Breaking News: Challenger meeting in Valencia

We have just returned to our "world headquarters" after a short visit to Valencia's Holiday Inn hotel, where we spotted some of the participants in the challenger meeting organized by BMW Oracle. The meeting started at around 7:15PM Valencia time and to our understanding it was bound to last for at least an hour or so.

The following were physically present at the meeting. There was also a number of participants through the teleconference system but we are not in a position to know who they were, although it is easy to guess that Grant Dalton, General Manager of Emirates Team NZ, was one of them:

- BMW Oracle: Russell Coutts (CEO) and Tom Ehman (Spokesperson)

- Team Origin: Mike Sanderson (General Manager)

- United Internet Team Germany: Jochen Schuemann (General Manager) and Mirko Groeschner (Marketing Manager)

- Victory Challenge: Johan Stenman (General Manager) and Magnus Holmberg (Skipper)

- AYRE: Augusto Sanguinetti (Member of the Technical Team) and Jose Luis Del Moral (Legal Counselor)

- Desafío Español: John Cutler

- Mascalzone Latino: Alessandra Pandarese (General Counselor)

- Luna Rossa: Luis Saenz (General Counselor)

- Shosholoza: We couldn't recognize the person representing the South African team

Note: In order to avoid any misunderstanding, we would like to point out that we haven't made any selection of the photos we publish. The rest of the participants had arrived before Valencia Sailing and were already in the meeting room. The doors being open, we could clearly see them but we were not allowed to take any pictures.

The meeting room was strictly off limits. BMW Oracle had already arranged for an official photographer to be inside and as a result we don't have a "family photo".

Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW Oracle Racing. Valencia, 03 December 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

From left to right, Mike Sanderson (General Manager of Team Origin), Jochen Schuemann (General Manager of United Internet Team Germany) and Mirko Groeschner (Marketing Manager of United Internet Team Germany). Valencia, 03 December 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alessandra Pandarese (General Counselor of Mascalzone Latino) and Tom Ehman (Spokesperson of BMW Oracle). Valencia, 03 December 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Jose Luis Del Moral (left, Legal Counselor of AYRE) and Augusto Sanguinetti (right, Member of the Technical Team of AYRE). Valencia, 03 December 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Luis Saenz (General Counselor of Luna Rossa). Valencia, 03 December 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

General view of the Challenger meeting. Valencia, 03 December 2007. Photo copyright Kai Försterling