Hammers get on board with sailing trick

West Ham United first team players were on hand recently to help the Club's principal partner Alpari launch an astonishing new film entitled "The Sailing Lesson" with their professional sailing crew Team Alpari FX.

The film sees Channel 4's magician of the moment Troy meet the unsuspecting Team Alpari FX for a sailing lesson with a difference. After demonstrating their skills on the water, the mystic genius renders the sailors speechless by seemingly pushing the boundaries of reality.

Watch Troy's incredible on-board stunt here

The crew's Australian skipper Keith Swinton visited the Club's Chadwell Heath training ground with fellow Team Alpari FX sailors Ricky McGarvie, Ted Hackney, Ben Lamb and Tudur Owen to meet the Hammers' squad and be presented with some home shirts of their own.

The two Alpari-sponsored squads came together as Alpari announced the new 2014 Team Alpari FX crew line-up ahead of this year's Alpari World Match Racing Tour.

The Alpari World Match Racing Tour is a prestigious global sailing series with six events worldwide, across Asia, Europe and North America, running from June through to November. The AWMRT sees the world's finest match racers battle it out for the biggest prize purse in competitive match racing - $1.4 million.

Of their visit to the Hammers' training ground, skipper Keith Swinton said: "We've come over from Australia to announce our new partnership with Alpari. They have been with the tour for a couple of years and it is fantastic to now have them sponsor our team.

"Coming to the West Ham training ground and seeing the first team train has really highlighted how team-orientated football is, much like sailing.

"We actually went along to the West Ham game against Hull and it was fantastic to see the passion of the supporters and be a part of that."

Hammers forward Ricardo Vaz Te enjoyed meeting the Team Alpari FX sailors.

He added: "The only time I've come across sailing before is from watching it on TV and I know it is a hard sport.

"I respect any sport that I can't do myself, so for them to take some time and come here to see us is really great.

"It's a very physical sport, they work really hard and if you want to be the best in any sport you have to really dedicate yourself physically and mentally.

"It's great that Alpari are sponsoring the two teams and it was good to meet them.

For more information and to watch the film, visit The Sailing Lesson.