Valencia Sailing: June 2005

Teams assess their performance

Five days have passed since the Louis Vuitton Acts 4 & 5 came to an end and it's time now for everybody to sit down and assess their preformance, draw lessons and plan for the future. The next regattas are not far away, less than two months are left till the gathering of all teams in Sweden.

The first team to face the journalists was Desafío Español 2007 on Monday and our article was published that day. That press conference gave us the idea to draw a brief questionnaire with the 3 most important questions (in our opinion) and send it to the teams. I think that in addition to the obvious question on their view on their individual performance, it is interesting to see what sailors think about two other issues. The wind conditions in early summer, the period the actual America's Cup will take place in 2 years as well as their view on the new scoring system. It became apparent in fleet races that the so called "strong" teams did not perform as expected and "weaker" teams could upset the ranking.

Today we publish the reply of Tom Weaver, Manager of Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, the last of the three Italian syndicates to come to Valencia.

Tom Weaver on Valencia Sailing

Valencia Sailing: Are you satisfied with Valencia's weather and wind conditions during the Louis Vuitton Acts 4 & 5?

Tom Weaver: Satisfied, getting all the races in with only one small delay was a good start (and the stated goal of America's Cup Management) even though the wind was light. The week before the event and this week have been spectacular, so the potential is there to have a real spectacle.

Valencia Sailing: Can you give us a brief assessment of your team's performance in Louis Vuitton Acts 4 & 5?

Tom Weaver: We arrived in the cup late, as a group we have put a lot of energy into the boat with a focus on the future, it was very good to have Acts 4 & 5 for all the departments to gel and concentrate on competitive sailing. In Act 4 we were still sorting out some equipment issues and putting a full sailing team on one boat together for the first time. We are very satisfied to be 5th overall in the challenger standings, for now.

Tom Weaver, Team Manager, during the presentation of Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, held in Valencia on June the 14th

Valencia Sailing: What is your view on the new scoring system? Does fleet racing gain a disproportionate weight?

Tom Weaver: It is what it is, the weighting is fine. In the next 2 years the
fleet racing counts a little more than the match racing, the public and fans want to see fleet racing at this level, we will give it to them. The spectator fleets on the weekend were incredible and there is still 2 years until the cup. Some big budget teams had a little shake up last week, they have been at this for 2-5 years non stop, the fleet racing will rattle a few fragile minds. Remember though the cup is match racing and the gloves will come off for that.

Desafío Español assesses its performance

Zulueta: "We have achieved great teamwork"
Doreste: "We have shown we were a compact and united team"

The heads of Desafío Español 2007 made this morning an assessment of the team’s performance during the Louis Vuitton Acts that came to an end yesterday in Valencia. Agustín Zulueta, General Technical and Sports Director, stated that "we achieved a good result in Act 4, the match race regattas, which is the essence of the America’s Cup, where the crew demonstrated it could adequately operate the boat while the latter is at a good technical level. I think we have demonstrated we operated with good planning during the last months and that we have achieved great teamwork".

Concerning fleet racing in Act 5, Zulueta added that "we made some changes that did not produce the results we expected and we realized we did not have the communication level achieved during match racing. Yesterday’s triumph has satisfied us and is obviously very important for the crew and team motivation". On that matter Luis Doreste, Sports Director of the Spanish challenger, added that "it is not that the crew got better during the last day, we were all at a very similar level and all crews were pretty equal; we got it right at the first mark and headed the race. The disappointing results of the previous days were due to bad starts and the consequent difficulty in recovering once being behind."

Luis Doreste (left), Agustín Zulueta (right)

Doreste stated that "the competition format of the America’s Cup is match racing and consequently we concentrated on that type of racing, counting on two specialists, Karol Jablonski and Jesper Radich, who have been at the helm of the boat during training period. For that reason, during the last two months, Santi López-Vázquez hasn’t had the opportunity to skip the boat, it was not the moment as we had decided to concentrate on match racing. Everything will happen as planned and we have plenty of time ahead of us."

Concerning fleet racing, Luis Doreste stated that "after the first races, Jesper Radich did not have the required top psychological conditions. We thoroughly analyzed the situation and as a result he took the decision to rest as it was the best for him given his bad condition. He now feels much better and we will keep training with two boats as we have always been doing. He will shortly go to the Swedish Match Tour and then will join once again the training sessions. I think we have demonstrated we were a compact and united team"

Finance - Sponsors

Another important subject was covered during today's press conference. Domingo Pérez-Alonso, General Manager in charge of Finance as well as Marketing and Communications, stated that "the Desafío Español 2007 project has been funded. We have covered 75% of the budget and we are currently in discussions with other sponsors." On that matter he added he was expecting further tax measures that would improve the tax regime of team sponsors, obviously making sponsorship attractive to a wider spectrum of companies.

Technical Team - New boat

Having analyzed the results of the Louis Vuitton Acts, Agustín Zulueta presented the technical team, headed by John Cutler, and the design team of John Reichel and Jim Pugh. Zulueta confirmed that building of the first boat would start in Valencia early September and that it would be completed by mid April of 2006.

Standing, left to right: José luis Vela, David Hulse, Nihat Aydin, Sandro Benigni, John Reichel, Paul Snape, Alex Shimell, Scott Graham, Philipp Westphal, James Criner. Seated, left to right: Arran Bird, Jim Pugh, Agustín Zulueta, John Cutler, Iñigo Toledo

Act 5 : Luna Rossa wins, Alinghi tied second

Louis Vuitton Act 5 offered some of the best America's Cup racing ever with 12 boats competing for points that will count towards the selection of the syndicate that will challenge Alinghi in the 32nd America's Cup.

The Swedish Victory Challenge surprised everybody with their constant excellent performance and hadn't they been disqualified for a technical reason the Louis Vuitton Act 5 prize would have gone to them. Nevertheless, it was again the four top teams of Act 4 that grabbed the first four places in Act 5, albeit in a different order.

Valencia Sailing was present in the last race in Valencia thanks to the kind hospitality of Tom Ehman and BMWOracle Racing. One should absolutely not miss Tom's comments on "Radio Ehman FM" (just joking) broadcast over the loudspeakers of BMWOracle's spectator boats. In fact, many boats stick around BMWOracle's spectator boats just to catch Tom's comments and follow the races much closer.

Enjoy today's photos. Despite the fact that racing has ended in Valencia for 2005, I will keep posting AC-related content as the America's Cup has just started

This was THE spectator boat during Louis Vuitton Act 5. It is called The World and is a combination of cruiseship, condominium and luxury residence