SAILING legend, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, is to invest a massive £1.6m in the next edition of a gruelling solo round-the-world race to support skippers.

Sir Robin’s company, Clipper Ventures will pour the money, including a £460,000 prize fund, into the 2010-11 edition of the Velux 5 Oceans race in a bid to attract top-name skippers.

As part of the investment from the Gosport-based firm, each race team will be given around £33,000, which will include £3,200 to cover accommodation per stopover, £9,000 for communications during the race and £4,500 for logistics.

It is hoped that the cash boost will be enough incentive to attract the likes of Hampshire sailors, Mike Golding, Dee Caffari and Sam Davies, for the five-leg, 29,500-mile race.

Sir Robin said: “We are very conscious that the format of our event, spanning eight months, visiting five continents and encompassing five gruelling ocean sprints, can introduce supplementary costs, especially during such challenging economic times. Although we know that our event offers unparalleled media exposure and a unique hospitality platform on the Open 60 racing calendar, Velux and Clipper Ventures realised that we needed to go further in our support of our competitors in order to make the race an attractive proposition for sponsors and skippers alike.”

Clipper Ventures’ investment will be available as a minimum to the first 12 teams who officially enter the event, which will start from La Rochelle, in France, on October 17 next year.