Valencia Sailing: February 2006

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

New BMW Oracle boat arrives in Valencia !!!!

This news just in!!! The new BMW Oracle boat arrived from Seattle today at 3pm in Valencia's airport. The airplane passed over our offices at around 2pm with an enormous roar that made us rush to the windows!! If only we could know at that moment what cargo it was carrying!!

New BMW Oracle boat at Valencia's airport on 28 February 2006. Photo copyright: Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle Racing

Dubai is world-class for sailing, say Russell Coutts

Russell Coutts says Dubai is on course to become one of the world’s leading sailing venues and is placing the right emphasis on youth to help the sport’s growth.

Coutts, the most successful helmsman in Americas Cup history, can’t wait for next month’s Dubai Match Race Challenge when he tackles Danish star Jes Gram-Hansen Helmsman of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Click for more info in the first of a new series of international events planned for the Emirate.

The event marks the competitive debut of the Russell Coutts 44 racing boat, and the New Zealander is relishing the battle ahead against Gram-Hansen and a crew drawn from 2007 Americas Cup challengers, the Italian-based Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team.

“The Dubai Match Race Challenge is a good chance to showcase the boat and learn more about the venue in preparation for future events,” said Coutts, looking ahead to the action at Dubai International Marine Club on March 16-17. “Perhaps more important than that, it is a good chance to promote sailing in that part of the world. They have a strong youth programme and it will be good for those sailors to see this type of racing. I believe there is a need to grow our sport through increasing the participation of our youth sailors. Dubai International Marine Club is doing a great job there. We need to make sailing more accessible and provide some exciting formats that young sailors can aspire to join. It seems that many events are concentrated in Europe and the US but we should also have more events in Asia to expand the participation levels in sailing.”

The youth sailing programme launched six years ago by Saeed Hareb, Managing Director of DIMC, has boosted the popularity of sailing at schools and local clubs and produced a national team which does well at international level.

“The youth programme has already produced a European champion as well as the first UAE national to qualify for an Olympic sailing event,” said Sid Bensalah, sailing manager at DIMC. “Bringing Russell Coutts, Jes Gram-Hansen and many more of the world’s top sailing stars to Dubai is another part of Saeed’s plans to boost the youngsters’ sailing education.”

The high performance composite-built RC 44 being launched in Dubai is being constructed to stringent CouttsJustin design specifications by Dubai-based manufacturers V1 Advanced Composite Technologies and Pauger Carbon from Budapest. The Dubai Match Race Challenge will feature six 20-minute rounds of close combat match racing on a virtual square course set between Dubai International Marine Club, its beachside, Le Meridian resort hotel and the Palm Jumeirah breakwater.

“The venue looks fantastic and the winds are very consistent,” said Coutts. “Typically there is a land breeze in the morning and a sea breeze in the afternoon. The match racing course is inside the Palm development, so the water is smooth and there are plenty of landmarks to define the race area. I believe it will become one of the best venues in the world to stage an international sailing event.”

Dubai International Marine Club and V1 Advanced Composite Technologies are working together to establish Dubai as a leading venue for match racing. Martin Bender, Managing Director of V1, said: “The Dubai Match Race Challenge is a very exciting new event and is already attracting a lot of attention from the international sailing community. We’re all eager to see how the RC44 performs and we have some fantastic racing to look forward to.”

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Dubai launches new event on world sailing stage

Three-times Americas Cup winning skipper Russell Coutts will go head-to-head in Dubai next month with Danish star Jes Gram-Hansen Helmsman of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Click for more info in the first of a new series of international sailing events planned for the Emirate.

The Dubai Match Race Challenge marks the competitive debut of the Russell Coutts 44 racing boat which will give rise to a new one design fleet racing World Championship event in 2007. The high performance composite-built RC 44 is being constructed to stringent CouttsJustin design specifications by Dubai-based manufacturers V1 Advanced Composite Technologies and Pauger Carbon from Budapest.

Its competitive launch in the Dubai Match Race Challenge on March 16-17 reinforces the relationship between V1 and the event organisers, Dubai International Marine Club, who are working together to establish Dubai as a leading venue for match racing.

The Dubai Match Race Challenge will feature six 20-minute rounds of close combat match racing on a virtual square course set between Dubai International Marine Club, its beachside Le Meridian resort hotel and the Palm Jumeirah breakwater. This setting is emerging as a unique stage for top-class international sailing, giving spectators a close-up view of the world’s top match racing teams in competitive action.

“We’re delighted to be working with Dubai International Marine Club to stage one of the highlights of our sailing calendar, and to be showcasing a new boat which should become one of the most exciting and sought after racers in the world,” said Martin Bender, Managing Director of V1 Advanced Composite Technologies.

“Russell Coutts, the world’s most successful match race sailor, has translated his long-standing passion for yacht design into a new light-displacement racer. It defines the advantages composite built boats have over traditionally built yachts in being lighter, faster, stiffer, more sophisticated, easier to maintain and reasonably priced.”

Ahead of the boat’s competitive debut in the Dubai Match Race Challenge, it has already been confirmed that a new, one design class fleet racing RC 44 World Championship will be staged in Dubai from March 11-18, 2007. “This new event will be broadcast live on TV in the Middle East and have a worldwide audience, and it will be one of our most prestigious events of the year,” said Saeed Hareb, Managing Director of DIMC. “At the same time, we’re already looking forward to hosting the first World Championship event next year, and many more events will follow.”

Skippering a crew featuring Swiss Julien di Biase, Croatian Stipe Vitaljic, Italian Massimo Sirena and Danes Chresten Plinius and Peter Poulsen, Coutts will be aiming to add to his impressive haul of major career successes in the Dubai Match Race Challenge.

Jes Gram-Hansen, one of the rising stars of match racing, will be supported by fellow-Dane Rasmus Kostner Trimmer of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Click for more info, Malta’s Chris Dougall, and Italy’s Alberto Barovier Bowman of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Click for more info, Michele Paoletti Trimmer of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Click for more info and Vasco Vascotto Skipper of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Click for more info, who has won more world sailing titles than any other Italian.

Coutts first came under the international spotlight by capturing the ISAF World Youth Championship in 1981, and three years later won a gold medal in the Finn class at the Los Angeles Olympics. His three America's Cup victories as skipper in 1995, 2000 and 2003 with a 14-0 winning record, makes him the most successful America’s Cup helmsman.

He has won three World Match Racing Championships and recorded numerous international match race wins and World Championship victories. He has twice been the International Yacht Racing Union’s World Sailor of the Year.

Gram-Hansen has made a name for himself on the Swedish Match Tour, finishing third overall in 2001-'02 and 2002-'03, and was runner-up in the 2002 Match Racing World Championship. Vascotto has captured 22 Italian championships, seven European titles and 14 World Championships. He has also won 5 Giri d’Italia (Around Italy distance race), the Admirals Cup in 1999, and two bronze ISAF medals.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Luctor Yachts introduces new GP42

Luctor Yachts brings a new GP42 to the market. The boat is designed by Lutra design (designer of 2001 Fastnet winner Tonnerre), and built by McConaghy Boats (builder of Wild Oats) at their joint-venture yard with Jin Li Composites: McConaghy International in Chang Ping, one hour north of Hong Kong. The engineering has been done by SP Technology. The design has been approached as a one- off. The big difference is that it is built in a female mould so the structure is lighter and stiffer than a one-off that is built on a male plug. To lower the costs this boat is built in production, so a lot of teams can benefit from this superior building method, which is using prepreg carbon laminates. This technology improves hull stiffness considerably and unlike with wet laminates, the hull is equally stiff everywhere.

The new Box rule of the ORC is ideal to create the highest standard possible. Using this building method, the Luctor GP42 is not only a very fast boat, but is also very durable. Good value for money and highly competitive for many years. Next to the GP class, the Luctor GP42 also performs very well under the IRC rule. Luctor Yachts can offer the Luctor GP42 with various extras. For example we can adapt the keel or rudder, or we can taper the laminate in the ends, so we can move more weight to the centre of the boat. Should a client wishes to optimise for certain rules or conditions, Luctor Yachts can deliver more keels and/or rudders which can be bolted on very easily. In this way the Luctor GP42 can be optimised for the Sydney- Hobart Race for example. The Luctor GP42 combines the best of both worlds: racing in the GP42 Class and optimised racing under a handicap rule. The price of the Luctor GP42 will be very interesting.

Luctor Yachts has been founded by Jort van Sisseren in The Netherlands. Luctor Yachts brings the best components of the sailing world together. Developing tomorrow’s sailing yachts for a demanding public, combining cutting edge technology, advanced composites and know- how is their line of business. They combine the best builders and suppliers on the market and make this available to their clients for a good price. They mainly concern themselves with yacht racing on the highest level. Their objective is to be the most progressive yacht brand on the market, delivering high quality, race winning yachts. The Luctor GP42 is the first project, but the Luctor GP33 is already on its way.

For more information or questions check out www.luctoryachts.com

Friday, February 24, 2006

Green meditation

Desafío Español 2007, the Spanish America's Cup challenger, presented yesterday afternoon their new addition to the team and an innovative yet increasingly popular method to reduce stress among the crew members.

Mr Andrés Martín Asuero recently joined the Spanish syndicate in order to apply his vast experience in MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction). Under his guidance, team members will carry out a specially designed program whose aim is to reduce their stress and pressure levels, resulting in better performance.

MBSR has been designed and developed by the Medical School of the University of Massachusets in 1979 and offers a powerful, integrated approach to working with one's daily physical, emotional and psychological stress. In the 25 years that exists, MBSR has been applied by tens of universities, companies and sports teams. Two of the world's most famous and successful sports franchises, the LA Lakers and the Chicago Bulls, have been applying this method since the mid 1990's.

In addition to the obvious stress-producing factors that exist in every top professional sports team, America's Cup teams have two singularities that increase stress even further. Firstly, unlike other sports, the yacht's crew is confined in a very small space during many hours. Individual team members do not have the opportunity to break away from the rest of the team and put on an inidividual show. All 17 team members must spend many hours on a daily basis aboard the yacht, both for training as well as racing. In addition, teamwork and coordination are extremely important. The team must work like a Swiss watch and performance will be as good as the weakest link. As a result, tensions and animosity can spring up when so many top athletes work under such pressure so close together.

The Desafío Español team at the beginning of their relaxation session. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Secondly, unlike any other sport, not only team members are top professional athletes they also have a second "technical" nature. Each crew member must take care of the good performance and maintenance of the boat's part he is responsible for. He has a dual athlete-technician role, a condition that creates even more pressure and stress. When something breaks on the yacht while racing it's the sailors that have to fix it under very adverse conditions. Michael Jordan surely never had to worry about a broken basket! A sailor's daily work doesn't finish when the boat returns to the base after sailing but continues on shore for a long period a time. Finally, quite often team members contribute to the design and construction of the team's boat.

After a very interesting and complete explanation of MBRS fundamentals, the team carried out one of their weekly sessions in the VIP area of the base. These sessions consist mainly of specially designed yoga exercices as well as group discussions.

The wish of all Valencian journalists at the presentation was that the Green Team could be as successful as the other two NBA Dream Teams that applied these methods.

The Desafío Español team stretching under the watchful eye of tens of journalists and photographs. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

The Desafío Español team meditating. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

The Desafío Español team meditating, under the guidance of Andrés Martín Asuero. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

First day of sailing in Valencia for BMW Oracle

BMW Oracle's 2006 pre-season started in full earnest today, as the Challenger of Record sailed their yacht USA-76 off Valencia's coast after two days of sea trials. The America's Cup team from San Francisco will first fulfill a number of sponsor photo shoots over the next 10 days before the full-scale training and testing program begins in March.

According to CEO and Skipper Chris Dickson, BMW Oracle are starting a bit earlier than they did last year, given the intense sailing program this year and the first regatta in May. The daily schedule will include a full physical training program in the team’s on-site gym at the base. In addition to America’s Cup Class sailing, the on-the-water training will include match racing practice in the evenly matched 40-footers.

BMW Oracle sailing with USA-76 in their first day of winter training in Valencia on 22 February 2006. Photo copyright: Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle Racing

SUI-91 – Alinghi’s new sail number

The Swiss Defender has been allocated sail number 91.

The new boat, SUI91, is under construction at Décision Boatyard in Vevey, Switzerland, under the critical eyes of yard director Bertrand Cardis, Alinghi chief designer Rolf Vrolijk, chief engineer Dirk Kramers, boatbuilding manager Michel Marie and head of design Grant Simmer.

The relationship is a strong one, this being the yard that built both SUI64, the 2003 America’s Cup winning boat, and SUI75, the ACC 2005 Championship winner. Bertrand Cardis comments on the alliance: “Historically, we have been involved with Alinghi since the first day of the creation of the team in June 2000. We have had a very successful collaboration since then!”

Twenty five boatbuilders are involved in the new boat, from both the Décision and the Alinghi camps and the aim is to have the boat finished by May.

The crew will then complete structural checks and start training on the boat. Grant Simmer comments on progress: “The construction of our first new boat for the defence of the America’s Cup is progressing on schedule. Luckily we enjoy a very productive relationship with Bertrand Cardis’ team at Décision and we benefit from the collaboration and experience both within Alinghi and at Décision. Michel Marie is in Vevey regularly while our head boatbuilder Gary Hutchinson and several other Alinghi boatbuilders are working full time to complete the boat.”

Meanwhile, at the base in Valencia, the sailing team is reassembling in the gym and on the water match racing the Beneteau 7.5s. Helmsman Ed Baird comments: “For many of the team it has been a while since they have been racing, so this is a good opportunity to get two of the little boats out and to put different people in different jobs on board. It is good practice and good for the energy of the team to get on the water and racing again. When the big boats are ready we'll spend a lot of time testing and although testing is important it's not thrilling for the guys. They like racing, so that's what we are doing."

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Italian duel off Valencia's coast

No day passes without the sailing activity in Valencia getting more visible. With only two months and a half separating us from the next Louis Vuitton Acts, the America's Cup teams present in Valencia do not waste a single day and intensify their training.

Our second installament of training match-races covers an Italian duel in Spanish waters. The two Italian challengers, Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39, got off to an early-morning training session at 9 am. Tuesday started with low temperatures, around 10 degrees, and cloudy skies but very nice western winds that reached around 20 knots during the morning. These excellent sailing conditions were also used by Luna Rossa, Desafío Español 2007 and even BMW Oracle, the latter just towing USA-76 for a couple of miles and then going back to their base.

Enjoy a small sample of the photos from today's training of the two Italian challengers, as the superb sailing conditions produced so many eye-catching moments that made it difficult to choose out of the close to 300 photos. Unfortunately, rules being very strict, I was not allowed to shoot any of the other boats that were training, with some of them getting very close to the beach.

ITA-77 being towed out of the canal. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. My apologies for the photo's quality, but I could not avoid being washed out by the waves. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

+39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

+39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

2010 World Match Racing Championship
	Skipper	Points
1	Ben Ainslie	126
2	Mathieu Richard	111
3	Torvar Mirsky	106
4	Adam Minoprio	90
5	Ian Williams	87
6	Jesper Radich	82
7	Francesco Bruni	65
8	Peter Gilmour	60
9	Bjorn Hansen	51
10	Magnus Holmberg	29

Race Sailing

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

New BMW Oracle boat arrives in Valencia !!!!

Dubai is world-class for sailing, say Russell Coutts

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Dubai launches new event on world sailing stage

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Luctor Yachts introduces new GP42

Friday, February 24, 2006

Green meditation

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

First day of sailing in Valencia for BMW Oracle

SUI-91 – Alinghi’s new sail number

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Italian duel off Valencia's coast

Previous posts

Archives

Links