BMW Oracle-Shosholoza races during Louis Vuitton Cup

Note: This article is related to the comment Juan Kouyoumdjian made in his interview to this website last Monday, regarding the races between BMW Oracle and Team Shosholoza.

An anonymous reader of our website and avid Shosholoza fan from Durban sent us this comment on the victories of BMW Oracle over Shosholoza during the Louis Vuitton Cup last spring in Valencia, together with two screen shots from VirtualEye to corroborate his claim.

Valencia Sailing doesn't endorse these claims but we publish them in order to give the point of view of the South African fans.

When BMW Oracle overtook Shosholoza on the second beat in Round Robin 2, she did so from a separation of nearly 1.5km and a left shift!

In Round Robin 1 she overtook from a big left shift and more wind but from closer as the wind that day was very random.

BMW Oracle had an incredible run of success with passing their opponents on clear shifts, I think they psyched their opposition into making tactical mistakes but also probably got a bit lucky during the rounds which flattered their performance, but then ran out of that lucky streak in the Semifinals...

Of course I would not try to claim that RSA-83 was as quick as USA-98, that
would be daft considering that BMW Oracle had around 20 times the design
budget and most probably a much heavier bulb...

Regards,
Andy
Durban, South Africa

RR1: USA-98 (Blue) takes big left shift and pressure to pass RSA-83

RR2: USA-98 (Yellow) takes left shift to pass RSA83

The GP42 fleet ready to battle out in Cascais at the Trofeu Quebramar-Chrysler

Note: Due to my duties as web manager of the official GP42 website there will be few updates throughout the duration of the event. For that reason, please visit the GP42 website for all the news and photos from Portugal. Still, any breaking news concerning anything else will be published here.

The GP42 fleet is warming up on the eve of the Trofeu Quebramar-Chrysler, the fourth and last event of the 2007 International Grand Prix Circuit, starting tomorrow Thursday in Cascais, Portugal. A total of 8 boats are present (AA-HPB, Canarias Puerto Calero, Fermax, Quebramar-Chrysler, Quum, Roma, Seawonder 007, Zurich) in the Portuguese city participating in the event that will shape the podium and decide the champion of the 2007 season.

The boat that shares the same name with the event, Quebramar-Chrysler, will enter the strating box tomorrow with a considerable advantage over the rest of the fleet. The Portuguese boat, entirely crewed by members of the Desafío Español, dominated the previous two events in Valencia and Palma and is currently on the top of the leaderboard despite having missed the opening event in Cres.

Still, the 20-point advantage they enjoy, is not a guarantee for any victory and her crew will have to take any race seriously as if it were the most decisive. Seawonder007, helmed by Flavio Favini, had a difficult start in the Copa del Rey but rapidly improved and managed to finish fourth. Her Mascalzone Latino crew will undoubtedly have to sail flawlessly if they want to be crowned champions of the opening season of the GP42 class.

Without any doubt, the toughest battle will take place for third place. Three boats are neck and neck and can easily aspire for the last spot on the podium. Zurich is currently 3rd with 95 points, closely followed by Roma with 97 and Canarias Puerto Calero with 104. Both Zurich and Roma have been reinforced with big-name America's Cup sailors, making sure they leave nothing to chance. Zurich will be helmed by Alinghi's Jordi Calafat, joined by his teammate Yann Gouniot (Alinghi's sail trimmer) while Thierry Péponnet will be calling tactics. Péponnet was the helmsman and then tactician on Areva Challenge, the French America's Cup challenger. Sébastien Col, the young French sailor that replaced Péponnet at the helm of Areva Challenge in Valencia, will now compete against his old crew mate at the helm of Roma.

The Italians have all the chances to have both their boats on the podium. Further down the leaderboard, Fermax will be reinforced with the arrival of Jesper Radich. The Danish sailor, second helmsman of Desafío Español, will hold the role of tactician aboard the Spanish GP42 boat.

Three windward-leeward races are scheduled for Thursday and the weather forecast calls for north-northwestern winds between 15 and 20 knots, a fantastic range for the GP42 to provide exciting races. Being the first day of the event, races will start at 3pm local time.

Juan Kouyoumdjian talks to Valencia Sailing

On Monday morning, Valencia Sailing met with Juan Kouyoumdjian, the renowned Argentinean boat designer, in his office in downtown Valencia to talk about all the issues that concern the America’s Cup from a designer’s point of view, particularly in light of the recent developments. The long and interesting discussion touched various matters and examined the possible scenarios that might play out during the following two years.

Valencia Sailing: Before we start talking about the present and future of the America’s Cup let’s start with its recent past. In its 32nd edition you were involved with BMW Oracle. The team’s racing yacht (USA-98) was supposed to be the “ultimate sailing machine”, referring to BMW’s car advertisements. Taking into consideration the budget, resources and aspirations of the American team, the final result was a failure. What went wrong? Was the boat’s design wrong?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: The result was an absolute failure of course. I don’t think it was all necessarily due to the boat, although I’m obviously biased. I think the design team as a whole worked fairly well at the end of the campaign and we achieved a goal that I’m still convinced had a lot more potential than what was shown in the final races. Don’t forget that up to the final stages the racing was going pretty well. We had only lost three races in the Round Robins. The first was to the Spanish on a very noticeable constant wind shift. During three of the four legs we went completely against the wind shift. The second was to the Chinese where we broke the headfoil. Obviously, it shouldn’t have broken.

Valencia Sailing: Yes, but you also encountered the same problem with the headfoil during fleet racing in Louis Vuitton Act 13.

Juan Kouyoumdjian: It wasn’t as dramatic but it was similar. Then we lost the final race to Emirates Team New Zealand, we had been beaten before and that race had some peculiarities as well, if we had not lost against the chinese, we could have finished 1st in the RR’s without having to sail against ETNZ in the last race. Nonetheless, I think we had done a fairly good job up to that point but then a series of issues in the team started working pretty bad. It is obviously very easy now to put the whole blame on Chris Dickson and it seems everybody has done so. It is very easy in such a project to find a person to crucify but I don’t think it’s the case. Chris had done very good things for the team as well as some bad ones, just like anybody else, he however, decided to assume all responsibilities and decisions. Unfortunately, at the end we didn’t work as a team, we were completely dissolved.

To answer your question directly, I don’t think the final result was directly related to a lack of performance of the boat. I think USA-98 was a very good boat. To be honest with you, if I were completely free to choose a boat to repeat those races, particularly the choppier ones during the final stages, I would pick USA-98 again, without any hesitation, neither SUI-100 nor NZL-92. You can again say I’m biased but that’s what I believe.

Valencia Sailing: Do you think BMW Oracle’s setup of having yourself and Bruce Farr working together on design was a mistake?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: There are two models nowadays. First, you have the more traditional model, for big-budget teams, of hiring 2-3 designers together with other very clever people, making them work in a coherent way while having a central coordinator whose role will be to assemble and coordinate all these little things done individually and independently. In BMW Oracle’s case that role was played by Ian Burns but also a number of other extremely clever people. Still, this is a model I don’t like at all and I think it doesn’t work as well. That doesn’t mean that once you’re on it you can’t make it work but my point is that you can go much further with a different model.

Valencia Sailing: Finally, did any other yacht impress you?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: Of course, I can’t claim the opposite. There was a series of features on some of the boats, particularly Alinghi’s, which we had explored before and adopted in one way or another. But we were very conservative. In fact, in BMW Oracle conservative design decisions were due to the nature of the team. This is quite related to the previous point, where you have a group of designers who only recommend what they believe is best and technical decisions are taken by sailors. These decisions are always conservative. I was definitely impressed by Alinghi’s boats.

On the other hand, I was also negatively impressed by other teams that seemed to be unable to get their act together. It is true that in Version 5, getting that fraction of percentage point of advance is difficult, but getting 95% of the performance is not that tough. I was impressed by teams that didn’t even manage to get that, regardless of their budget. When you build a new boat you should be able to get a minimum.

Valencia Sailing: Moving to the future of the world’s oldest sport event, you once said the America’s Cup in Valencia was like watching F1 races on tractors. If you were given a blank check what boat would you design for the America’s Cup since you don’t like these tractors?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: If you allow a very free rule where you only define the “engines”, that is the sail plan, then for sure you will end up with a multihull. From a boat design point of view or yacht performance point of view, there is nothing that will get you further than a multihull. There is an argument that multihulls are not dynamic and are difficult to tack. I don’t agree with that because the greatest evolutions of multihulls, particularly in France, were done with offshore racing in mind. They were optimized for single-handed or dual-handed people to cross oceans. They did have a series of inshore races, Grand Prix as they called them, and that was one of the reasons that class failed, because of the discrepancies of what kind of boat you have to design for inshore races against offshore races. In essence you cope with two different boats and unfortunately budgets were not sufficient.

My point is that if you dedicate the resources one has in the America’s Cup to make a multihull dedicated to match racing it will not take more than a year to achieve it. From a yacht design point of view, the multihull is the “ultimate racing machine”.

Valencia Sailing: Is match racing conceivable in multihulls? Is it as spectacular, particularly the prestart?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: There is no problem to match race in such yachts. It could also be as spectacular, not if the America’s Cup takes place next June because people will not have the time to sort things out, but in the longer term it can very well be as spectacular as the current class, or even more. Don’t forget these are races of boats equivalent to Formula 1 and there are no cars in the world that can accelerate as fast, break as fast or turn a corner as fast as an F1 car. So if one pretends to claim that the America’s Cup is the F1 of sailing then its boats have to be the fastest one on the race course.

Having said that, even if one thinks of restricting it in monohulls, which is fair enough, there is a lot of room for improvement in order to achieve something much more exciting than Version 5 of the America’s Cup Class.

Valencia Sailing: That brings us to what Alinghi presented last month, after successfully defending the America’s Cup. What are your first impressions regarding the future 90ft monohull based on the rough public information available?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: I think it’s great. Obviously, it is difficult to comment at this moment given the very generic information available. Hopefully we will get the details soon but I think it’s great; it’s a major step forward and I hope they don’t hold back and make a real change. I was happy when I read that was the philosophy of the move Alinghi had in mind. The only aspect I don’t like very much and I don’t agree with is the lifting keel. By doing that you take off a lot of the boat’s character. In my opinion, it is the logistics and the rest of the organization that have to adapt to the boat, not the other way round. By requiring lifting keels we adapt the boat to shallow harbours or other factors I’m not aware of and I don’t think it is correct. Of course, this talk is hypothetical and even that rule might change or get altered, so we will wait till we see what Alinghi has in mind.

Valencia Sailing: Have you been approached by any team or potential team to become their designer?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: Yes, we have been approached by 5 teams. Going back to Alinghi, I think they still have an enormous amount of advantage. I don’t want to make a comment that could fuel a controversy. I will let the future team I’m involved with to deal with that but I would like to comment that the protocol ruling the 33rd America’s Cup is a lot more one-sided than what it has been in the past.

Having said that, even if Larry Ellison, Russell Coutts or whoever is dealing with the issue in BMW Oracle, are successful in the New York Supreme Court, I still think Alinghi has a huge advantage. Even if the 33rd America’s Cup takes place next July on multihulls that cannot exceed 90ft in length or beam, Alinghi will still have the right to choose the venue of the race and make it public just a month before the date. This is a powerful weapon. That means BMW Oracle must design 2 boats, one for each type of venue Alinghi might choose. One could be a windy venue while the other one could be the contrary. Having less than a year ahead of you it is extremely costly and difficult not to mention not reasonable or even achievable.

In the world of multihulls, length is redundant because you can come up with a 40ft hydrofoiler that goes as fast as a 90ft because when you base your hydrodynamics on hydrofoils, length becomes irrelevant. It would be interesting to see a venue, although I doubt it will happen, where winds are never more than 8 knots and then one team appears with a 90ft multihull while the other comes with a 35-40ft hydrofoiler crewed by two people that takes off with 5 knots of wind. There is nothing you can do in that case. I can also argue that during prestart even a Tornado can infringe a series of penalties on a 90ft trimaran.

Alinghi could for example decide that racing takes place in Valencia at 10am when you are guaranteed to have 2-3 knots of wind or go to Tarifa in southern Spain where you have a minimum of 25 knots every day. You have to keep that in mind because it doesn’t mean at all BMW Oracle will win the races in case they win the lawsuit. Alinghi still has a huge advantage under all scenarios.

Valencia Sailing: Assuming the current protocol remains valid and Alinghi present the new 90ft monohull in the next couple of months, will you have enough time to design a competitive yacht or will Alinghi have an extremely big advantage over all challengers?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: In my opinion it is naive to think that Alinghi has put a lot of time and thought into this new rule. If they managed to win the Cup and at the same time they had the time to design the yacht and tank test it, well then they deserve to win the 33rd and 34th Cups!! I’m sure they talked about it when they were towed in and out, but I doubt they went beyond that point. They surely have the advantage of having brainstormed the new rule and their advantage will also depend on the amount of information they share with the challengers before they make the official announcement at the end of October.

Valencia Sailing: Assuming there is some kind of negotiated deal and the whole 33rd America’s Cup is raced with the current yachts, a plan presented by Vincenzo Onorato, would you be interested in joining a team?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: I don’t think it would be of the same interest for me. In any case, don’t forget that according to the present protocol, racing next year will take place with the current yachts and as a result such form of design will happen. Still, doing another Cup with the current Version 5 boats is significantly less appealing to me.

Valencia Sailing: If the current protocol remains in place and we have preliminary regattas next year in Valencia, will teams spend any time and resources on further development of their current Version 5 boats?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: I think Version 5 boats can be called a refinement evolution more than big-scope research. Obviously, there are always things to do but I think that due to the format of the race and the points the challengers will gain through these regattas it will be a waste of time and resources to do anything other than refinements on the current boats. It obviously depends on what boat you have but there are now 4-5 boats capable of winning races in any given day, so if you have one of those you are alright.

Valencia Sailing: You designed the previous winner of the Volvo Ocean Race and you are now with Ericsson Racing Team. Do you find designing Volvo Ocean Race boats more appealing than America’s Cup yachts?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: As a designer, the Volvo Ocean Race is tremendously more appealing than Version 5 America’s Cup Class yachts. It’s a lot more exciting and it’s still a concept-rule race. Whenever you play with concepts it’s a lot more appealing. Refinement is always important but it is only a parallel track, you still have to get right a concept. The fact you have to deal with kanting keels, daggerboards as well as aerodynamics is very interesting.

Valencia Sailing: Has the rule of the VOR boats changed significantly from the previous edition?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: The rule has changed a little bit, the corner of the box is getting closer. The boats we are designing right now are clearly a generation ahead of what we did last time. Hopefully, for the event organizers not ourselves, you will have boats that are much closer but still there are lots of differences. Hopefully, if the new America’s Cup rule proposed by Alinghi opens up in a similar way, it will be very exciting.

Valencia Sailing: Without any doubt it will be very exciting for you but will spectators be interested in watching races where the leading boat is 5 minutes ahead? Won’t that be boring? Designers that get the “wrong corner of the box” will be thrashed.

Juan Kouyoumdjian: You are making a wrong presumption. First of all, we got differences of 3-4 minutes already here in Valencia with the Version 5 boats.

Valencia Sailing: Surely, but against very weak teams such as China or +39 Challenge. On the other hand, Shosholoza could stay 25 seconds behind BMW Oracle or even beat Luna Rossa.

Juan Kouyoumdjian: Again, it’s an erroneous presumption to think that a new rule will create such discrepancies. Look at the trimarans. The rule is as open as possible and still you get extremely close racing. For sure, in the last season Groupama came with a new boat and was faster than anybody else but it was 3 years newer than the rest. In the America’s Cup cycle there will always be 4-5 teams that can afford to be at the top of the game and I don’t think the boats will necessarily be very different from each other.

In addition, if the rule is open it will be much fairer and will leave much more chances to the smaller and poorer teams. If you close the rule a lot, as it always has been in the America’s Cup and particularly the current Version 5, then it becomes an extremely expensive refinement race. You have to sail huge amounts of hours, keep two very professional crews, spend on sail development or even buy 30,000-euro tip cups on the spreaders. Therefore, if you don’t have such a budget you don’t win. If you have a very open rule, the importance of 30,000-euro Kevlar spreader tips is insignificant. Thus, a late entry or a low-budget team can benefit much more from an open rule.

If you keep Version 5, as some people have suggested, somebody that hasn’t started doing two-boat testing on the water by the end of 2007 will not win the Cup. Guaranteed! How many teams are able to do that right now?

Valencia Sailing: Yes but I’ll mention Shosholoza once again. It was a small team with limited resources and low budget. Still, they were able to stay close behind their opponents in racing. Isn’t that a contradiction to what you said?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: I disagree with you. At what position did they finish the round robins? Seventh. In the America’s Cup such a position in the scoretable doesn’t count. Even if you are 20 seconds behind you are still seventh. I remember in the debriefings we had after the races with Shosholoza talking about how we managed to pass them in both cases and with Version 5 boats passing is virtually impossible. If you pass somebody through the same waters it means you are going faster. I also remember how quickly we put time once we were ahead.

I also remember in the debriefings discussing that once you are ahead of somebody 40 seconds you don’t want to extend the lead any further. Being more than 40, 30 or even 25 seconds ahead of somebody can be a dangerous position in match racing, especially in Valencia that time of the year where the wind can change significantly. I think you read too much into it.

Valencia Sailing: Last but not least, let’s talk about the other projects and classes you are involved in. I don’t remember seeing any TP52 or GP42 boat from you.

Juan Kouyoumdjian: We are doing a 100ft boat for an American client, built at Cookson. It’s a very exciting yacht and is scheduled to make her debut in Newport next year. It’s a very nice and innovative project.

As far as the other classes are concerned, we designed a TP52 boat only once but we had some rule issues. Essentially, we found some characteristics of the rule we thought would be beneficial to the performance of the yacht but the chief measurer and the person in charge of the class at that time (2 years ago) refused to give us a certificate for no other reason than the fact it didn’t look like the other boats. As a result, we decided that until the TP52 doesn’t come up with a proper rule we will not be involved.

But even if somebody comes and asks us to design a TP52 yacht, we will not have the time to do it because all our resources are fully dedicated to the VOR and AC. We are 15 people now and 22 very soon but still fully dedicated to these two classes.

Valle Romano Mean Machine wins Portugal Trophy after a windless final day

[Source: Breitling Medcup] In like a lion, out like a lamb, racing for the Breitling MedCup TP52 circuit’s Portugal Trophy on the beautiful Algarve coast may have opened Tuesday with an invigorating blast of over 25 knots, but with insufficient wind Friday and Saturday, but it expired with barely a whimper today as the current Breitling MedCup 2006 champions, Peter de Ridder and his crew, emerged with their first overall regatta win this season.

Monaco based De Ridder and his crew – which includes six members of the Team New Zealand America’s Cup team – collect the Portugal Trophy, the Corinthian Trophy for the regatta’s top owner-helm, and the Santa Ana Trophy for winning the 25.18 miles coastal race.

Even the two days of too-quiet breezes and long hours sitting waiting for wind, and a few spots of rain -could not erase the memories of two great opening days of racing as the Circuit ventured out of the Mediterranean and on to Portugal’s Atlantic coast for the first time ever. The Bay of Lagos provided a challenging and interesting race course which was more than complemented by the excellent facilities ashore including a luxurious 1300 sq m crew’s chill out lounge.

After finishing second in Alicante at the 2007 season’s curtain raiser in June, Valle Romano Mean Machine’s Portuguese triumph is the first this season by a 2006 build boat. De Ridder’s crew, with Ray Davies calling tactics supported by Tom Dodson as strategist, won four of the six races including winning both stages of the coastal race.

Their final score of 17 points gave them a cushion of 15 points over Russell Coutts and his crew of Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis, while Ian Walker and the crew of Patches, Eamon Conneely’s Irish flagged Reichel Pugh designed boat earned their first podium place of the season, finishing third, ten points behind Artemis.

An exciting showdown is set for Hyeres, France where the five regatta Circuit concludes, starting on September 10th.

After leading since the Breitling Regatta last month Vicente Tirado’s CxG Caixa Galicia, skippered by Roberto Bermudez de Castro has been caught this week by Artemis.

Both now head to France locked at the summit of the leaderboard on an aggregate of 173 points after four regattas – Alicante, Portals, Copa del Rey and Portugal, already 13 points greater than De Ridder and team’s 2006 winning tally over the six 2006 regattas.


Winning owner-skipper Peter de Ridder summarised "We are certainly a bit sorry that we could not race today and yesterday because we need racing to get the extra discard but after it is all over now we are pretty happy with the result."

"We started pretty confidently with a seventh and it grew from there. Getting four bullets (first place guns) from five starts we were really just happy to enjoy it, and it certainly feels good to be back."

De Ridder is in the advanced stages of ordering a new boat for next season, asked if he might have second thoughts, given how well his 2006 Judel Vrolijk design, which was built in Wellington by Hakes Marine, has performed here, he responded:

"No, we are having a new boat. We certainly seem to get the best out of the old lady, but the fact is that her younger sisters – the 2007 generation boats – are a little bit quicker, but it is also interesting to note that already this season the leaders have more points after four regattas than we won the series with last year over six regattas."

Strategist Tom Dodson remarked:

"After Palma we decided that we really needed to have a look at what we had. We don’t have a coach and we did really think that we would carry some of our speed that we had last year forward to this year, and by Palma it was clear that we were lacking. So we had to go back to school a bit and go out and have a look at what our competition was doing, taking notice in the practice races and learn something from the competition. We made a few small changes and it has made a difference."

And on the idea of the circuit visiting more different venues, tactician Ray Davies added:

"It is good to come to new and challenging venues. We get a bit tired of Palma and the one sided tracks but it is refreshing to come to a new venue, it’s only a shame we didn’t get racing today and yesterday, but we have enjoyed Portugal and will be back."

Having joined the Mean Machine team this season Jules Salter, Navigator, who finished second on his Volvo Race debut with Paul Cayard and the Pirates of the Caribbean gave an insight into how the winning team learned the new venue:

"We start by having really good weather forecasts to build up a picture – using Clouds (Roger Badham) but these guys on the boat really help and we usually discuss what we think is happening and apply what we think. It has been really challenging here, with the extremes it has been tough, but then when you get it right it fills you with confidence because you can start to believe in the theories."

Said Roscoe Halcrow, Artemis’ trimmer:

"We had a good regatta. We really enjoyed sailing here. It is just a shame that the breeze that we had on the practice days and for the first races didn’t continue on, as it is was a lot of fun in the big breeze, sailing downwind, it was a real nice change after being in the Med. We did not do anything different to the boat for here. The boat is as the boat is, and we just put on some heaver sails as you would do."

"We are pretty comfortable across the range, but it is a fun change sailing in the breeze. Against Caixa I think they maybe have a little bit of an edge under 10 knots, we are pretty even in that mid range in that 12-13 knots, and we have a slight edge above that. We could get a bit of everything in Hyeres, maybe even too much wind to sail with some Mistral action."

Lack of wind cancels all races at Portugal Trophy

[Source: Breitling Medcup] After a long day trying to stay in the shade, out of the fierce sunshine, whilst the flags around the Marina of Portimao flew only gently, racing at the Portugal Trophy for the Breitling MedCup TP52 Circuit has been called off for the day.

Whilst that theoretically strengthens Valle Romano Mean Machine’s position at the head of the Portugal Trophy fleet of 19 TP52’s with a 15 points lead, skipper-helm Peter de Ridder is disappointed not to have gone racing today:

"It is a pity. More races would get us another discard. And we feel that as we are on a roll with our mojo working we would like to have been able to go out and take our chances, so it is a shame not to race today. We certainly want races and it is not about winning here but about the overall series."

"I hope we can get two tomorrow but I think it will be one if we are lucky."

"It doesn’t color our opinion of this venue, s**t happens. When you have two weather systems fighting each other as you have here this is the result. But we are really excited about next year’s program. Another breezy venue like Cadiz would be great next for a change."

Manolo Ruiz de Elvira signs as designer for BMW Oracle

This is NOT a rumor!

The former Alinghi designer, Spaniard Manolo Ruiz de Elvira, was spotted yesterday evening in the lobby of Hotel Boca do Rio at around 9pm in Portimao, Portugal signing various documents together with Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW Oracle.

Coutts, together with tens of other professional sailors, is currently racing in the Portugal Trophy, the TP52 regatta that is taking place in the Portuguese city.

When approached by Spanish journalist Nacho Gomez (sailing editor of Marca, Spain's largest sports newspaper) that witnessed the scene, Ruiz de Elvira confirmed he was set free by the Defender of the America's Cup and joined Larry Ellison's (still officially unrecognized) challenge. What he didn't want to comment on was his role in the American team. It isn't known whether he will be the principal designer or work alongside Farr.

According to Gomez and various other journalists and sailors, earlier in the morning, before the start of the races, Coutts was sitting at the exact same table with various members of Valle Romano Mean Machine. The crew of the Dutch TP52 team is staying at the same hotel and according to unconfirmed reports, Dirk de Ridder was one of the sailors that also signed documents with Coutts.

Dirk de Ridder's sister, Anne-Marie, happens to be John Kostecki's wife. Kostecki announced last week his resignation from the position of skipper from the Ericsson Racing Team due to family reasons. It is speculated that his move was related to his possible incorporation in BMW Oracle.

Having said all that, the million-euro question is what big name is Coutts going to sign as helmsman. Two weeks ago we got it wrong, saying it was to be Dean Barker. This time around we think it's almost safe to say it's James Spithill. You have all the right to blame us but we hear the young Australian helmsman signed with the American team earlier in August and a handful of ex-Luna Rossa sailors joined him as well.

Sailing starts to look like the NBA, NFL or European football with big-name transfers from one team to another. Surely Larry Ellison will spare no expenses in trying to secure the best available talent for his team.

Valle Romano Mean Machine keep unabated at Portugal Trophy

[Source: Breitling Medcup] The Mean Machine mojo is back. Peter de Ridder and the crew of Valle Romano Mean Machine this season may have tasted the depths of frustration when they were disqualified after the coastal race at the Breitling Regatta in Portals last month, but they made no mistakes today when they comprehensively won both legs of the coastal race at the Portugal Trophy off Portimao to extend their lead to 15 points over Russell Coutts and the crew of Artemis at this fourth event of the 2007 Breitling MedCup Circuit.

With three conflicting breezes battling for supremacy over the Bay of Lagos the 25.18 mile race was never straightforward, but De Ridder and crew once again took early ownership of the committee boat end of the start line and peeled away to the favoured right side of the first windward leg.

They followed hard on the stern of Artemis around the weather mark, in a gentle SW'ly sea-breeze which never rose much above eight knots for the first of the two-part race, and was often between five and six knots.

Half way down the first run Artemis, racing just 30 metres to leeward and ahead of Mean Machine ran out of breeze whilst the older, black hulled boat just kept rolling away.

On the second run Eamon Conneely's Patches was one of the first to recognise a hole developing in the middle of the course and gybed away immediately to the right, offshore, and gained the best of the breeze, rising to second which they held, tailing Valle Romano Mean Machine through the scoring gate – albeit 3 minutes and 59 seconds behind the runaway leaders - and then across the finish line.

Once the late afternoon strong NW'ly land breeze arrived to spur the fleet to the finish, with a fast fetch to the finish in up to 15 knots of breeze.

To the benefit of the hundreds of spectators who lined the sea walls and watched from an armada of anchored boats enjoying the Algarve's evening sunshine, the finish was laid right up off the Marina Portimao inside the entrance to the Rio Arade, creating the customary sting in the tail for those who failed to spot the drop in breeze over this final half mile.

By the time thy took the finish gun Valle Romano Mean Machine were still three minutes and 12 seconds clear of Patches.

Russia's Rusal Synergy narrowly failed to hold off the superior firepower of Coutts and the 2007 design Artemis on the 3.5 mile final fetch to the finish but were still pleased to post a third and fourth for the day, while Artemis scored fourth and third.

Ray Davies, Valle Romano Mean Machine's tactician recalled:

"It was an incredible race – the breeze was fighting between different transitions we seemed to get every one right. We are extremely happy with the way the day went. The first three quarters of the race was very dynamic – all over the place. The guys did an incredible job on board, all our sail changes were smooth and we went the right way."

" We have had some very good local knowledge from Pedro Neves. He really helped us out on our training days here with a little bit of advice this morning with what normally happens in these conditions and it turned out to be spot on. He has given us a good picture of what to expect and he was right – it was really satisfying to get it right. We are pretty happy to have five out of seven wins. It is great to see the team working so well together.

"We definitely have our mojo back. Whether it is putting the flames back on the boat or that we have stopped drinking limoncello I don't know which one has made the difference but we are happy with where we are."

Aretmis' Russell Coutts remarked:

" It was a strange kind of race with a transition between several different breezes and so it was pretty tricky. We were happy to get out of it the way we did. We had more boat speed than them (Rusal Synergy) with our general staysail, a slightly different sail combination and that made a big difference. In this regatta so far we have had our ups and downs and are still second overall I think and, in the circuit, doing well. I like this type of coastal racing and in fact would like some longer legs still just to mix up a bit."

Ian Walker, skipper of Patches, who now lie third overall, ten points behind Artemis:

" It was a bit of a day when it didn't pay to be too near the front. We made a big gain when we saw Caixa and Artemis falling into a bit of a hole on the second run and where we made our biggest gain."

" Looking across the rest of the fleet it is down to how you race. Mean Machine won the Committee Boat yet again and went right and won the race, like the fourth or fifth time they have done that this regatta and hats off to them. The first beat is important although today there were chances because of the size of the shifts, people making huge gains and losses and we were just happy to stay out of trouble. This regatta hasn't gone for us so far but what we have done is kept fighting and not had any bad results so a good coastal like today should just jetty us back into contention. It is not so much being prepared for it as much as just really keeping your eyes open and having to make very quick decisions, as things happen very fast."

Follow the court case that might change the America's Cup

First of all, my apologies for the 10-day break in news coverage but as a true European I had to follow the sacrosanct tradition of getting oneself roasted under the strong summer sun on a crowded beach. In my case it was Athens where I also had the opportunity to follow up on one of the America's Cup's rumors, in vain. According to various reports from Italian sources, Alinghi were supposed to be testing their brand new 90-foot yacht in a location about an hour's drive from the Greek capital. The yacht, set to be the gauge for the new America's Cup class, was allegedly being tested on Greek waters, far from indiscreet eyes. Our visit to the "secret" Alinghi camp proved unfruitful and nothing that could indicate the presence of an America's Cup team was to be seen.

Unfortunately for Valencia Sailing, no major scoop took place and it proved to be yet another of these rumors that seem to flourish around the world's oldest sports trophy. Speaking of rumors, the one concerning Dean Barker's move to BMW Oracle was promptly denied by the New Zealander. Barker's intention is to continue with Emirates Team NZ for the 33rd America's Cup. Who knows, maybe Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW Oracle, talked to Barker but finally decided not to hire him because of his apparent lack of experience in helming 90ft by 90ft trimarans.

In any case we are back in business. The sailing season in Europe is now past its peak and as far as the top professional classes are concerned, the TP52's are currently racing in Portugal while the GP42's will stage their final international event there next week at the Trofeu Quebramar-Chrysler.

As far as the America's Cup is concerned, the litigation between the Golden Gate Yacht Club and the Société Nautique de Genève has obviously eclipsed any other development. Yesterday, the saga took another turn after the Judge's decision to expedite the case, meaning Société Nautique de Genève has to speed up their responses to the court.

Following the latest developments of this important legal saga is now even simpler and if you are an America's Cup buff that needs to have updated information you can even subscribe and receive it right into your mailbox.

Similar to any other case at the New York Supreme Court this one has an index, 602446/2007. Using this index you can track the case through the website of the New York State Unified Court System. Just visit this page, type in the index (602446/2007) and click on the "Search" button. In the new page that will appear click on the index and a pop up window will open with the details of the case. There one can observe that the latest change took place on Wednesday, August 22, probably corresponding to the decision in favor of Golden Gate Yacht Club. You can also see that the next hearing will take place at 2pm on the 10th of September.

If you click on the "eTrack" button you can subscribe and receive reminders about future events as well as all the latest developments. In order to do that you need an eTrack account that you can very easily create through the same website. Registration takes less than a minute.

To the best of our knowledge, this system does NOT provide electronic copies of court documents or decisions. The same website states that not all written documents are scanned and in some courts even a judge's decision is not scanned into electronic form. Nevertheless, it isn't rocket science to assume that Larry Ellison's yacht club will post any document they think will help their case on the GGYC website.

Note: This article serves solely as an information tool. Valencia Sailing makes no claim whatsoever regarding the Plaintiff or Defendant.

ACM Response to official filing of Legal Proceedings by Golden Gate Yacht

[Source: America's Cup Management (ACM)] The Société Nautique de Genève, Alinghi and America’s Cup Management are very disappointed that BMW Oracle Racing, through the Golden Gate Yacht Club, has followed through with its threat and officially filed legal proceedings in the New York Courts.

"ACM in good faith has proposed a protocol intended to advance the sport of America’s Cup sailing. Far from being an attempt to control everything, the new protocol has been written to make the 33rd America’s Cup even better: a new class of boat which brings the technology to state-of-the-art, exciting racing and an even higher profile and more professional event which befits the premier competition in sailing," said Michel Bonnefous, President ACM. "Our vision is to make the America’s Cup in 2009 comparable with the best sporting events in the World. This vision is shared by many Challengers from around the world, four of whom have now formally entered the competition, with others about to do so.

"Larry Ellison is holding the Cup to ransom for competitive gain by attempting to disrupt the preparations of the teams from Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, Great Britain and New Zealand, as well as many others who have notified of their intention to enter the competition shortly."

"Ellison lost on the water in 2003 and in 2007, failing to secure a match for the America’s Cup," said Brad Butterworth, Skipper, Alinghi, "He is now pretending to be the good guy, representing the interests of all stakeholders, whereas in reality they have gone to court to force an earlier private match on their terms without the involvement of other competitors."

"While their legal teams are busy destabilising the 33rd Cup and the preparations of the existing challengers, they are simultaneously snapping up sailors left, right and centre. These underhand tactics make it particularly hard for the smaller teams who rely on sponsorship, which is very hard to secure under these circumstances, and shows disregard for all the legitimate competitors."

Golden Gate granted court order to advance America’s Cup resolution

[Source: Golden Gate Yacht Club] The Supreme Court of the State of New York today granted an order sought by the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) requiring the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) to promptly answer a request to speed up the legal process for resolving its proposed new rules for defending the next America’s Cup.

The San Francisco club sought the Court ruling alleging SNG is in serious breach of its fiduciary duty under the Deed of Gift that governs the Cup. It says SNG has accepted an invalid challenge from a sham yacht club, and is seeking to impose an unprecedented one-sided set of rules that hugely favor the defender to the detriment of all other competitors.

“We are very pleased with this ruling by the Court, because we believe the Cup will be irrevocably damaged if we don’t get SNG’s Protocol changed,” Tom Ehman, Head of External Affairs for BMW ORACLE Racing, the US club’s team, said.

“The new Protocol would give SNG’s team, Alinghi, radical new powers to control nearly all aspects of the event that are still unsupported by any explanation from SNG as to why they are needed,” he said.

Ehman said the syndicate whose challenge had been accepted by SNG, the Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV), was a shell organisation that had been formed only days prior to issuing a challenge and did not comply with the terms specified by the Deed of Gift.

“We would still prefer to negotiate a solution outside the court, but we see SNG as violating its responsibilities as Trustee, and we are fully prepared to go the legal distance if needed to stop the America’s Cup being subverted into a hopelessly one-sided event,” he said.

The Deed of Gift that protects the Cup as a perpetual sporting challenge is governed by a fiduciary trust established under New York law in 1887.

The GGYC court action also seeks a preliminary injunction to obtain critical information related to the club’s challenge under the Deed of Gift.

The American challenge is for a race next summer under the Deed’s 10-month rule. GGYC need to know where SNG intends to hold that competition and what the SNG sailing rules are. Under the Deed, the Swiss Defender is required to provide these important details to the Challenger.

GGYC filed a challenge on July 11th, and asserts that SNG must accept it. If successful in this motion, the GGYC case could be heard by the Courts as early as October 2007.

Valle Romano Mean Machine extend lead at Portugal Trophy

[Source: Breitling Medcup] A fifth from a tricky first race today followed by their third victory from five starts ensures that Peter de Ridder and his Valle Romano Mean Machine crew extend their overall lead at the Breitling MedCup TP52's Circuit's Portugal Trophy off Portimao to ten points.

After the big winds of yesterday the series' fourth race started after a long wait for a sea breeze to develop. When it did it produced a demanding race track which challenged afterguards to balance the benefit of more breeze on the left side of the course against the favoured wind shift on the right side.

Russell Coutts set up Artemis well from a strong start near the middle of the line and lead Caixa Galicia around the first windward turn, but as Caixa Galicia erred further offshore on the downwind leg they were able to get their bow in front near the bottom of the run, to seize the advantage of the left hand gate mark with that the right side of the course.

With John Kostecki calling tactics for helm Roberto Bermudez de Castro, Caixa Galicia extended to win by 37 seconds from Artemis, with Tau Ceramica Andalucia clinging on to third place, their first podium finish this season.

As the conflicting breezes then fought for supremacy another long delay ensued and it was 1720hrs before the second contest of the day was started in a breeze which carried many of the hallmarks of yesterday's brisk NW'ly.

With the winds at 14-16 knots and 90 percent of the fleet stacking hard to win the one prime committee boat slot on the start line, it was the pink flamed bow of Valle Romano Mean Machine which broke first.

Helm De Ridder tacked smartly around the boat to win the regular advantage on the right side of the track.

Their laylines on both windward legs were pinpoint but Valle Romano was able to extend most on the downwind legs, leading Jose Cusi's Bribon across the finish line by 1 minute and 14 seconds, while John Cook's Cristabella finished third.

Such consistency proved elusive for both Artemis and Caixa Galicia. Artemis tangled with Ricardo Simoneschi's Anonimo early on the first beat and had to take a penalty.

With so few passing lanes they finished 13th while Caixa Galicia had to make a big, last minute tack and dip, taking many sterns to find a space at the first windward mark, fared two places better than Coutts and crew.

De Ridder's defending champions now lie ten points clear going into tomorrow's double points coastal race.

"To be honest we were as pleased with our fifth today as our win." Admitted Ray Davies, Valle Romano Mean Machine's tactician,

"We were quite deep early on in that one so a fifth from that is important. Overall we are really happy. We made a great start to the second race, on what felt like quite a short, crowded start line. We decided to fight for the committee boat end and won it and then it was pretty much plain sailing from there. The most important thing on such a start is not to get above the lay-line to the boat and to beware of dirty air and losing speed, so Peter did a great job. We played it a little conservative and took a tack back to the fleet."

"A ten points lead is nice but it is good that we are pulling back points to catch up on the leaders. I think we are sailing better than Palma and Breitling. We have made some changes to the keel and have refined the way we sheet the jibs a bit, more like the new boats and I think that has all helped. This is such a great venue. It has so much going on all the time it is incredible. You have the sea breeze and then the sea breeze up on the west coast of Portugal fighting to break through, so it is very dynamic."

"In the first race we just barely got the advantage as we came to the leeward gate, but that just allowed us to choose and get the right side of the course and stretch a bit" Recalled John Kostecki.

" We didn't get the starboard layline at the top of the beat," confirmed Caixa's helm Bermudez, "one option was to risk a gap behind Mutua. We preferred not to risk it and so we tacked and went behind almost half the fleet. It wasn't a penalty turn we just didn't lay the line to be able to round the mark and when that happens and the fleet all comes in so close together you have the possible problem of being protested. We are happy with our result still overall but we still have to put our foot down as the rest of the fleet are catching on us."

Valle Romano Mean Machine leads Portugal Trophy after breezy opening day

[Source: Breitling Medcup] Peter de Ridder and his razor sharp 2006 Breitling MedCup champion crew on Valle Romano Mean Machine proved the masters of the big breeze today as they opened the Trophy of Portugal regatta off Portimao with a seventh and two wins to round off a thrilling opening day with a lead of one point ahead of Russell Coutts and the crew of Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis.

With the NW'ly wind gusting to 24 knots and averaging in the low twenties for most of the second two contests today, racing was as testing as it was exciting.

Although the waters remained relatively flat there was no room for crewing errors, especially on the gennaker hoists and downwind gybes any small mistakes were heavily punished.

It was without question the most exciting day's racing for over year of Breitling Med Cup racing. Proving that they have speed to burn in the breeze, Stuart Robinson and the crew of Stay Calm replicated exactly what they did in practice on Monday, and lead the 18 finishers home by more than one minute.

But the chances of a repeat performance by Stay Calm in the second race were extinguished when their main halyard failed and they had to retire to effect a repair. Stay Calm's troubles were not complete, as they were called over the start line in the third race, but still managed to battle back to earn a fourth and lie eighth overall.

Valle Romano Mean Machine were smart off the start line, and twice broke to the right, inshore side of the course early.

In the second race – Valle Romano Mean Machine held Bribon, with James Spithill enjoying his first race on a TP52, on the helm, 33 seconds astern while Artemis added a third to their second.

And in the final race of today's trio De Ridder and crew twice got the better of Alberto Roemmers' Siemens on the downwind legs thanks to precise gybing angles and riding the biggest gusts, as called by afterguard Ray Davies and Tom Dodson to score their second win by 18 seconds while Thierry Peponnet drove Balearia across the line in Siemens' waker to third.

"I think the venue is excellent. A great breeze makes it really fun to sail these boats and really exploit the planing conditions that they really were made for. And it is nice to be on top of the results again." Remarked de Ridder,

"It was down to a bit of everything today. It was down to good starts, and our afterguard Ray Davies, Tom Dodson and Jules Salter did a great job of positioning us well on the race course, and our trimmers did an excellent job ensuring the boat really stayed well balanced and felt excellent."

"The new boats are definitely a little bit quicker but I think we proved that if you sail smart you can still win. We had a little dip I think in the two events in Mallorca. In Portals we ended up with two 25's for disqualifications and without them we would have been third overall. And I think that at Copa del Rey we were just out of whack a bit."

"But if you look at today's first race it was five new boats, Anonimo and us."

Ado Stead, Stay Calm's tactician was far from despondent at having missed out on a race when their 2007 Judel Vrolijk design is so evidently on song in the stronger winds:

"What happens happens." He acknowledged, "It was great racing and we are happy to come away with a one and four. The guys and girls on our boat put everything into it and did a great job."

"We had a problem with the inboard end of a batten and that affected the main halyard. After one of the recalled starts we had a go at fixing it, but we only got less than half way up the beat before it came down. Then we went to a quieter cove and had a go at re-running the halyard and got back in time for the third race, only to be called over. We recovered well and had a really storming last run, taking four boats, to get fourth, so we are really pleased, not disappointed."

After a second, third and a fifth today to lie second Artemis' owner Torbjorn Tornqvist concluded:

" Everything went well for us today. We knew we should do better in the brisker winds so we are all quite happy. Things went well no hiccups with the equipment. With boat handling as well of course it is a very professional team, working well together knowing what they have to do at all times – there is a good spirit on the boat which is also very important. Sailing conditions are fantastic, you couldn't ask for better – strong winds, flat waters and the races are very well organized."

James Spithill joins TP52 Bribón for Portugal Trophy

[Source: Breitling Medcup] After a spell home in Australia, enjoying the post-Cup therapeutic effects of some garage and extension building work at his house, Luna Rossa’s highly rated helmsman James Spithill is back in Europe and ready to compete for the first time on the TP52’s Breitling MedCup Circuit, the best fleet racing circuit in the world.

Spithill will be a more than capable deputy for Bouwe Bekking on the helm of Jose Cusi’s Judel Vrolijk designed Bribon.

“I had my first sail today and it was great. I have never sailed these boats before but they felt just great, like big dinghies. It was so nice to go out and do some real planing.” Smiled Spithill as he joined the line to weigh in at the Marina Portimao on Portugal’s Algarve, where the circuit’s fourth event the season, the Portugal Trophy starts Tuesday with 19 boats set to line up.

With the late afternoon breeze building to a comfortable 20 knots these were what are promised to be typical conditions as the MedCup circuit extends out of the Mediterranean waters for the first time in search of more breeze and excitement.

James Spithill aboard the TP52 Bribón. Portimao, 20 August 2007. Photo copyright Thierry Martinez

“It’s probably back to the Melges times when I last went racing in a planing boat. It should be a lot of fun, planing and asymmetrics. They are really nice boats. They react well, just like big dinghies and so nice after the big displacement Cup boats. I was really impressed with the guys on Bribon, I just stepped on and the boat handling is really good and everything. This a chance I jumped at and Ross (McDonald, tactician) and the guys seem really good. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

“It is great to be racing again. I am in Europe now for about a month, doing this and then some RC44 sailing and some match racing. I really enjoy the fleet racing, and just racing. That is just one of the things about the America’s Cup, is that you just don’t get that many opportunities. I think it is such a good thing for Cup teams to get out and do some racing. We did it with the Melges 24, got a core group together and went out and did a lot of open racing, there is a lot of value to it. I think you will start to see a lot of Cup teams going out and doing this sort of racing, the technical boat speed development, because you just don’t get that in Match racing.”

“I have been close to Portugal before, in Bayona, but never here before. I have heard a lot about it and heard the ISAF Worlds were really good.”

Yachting: Barker douses rumour over move to Oracle

Our story about Dean Barker's alleged move to BMW Oracle was picked up by the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) and the New Zealand Herald. We publish the article that appeared on the NZ Herald where Barker denies such a move and reiterates his intention to remain at Team New Zealand.

[Source: New Zealand Herald] Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker today poured cold water on speculation linking him with rival America's Cup syndicate Oracle Racing, saying he wanted to stay put.

He said he had signed a letter of intent to remain with Team NZ for the next cup regatta in Valencia in 2009.

The Valencia Sailing website reported what it described as "a plausible rumour" that Barker had signed, or was about to sign, an agreement with new Oracle chief executive Russell Coutts to be helmsman.

However, Barker said he had had no talks with Oracle.

"Emirates Team New Zealand has moved to retain key members, including myself, and I have signed a letter of intent," he said in a statement.

"I have had approaches from a couple of teams, but I would like to stay with Team New Zealand, the team that has worked so hard since 2003 to restore some pride in New Zealand sailing and regain the New Zealand public's confidence."

It was Coutts who gave Barker his first experience as a helmsman in an America's Cup match, handing over the wheel in the final race of Team NZ's successful 2000 defence against Italy's Luna Rossa in Auckland.

They were on opposite sides three years later when Coutts skippered challengers Alinghi to a 5-0 whitewash over Team NZ.

Coutts then had a falling out with Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli and was missing when the Swiss successfully defended the trophy with a 5-2 win over Barker's crew last month.

Valencia Sailing said Barker was in Palma this month but had not gone there to compete. Coutts was there sailing in the Copa del Rey regatta.

"It is believed Barker was not in the Spanish city for holidays but in order to have talks with Coutts," the website said.

"Even if this information turns out to be false, Larry Ellison, owner of BMW Oracle, will have no choice but to sign a very big name, and there aren't a lot of them available."

Valencia Sailing takes a break

Starting August 9, Valencia Sailing will take a short break for the summer holidays. We will be back shortly although we'll always stay on alert for any breaking news.

Dean Barker to move to BMW Oracle ??

Valencia Sailing has a strict policy of not reproducing rumors in its three years of existence. The only time we didn't follow the rules was a couple of months ago when we wrote about the imminent contract signature between Russell Coutts and BMW Oracle. It turned out it was true and the news was officially announced a month after we mentioned it. Still, it seems the contacts between the kiwi sailor and the American team were Valencia's worst kept secret.

We will deviate from our policy for a second time and report the information we have received concerning the transfer of Dean Barker, the helmsman of Emirates Team NZ in the 32nd America's Cup, to BMW Oracle. It seems, again officially unconfirmed, that the young New Zealander has signed or is about to sign an agreement with Russell Coutts, the brand new CEO of BMW Oracle, in order to become the helmsman on the American team.

It is a plausible rumor given the fact Dean Barker was in Palma last Saturday and was seen at the yacht club. Palma was of course where the Copa del Rey took place last week and Russell Coutts was calling tactics aboard the Swedish TP52 boat Artemis. It is believed Barker was not in the Spanish city for holidays but in order to have talks with Coutts. Unlike 2006, Barker hasn't taken take part in any of the Breitling Medcup races so far this year.

Even if this information turns out to be false, Larry Ellison, owner of BMW Oracle, will have no choice but to sign a very big name, and there aren't a lot of them available. The only other name we can think of is James Spithill, the young Australian helmsman of now defunct Luna Rossa.

Once again, this information has not been officially confirmed or denied by any of the involved parties. It might turn out to be that Barker's presence in Palma was only related to his interest in the TP52 circuit and his view that it can provide an excellent training tool for any America's Cup team.

Dean Barker in Palma in the last day of the Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget.

VLC35 One Design Class under construction at Muller Yachts in Valencia

[Source: Muller Yachts] Finally a new One Design Class from a proven design team.

Built by Muller Yachts – a new yard in Valencia – the VLC35 shows her form at the tooling production stage.

Naval Architecture and VPP analysis by Naval Architects NautaTec - aka Manolo Ruiz Elvira - one of the key ingredients of the Alinghi Americas Cup design success story – indicate upwind performance in excess of larger production yachts such as the Beneteau 40 .7 whilst not skimping on cruising amenities such as six berths and a huge chart table. A bulbed centreboard sliding keel makes shallow draft mooring and trailering an option.


The numbers are:

DSPL 3000kg.
LOA 10.60 m (35 Feet)
BEAM 2.95m
DRAFT 3m (Keel Fully Deployed)
DRAFT 1.8m (Keel Raised)
BULB 500 kg

FEA modelling will produce an optimised PVC foam composite structure utilising Vinylester Matrix and Unidirectional Fibres by way of critically loaded structures. To ensure build variables such as nett composites weight , global bending stiffness and cured resin to fibre ratios are tightly controlled all components will be nett moulded via resin infusion in accordance with ISO 12215 and European directives for styrene emissions control.

The sailplan boasts a square head mainsail with minimal overlap genoa on a Carbon rig with swept spreaders and bend control via headstay tensioner. For Assymetricals a retractable bowsprit extends 2.8m from the stem.



If all of the above sounds good we haven’t neglected performance on the day the wind doesn’t blow. A unique lifting four bladed prop and drive will get you back to the dock at eleven knots!

Designed entirely for the new sailing generation who demand racing performance and quality at a competitive price we will present the boat at selected European boatshows this Winter for a 2008 sailing debut.

Copa del Rey - Final day: The TP52's seen from the air

We publish today a set of pictures of the impressive TP52 fleet racing during the final day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Siemens won the event after a tight fight with Mutua Madrileña.

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Last day of the 2007 Copa del Rey. Palma, 4 August 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

33nd America’s Cup: German campaign signs up

[Source: United Internet Team Germany] Black-Red-Gold will again sail in the 33nd America’s Cup. Head of Syndicate Michael Scheeren has announced the anew participation of United Internet Team Germany in the battle for the world’s most wanted sports trophy. With this announcement the German National colours will be represented in the 156-years old history of the America’s Cup for the second time.

"This is great – great for Germany and great for the sailing sport", Rolf Bähr, President of the German Sailing Association, displays his enthusiasm. "The sport has already made many new friends in the past America’s Cup", says Bähr. This is also Michael Scheeren’s opinion: "With the first German campaign we have taken responsibilities for the German sailing sport. We want to fulfill these obligations also in the future."

The United Internet Team Germany relies on their past experiences and on Karol Jablonski. With the already announced commitment of the new skipper of the United Internet Team Germany, new signs are set. The pole with the German passport has had unexpected success with the Spanish team Desafío Español which he led right into the semi final. 44-years old Jablonski is proud "to sail for the United Internet Team Germany – Germany is the country where I had most of my sailing successes".

Nothing is left to chance in the next campaign. Due to the early entry there is now more time for preparing the big challenge professional. "We will seize the time to show up at the starting line with the best-possible team and an excellent boat", Scheeren promises.

Renowned NZ journalist Peter Lester comments Prada's decision to abandon America's Cup

Renowned New Zealand journalist, Peter Lester, gave a very interesting interview on NZ radio on Sunday morning, mainly commenting the press release sent by Prada and Patrizio Bertelli announcing their decision to abandon the America's Cup and stop any further sponsorship.

Regardless of whether one agrees or not with Lester's talk, his views are certainly not baseless. You can listen to Lester's 7-minute interview by clicking on the green play button. You can pause or stop the audio file with the control buttons, just like with any other music player. By clicking inside the horizontal bar you can move to any point of the file:

United Internet Team Germany to challenge for the 33rd America's Cup

The German challenger for the 32nd America's Cup, United Internet Team Germany, will continue in the 33rd edition of the event, according to the team's website (unfortunately not republished in English).

The German team recently reinforced with the arrival of Polish helmsman Karol Jablonski who had achieved hugely successful results with Desafío Español, reaching the semifinals of the 32nd edition. Finally, the Germans are the only team to have publicly announced the construction of a new America's Cup yacht, GER-101. This yacht, of course, is being built under the rules of the 32nd America's Cup and not the proposed new design in the Protocol of the 33rd edition.

There are four challengers officially taking part in the 33rd America's Cup so far. They are Desafío Español (Challenger of Record), Shosholoza, Origin and Emirates Team New Zealand. After yesterday's announcement, United Internet Team Germany could very well be the fifth one to officially enter. Finally, AYRE, the project for a second Spanish team, could become the second challenger not to have participated in the previous edition in Valencia.

Russell Coutts: GGYC will withdraw lawsuit if Alinghi accepts Onorato's proposals

Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW Oracle Racing, is currently in Palma, taking part in the Copa del Rey. He is calling tactics aboard Artemis, the Swedish TP52 boat.

Valencia Sailing talked to Coutts moments after the end of Friday's racing and asked him to comment Vicenzo Onorato's proposals concerning the 33rd America's Cup, published earlier today.

Coutts was very straightforward in his statement. He shares the view of Onorato for a fair America's Cup, agrees with the proposals put forward by the Italian and if Alinghi accepts them, GGYC will withdraw the lawsuit filed at the New York Supreme Court.

PRADA not to compete in the 33rd America's Cup

[Source: PRADA Group] After ten years and three campaigns, PRADA has decided not to compete in the 33rd America’s Cup, which will be held in Valencia in 2009.

Participation in the next America’s Cup was carefully analyzed, and while significant human and financial resources are already available, it was decided that, after three campaigns, a cycle had come to an end.

Patrizio Bertelli declared: “We challenged in three campaigns of the America’s Cup and we had ten very intense years. It has been an unforgettable experience, both from a sports and human perspective. I want to thank the team, the Telecom Italia Group, Intesa Sanpaolo, the other sponsors and the Yacht Club Italiano who have constantly and enthusiastically supported us. From a corporate standpoint, participating in these three campaigns has allowed us to acquire and develop precious skills, experience, and visibility for our Group. I hope that another Italian team will be able to compete in the next edition and to keep Italy at the top of the game in the America’s Cup.”

Vicenzo Onorato makes proposal about the 33rd America's Cup

[Source: Mascalzone Latino] On the sport side all wish and expect to be part of an event in which winning has a lot of value through strong, tough but ultimately fair-play-based competition.

On a commercial side we all expect and wish to have a credible and sellable event in which the sponsor would have their visibility and good chances to have their teams successfully compete.

Both the prospective and the current AC 33 Challengers need to look for sponsors. To our knowledge few, if any , of the challengers recently accepted by SNG do not have yet even the start up funds.

The “Class Rule” of the next event and the unilaterally-appointed race management and dispute resolution provisions are the critical points of objection to the current Protocol, which has already received a lot of criticism since its publication.

We believe that an America’s Cup in which the Challengers would know from the Defender (without previous Challenger involvement) the new class rules only 18 months before the event would not be a competitive regatta, nor would be credible or sellable. We should count at minimum 8-9 months of design work, 8-9 months, if not more, in case of two yachts, for the construction. Challengers would not even have enough time to test the new yachts on-the-water. When the new class of yacht was created in 1988, all competitors had more then 3 years to prepare.

We understand Alinghi’s wish to play its role as the Defender, and its desire of evolving the event with a new class of yachts.

We understand Oracle’s position that ultimately it is playing the role of a Challenger, and wishes to make the game more accessible and equitable for the challengers.

In the existing conflicting positions between SNG/Alinghi and GGYC/Oracle, all other teams should try to contribute in resolving this impasse.

We therefore urge SNG/Alinghi to reopen the discussion on the AC XXXIII Protocol on the following basis, provided that AC 33 will be in Valencia in 2009, May-July as announced:

- Use V5 America’s Cup yachts, with each team permitted to build one new yacht and modify one old yacht up to 50%.

- All AC 33 competitors agree, by entering AC 32, that in case of winning AC 33 they will use the new Alinghi 90' design in AC 34, with the final rule to be worked out between Alinghi and the CC (which would of course include the current COR) in the meantime, and starting now.

- The Protocol be substantially the same as AC 32, but with changes to be negotiated by SNG/Alinghi with the Challenger Commission. The revision of the Protocol should particularly solve the area of most concern of the recent adopted Protocol: SNG’s unilateral ability, through ACM, to disqualify a challenging team, in particular for disputing any provision in the Protocol; ACM’s ability to accept not all otherwise valid challengers, ACM’s ability to unilaterally reject a challenging team; appointment of the arbitration panel and jury by the Defender and COR only and their ability to dismiss the members of the panel and jury at will; ACM’s exclusive power to appoint race committee, measurement committee, umpires and any other event officials; ACM’s powers and rights which far exceed the position of any Defender in the past, including the power to impose a penalty to competitors; ACM’s power to “unilaterally” establish the rules for the all the events, including the Challenger Selection Series, the lack of any accountability by either ACM or COR to the challengers and the absence of any requirement of neutral management, the participation of the Defender in the CSS.

The execution of a revised Protocol with these provisions should then convince GGYC to withdraw the Court actions, and it would attract more sponsors and, therefore, more teams to the event.

Vincenzo Onorato
Mascalzone Latino

Project of 2nd Spanish America's Cup challenger revealed in Palma

A breaking story, on the sidelines of the exciting Copa del Rey in Palma, is certainly going to capture to attention of the media on Thursday. We have been following this developing story on Wednesday and we are in position to know that a very serious project concerning the creation of a second Spanish America's Cup challenger is currently at an advanced stage.

According to the available information, the project's leaders have the intention to represent the Royal Yacht Club of Palma and have been in contact and discussions with leading sailors and yacht designers in the last couple of months. Although there is no available information yet, it is believed that major Spanish and European corporate groups have also shown interest in funding the project.

It is expected that within the next few days the project's leaders will make a public announcement. We will obviously keep informed about any news regarding the story.