Breitling MedCup Castellón starts tomorrow Wednesday

After the Breitling Med Cup's first event of the 2006 season in Punta Ala, Italy which was won by the new American boat Warpath owned by Fred and Steve Howe and steered by Emirates Team New Zealand's Dean BarkerHelmsman of Emirates Team New Zealand

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Newport RI owner John Coumantaros is no stranger to the TP52 class, racing on the inaugural Breitling MedCup circuit last year with his 2004 Farr design and in the US, but in Castellon he will be united with his brand new Mani Frers designed Bambakou for the first time. The Frers design - the only one in the fleet - has already proven quick in preliminary tune up regattas in Palma in April, but this will be Coumantaros' first major event with his new boat. His crew includes Argentinian Olympic bronze medallistfrom the Tornado class Santiago Lange as tactician/helm and American Star helm Mark Mendelblatt who has just won the Star class at the Kiel Week Olympic regatta.

Warpath, current leader of the 2006 Breitling MedCup. Castellón, 4 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Among the sailors ready to step up to the plate in Castellon, which hosts a Breitling MedCup TP52 circuit event for the first time, will be Vasco Vascotto - skipper of the circuit winning Pisco Sour last year. He will add his input to the already solid line up on Peter de Ridder's Mutua Madrilena. Also crewed by a core of Emirates Team New Zealand sailors, they will be also joined by Dirk De Ridder, fresh from taking second place on the Volvo Ocean Race with Pirates of the Caribbean. After taking second in Punta Ala, Mutua Madrilena's team are keen to make their mark again in Castellon.

"I am sure Castellon will be tougher. A few boats there did not have a good regatta and everyone will have taken steps to remedy that. We had a kind of a head start compared to boats which were just launched in Punta Ala. These guys will for sure get their act together and so the competition will be tougher and tighter. The score we had in PA with four bullets in a row just happens every now and then in your lifetime. My guess is that the boats who will sail top seven every race will end upon podium. So concistency again will be key."

Warpath, current leader of the 2006 Breitling MedCup. Castellón, 4 July 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The combined talents of Paul Cayard and Russell Coutts will be brought to bear for the first time on George Anreadis and Jaime Yllera's Lexus. On Caixa Galicia skipper Roberto 'Chuny' Bermudez will have the services of John Kostecki as tactician on Caixa Galicia. Bribon sees the welcome return of movistar Volvo Race skipper Bouwe Bekking as strategist for helm Ross Macdonald.

Among those who did not have a good opening regatta was the Irish owned global champion Siemens. Skipper Ian Walker has decided that he will now steer the boat himself until the end of the season. In search of better light airs speed they have a couple of new mainsails which they hope will make a difference. Dee Smith, who finished fourth with Cristabella in Punta Ala, will now sail with Siemens. "We had some crew changes since Miami and really we had maybe only papered over the cracks winning in the spring, but Ian feels that steering himself really should help our consistency which is what we are after." Confirmed Siemens trimmer Simon Fry. "We are happy with Dee. We have seen the way he operates at regattas and he rarely has a bad one so we are looking forward to sailing with him."