Two new trimmers for Desafío Español

Desafío Español, the Spanish challenger of record of the 33rd America's Cup, announced yesterday the arrival of two new trimmers, Nacho Braqurais and Antonio Piris, both Spanish.

Nacho Braquerais, 38 and one of the very few sailors from Valencia, has three America's Cups under his belt (1995, 2000 and 2007) and in the previous edition he was the mainsail trimmer of the B-boat on Luna Rossa. He is also the mainsail trimmer on the TP52 boat Caixa Galicia since the inception of the Breitling Medcup in 2005.

Antonio Piris, 43, was also aboard a Spanish America's Cup challenger three times (1992, 1995 and 2000), has won the Copa del Rey 6 times in the IMS class and is a teammate of Braquerais aboard the TP52 Caixa Galicia.

Given the extremely tight calendar of the 33rd America's Cup, the 5 challengers are under pressure to finalize their lineup. Team Origin was the first one to announce its entire sailing team ten days ago while Desafío Español has the intention to officially present its crew during the first two weeks of October. Two questions are looking for an answer: Will Paul Cayard join the Spanish challenger of record, as rumored, and who will helm the yacht? We'll see..

Antonio Piris, new trimmer of Desafío Español. Valencia, 24 September 2007. Photo copyright Desafío Español

Nacho Braquerais, new trimmer of Desafío Español. Valencia, 24 September 2007. Photo copyright Desafío Español