Beware of the Red Dragon and his "horn"!!

China Team's brand new yacht, CHN-95, came out of the boat shed this morning, fitted out and with a surpise, in the form of a bowsprit. Just 24 hours after the christening and launch of Victory Challenge's SWE-96, the Chinese are the last challenger to unveil their battleship, almost ready to start the fight. The shore crew expects the launch of the boat within the next few days.

Here is an unfortunately small selection of images taken this morning in the China Team base, obviously the ones the team screened and allowed us to publish. No matter how small a team might be, one never knows whether CHN-95 has a secret that could make James Spithill, Dean Barker or Ed Baird lose their sleep. In fact, spectators would just love to see the so-called "smaller" teams cause headaches to the "Top Four". That would be a sign that racing got closer and that the result of a race is not simply a reflection of the current rankings in the leaderboard.

China Team's CHN-95 leaves the boat shed for the final preparations before launch. Valencia, 10 February 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

China Team's CHN-95 leaves the boat shed for the final preparations before launch. Valencia, 10 February 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

China Team's CHN-95 leaves the boat shed for the final preparations before launch. Valencia, 10 February 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

China Team's CHN-95 leaves the boat shed for the final preparations before launch. Valencia, 10 February 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

China Team's CHN-95 leaves the boat shed for the final preparations before launch. Valencia, 10 February 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The following picture is also the reply to our latest photo quizz. The picture was indeed the edge of the bow of CHN-95...

China Team's CHN-95 leaves the boat shed for the final preparations before launch. Valencia, 10 February 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing