It's official: Paul Cayard joins Desafío Español as technical consultant

The official press release has been just published. Desafío Español, the Spanish America's Cup challenger, came into an agreement with Cayard Sailing Inc this afternoon, with the top international sailor providing the team with technical and sports advisory.

Paul Cayard will supervise the preparation and finetune of ESP-97, the Spanish team's brand new boat, during a period of two months prior to the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2007. After that period Cayard and Desafío Español will discuss the possibilities of further cooperation, although there are no concrete plans right now.

As far as the new boat is concerned, Agustín Zulueta, general manager of the Spanish America's Cup challenger, stated that ESP-97 would leave the King Marine boatyard in 9 days from now, on December the 20th. It will then be fitted out inside the team's base in Port America's Cup for approximately a month and Zulueta was confident the first structural tests could start on January the 22nd, early next year.