
Peta Stuart-Hunt
Press Officer | Westward Cup
E:    peta@prworksuk.com
M:   +44 (0) 7711 477 707
DD: +44 (0) 1590 679 621
Skype: PRPETA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:     4th January 2012

Issued by:  Peta Stuart-Hunt | PR Works 07711 477 707
Marine Blast Multimedia, an offshoot of the well-established UK marine coatings removal business Marine Blast, has launched the first of its kind, a series of ‘one stop’ Marine Directory Apps for iPhone and Android platforms that enable individuals, businesses and event organisers operating within the leisure marine market to connect smoothly, and for free, to thousands of contacts within the industry.

The Marine Blast Directories, currently covering England, Scotland and Wales, and with Ireland coming on stream shortly, also include listings for major global yachting events, as well as links to sailing news sites and regional sailing events with fresh content being added and updated regularly.
Marine Blast Multimedia Directory Apps allow your company or organisation to display news, events, products, images, audio files and videos. The technology includes sharing, location finder. The Directories integrate with Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Quicktime.  Anyone with a listing can message their database with up-to-the -minute news or industry offers using text messages.

Marine Blast Multimedia is very well connected – don’t miss out!
In addition to launching its Directory Apps, Marine Blast Multimedia has also introduced an App design and build service for anyone running a business or events in the marine market.  Even if you want bespoke elements built into your App, such as database integration, extended product areas or other elements that are tailor made to your business, the great thing about Marine Blast Apps is that you only ever pay extra for add-ons, thus making developing the original iPhone or Android App less expensive at the outset.

Marine Blast Multimedia Managing Director, Iain Hurrel, is at pains to make the whole enterprise as stress-free and cost-effective as possible for clients.  Iain’s advice to anyone who is thinking about creating a bespoke App but has concerns about the time it takes and the cost of producing it, is to talk things through with him first. “Once we have a strategy and know what you want and need to achieve through your App, we will start to build it for you. You will be able to track the progress on line and can edit the information as we proceed through the launch stages.”

If you are running a business, and/or organising an event and want to spread the word, make sure you are included in the new Directory by adding your FREE listing now as well as learning more about iPhone and Android Apps at: http://www.marineblastmultimedia.co.uk.
Marine Blast Multimedia is on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MarineBlastMultimedia and on Twitter @MarineBlastM.

Entries are now open for the Royal Southern Yacht Club’s inaugural Biscay 2012 Offshore Race taking place from 16th – 29th September 2012, with early bird entries closing on 1st March 2012. 

The Race, created as a legacy to members from the Royal Southern in its 175th Anniversary year and to be run as a biennial event, looks set to be a truly international event with expressions of interest already received from some 20 entries including crews from several overseas yacht clubs from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden and the USA.

The Club has teamed up with Sunsail Racing and has access to its fleet of Beneteau F40 cruiser/racing boats, which may be chartered by Members and other interested crews.

The pretty port of La Rochelle hosts the first stopover.

Biscay 2012′s Race Ambassador is the British yachtswoman Samantha Davies who, having recently announced her newly sponsored Vendée Globe campaign for 2012, commented:

“The Biscay 2012 Race is the perfect offshore race for amateurs and I would recommend anyone interested in offshore racing to participate. The Race provides a challenging opportunity for taking in the wonderful ports of La Rochelle and Brest and allowing for a competitive offshore race.”

Members of the Race organising committee at the Royal Southern in Hamble, Hampshire, are working closely with the Société des Régates Rochelaises in La Rochelle and the Société des Régates de Brest to plan the shoreside and logistical details required to accommodate a fleet of up to 50 boats when in port, co-ordinate the Race finishes and re-starts and plan a schedule of social and media functions.

The Biscay 2012 Course Map

The Race:
The Biscay 2012 Race is divided into three legs, over 950 nautical miles, allowing for challenging and competitive racing, with crews racing from the Solent, UK to La Rochelle, France, onwards to Brest, France and back to the Solent with stopovers in La Rochelle and Brest.

• Leg 1 takes the fleet from a Solent start line to La Rochelle and competitors will navigate their way down The Solent towards the Needles and cross the challenging waters of the Bay of Biscay towards the charming, fortified port of La Rochelle.

• Leg 2 is from La Rochelle to Brest giving crews a race up the stunning west coast of France to arrive in the historic port of Brest.

• Leg 3 returns the fleet from Brest to Hamble, sailing past Bembridge Ledge off the east coast of the Isle of Wight and back across The Solent to the Royal Southern’s Clubhouse in Hamble for the prizegiving.

A supplementary race for Cruisers, both IRC and Club Class White Sail, will run concurrently with Leg 3 of the Biscay 2012, over a distance of approximately 265 nautical miles, between Brest and the Solent, carrying its own unique classification.

Entry details:
Crew qualification for the Biscay 2012 Race will include Sunsail Racing events and the Royal Southern Yacht Club’s 2012 summer race regattas.

Competitors should apply for entry using the Expression of Interest Form available from www.biscay2012.co.uk <http://www.biscay2012.co.uk/> with the Early Bird entry rate closing on 01 March 2012.

The Notice of Races is also available to view and download on the Biscay 2012 website.

For more information call the Royal Southern YC Sailing Office: +44 0 23 8045 0302 or Sunsail Racing: 0844 463 6851

or log onto www.biscay2012.co.uk <http://www.biscay2012.co.uk/>

The Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award recognises acts of good seamanship on Race day and is open to all those involved, whether competitors, spectators, members of the emergency services or race officers.

Amongst the many worthy nominations following the June 25th Race, were two extraordinarily strong nominations for skippers coming to the rescue of two separate ‘Man Overboard’ (MOB) incidents, both in big seas.

The joint winners of the Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award for 2011 and each also receiving a handsome Nautica watch, are Michael Hook, skipper on the Britannia Events chartered Flying Fish, GBR 9043T, for rescuing a man overboard from a Laser SB3, and Paul Harris, owner and skipper of Tan-It, a Sydney 36, for rescuing a man overboard from Jings!, a J133.

One of the joint Nautica Outstanding Seamanship Award winners, Michael Hook. Photo: Patrick Eden.

The Award’s judging panel comprising Gavin Crilly-McKean (Nautica Watches), Dave Atkinson (ISC Race Management) and Simon Boulding (Britannia Corporate Events) stated that the winners were selected because, “successful MOB recoveries in such unforgiving circumstances have to be exercised with a great deal of skill and without a moment’s hesitation or regard for the rescuer’s race results.”

The 2012 Race is open for business from Jan 20th

The 2012 Race website – http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk – will go live on January 20th, coinciding with Race organisers opening entries for the 2012 Race.  Dubbed ‘Britain’s favourite yacht race’, the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race will be held on Saturday 30th June with a first class start time of 0700.

More details about the MOB rescues can be found on the official Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/roundtheisland

The ever-popular Summer Series Regattas are back in a format that allows for maximum racing on the water with minimal impact on other events taking place. In May, June, July and September, an entire weekend is dedicated to IRC, Sportsboat, One-design and White Sail/Club Class racing. Any class that can muster more than eight boats will be given their own class start.

Pretty as a picture, and as competitive as anything when racing in the Southern's May regatta this year! Photo is by Phil Riley

In addition, the Southern is very pleased to have been selected to manage National Championships for the J/80s, J/97s and J/109s. The Club will welcome back Jim Saltonstall for a Training Day, run Royal Southern Academy Match Cup Events, the X Yachts Solent Cup, J/111 Regatta, Foxers Regatta, the British 12Metre Open Championships, SB3 Racing; IRC Solent Series 2, SORC 175, Mini Tonner, SIRCON, X Boat, Quarter Tonner and Southern Six Racing, the J/109 Saturday Series, Hunter 707 Southern Championship, Women’s Open Keelboat Championships, and a Farr 45 Race Weekend.

A terrific event that is enjoyed both on and off the water is the J Cup. It returns to the Southern in 2012 and will also include the J/109 and J/97 UK National Championships.

The recently announced Biscay 2012 Offshore Race will start on the 16th September 2012. Inaugurated by the Royal Southern Yacht Club in celebration of its 175th Anniversary, the Biscay 2012 is a new open sailing race for monohull vessels and has as its Ambassador, yachtswoman Samantha Davies. A single race, run in three successive Legs, with points accrued towards an overall classification, Biscay 2012 covers approximately 950 nautical miles, starting and finishing in the Solent and visiting the French ports of La Rochelle and Brest. For more information on this new event and to download the Notice of Race, please visit: www.biscay2012.co.uk.

The Royal Southern always scores highly with its members on its ability to lay on a really great social function and two dates for your 2012 diaries include the infamous Crew Balls on Saturday 26th May and Saturday 8th September, a perfect opportunity for crews to feast well and let their hair down!

Check the Club’s website for all dates and race entry details will be available online from 1st February for all these events. To find out more visit: www.royal-southern.co.uk or contact the Sailing Office via email: sailing@royal-southern.co.uk.

All the Club news can also be found on Twitter and Facebook, so there’s no excuse not to be right up to date with everything that is going on, on shore and on the water.

Something to watch out for in these rather extraordinary times of social media and networking where friends, colleagues, peers and/or total strangers want to ‘BEFRIEND’ you and ‘LIKE’ you and then trawl through your contacts and communicate very freely and, sometimes quite intimately with you, is falling into the trap of another ‘professional’ or interested party taking a keen interest in you and your particular area of expertise and then basically ‘RIPPING YOU OFF’.

We must bear in mind of course that it is entirely up to us  - IT IS OUR CHOICE – whether we decide to befriend, or like these people, colleagues, friends, strangers, requesting to tap into our private and business networks, our private and business worlds. After all, we have the choice to IGNORE them or to LET THEM IN!

Once bitten twice shy

There’s nothing new about devious individuals operating in every type of business arena and almost certainly each of us has a story to tell either about our own mishap or lack of judgement in a business environment, or we know someone else who has fallen into a ‘TRAP’, been gullible, taken in, been HUMAN!  Most of us are by nature quite trusting and sadly can be extraordinarily naive…that is until we’ve been bitten!

The ‘scheister’ will make an approach – either using email or on the phone – have a perfectly normal conversation with you, probably try a bit of flattery about your business acumen, your reputation and how many people have recommended you and tell you that whatever it is that you’re able to supply is JUST THE JOB! Eventually they agree your terms – maybe even in an email.  He, she, has agreed to pay you for your time and skill set on a specific project, communicates with you to make the project happen, utilises your ideas and then, when it comes to paying the invoice, disappears off the face of the earth!

Not only do they not pay you as they said they would but if they won’t communicate with you at all, what on earth can you do other than chalk it up to experience and make sure everyone in your industry knows who they are and ensures that they are avoided like the plague? You could get a lawyer involved but it’s expensive and time consuming and if the ‘scheister’ is operating abroad and you’re in the UK, it makes it even more complicated for you to hunt them down and confront them.

Knowledge is power

For some sensible, easy to undertand and up to date advice and facts to add to your armoury and hopefully avoid being bitten in the future, have a read of this: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1086084947