Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Meanwhile in Valencia... the TP52's are coming

With just over a month until the opening event of the 2009 AUDI Medcup circuit in Alicante, the TP52 fleet is slowly gathering in Valencia. Although no racing will take place here, the host city of the 32nd America's Cup is an obligatory stop for the yachts, since their "Measurement Week" will take place here at the end of April.

The K-Challenge base was undoubtedly the busiest one this winter, as the two Russian TP52 yachts, Valars and Synergy, underwent significant refits and modifications. The Synergy yacht has already been launched and went for her first test sail two days ago. The Valars was launched this morning. Both boats will now leave for Palma where they are scheduled to race next week.

As for the Desafío base, the Spanish team has just started working on their TP52 yacht, while the GP42 project has been scrapped. The Quantum Racing yacht has also just arrived and will be using the Spanish base, similarly to last year. The sailing crew of the Spanish team will return to their base next Tuesday.

In the Victory Challenge base, the Italian AUDI Q8 boat is being repaired after the incident that took place during her transport from Milan. When the truck made a stop in the highway rest area in order to wait for police escort one of the engine's batteries caught fire due to a short circuit. Thanks to the immediate police intervention the fire was put out and the damage to the hull was very limited. Unfortunately, the doors of the shed were closed so we couldn't assess the extent of repairs carried out. The Italian team is also waiting for a new bulb to arrive from Italy and a new mast from New Zealand.

Last but certainly not least, as we reported yesterday, the Luna Rossa STP65 yacht is back on the water and the shore crew were making the last checks before the boat leaves for Palma, later today or tomorrow. The Italian base will play host to the Spanish Optimist Championship starting Thursday.

The two Russian TP52 yachts in the K-Challenge base, after undergoing major refit and modifications during the winter. Synergy (left) was launched 2 days ago while Valars was launched a short time after the photo was taken. Valencia, 7 April 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The Desafío base with their TP52 yacht in the shed and the Quantum boat freshly arrived. Valencia, 7 April 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Despite the rain, Luna Rossa's crew is testing the STP65 yacht since time is short. Valencia, 7 April 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

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2 Comments:

At 8:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anyone know where or who built the Luna STP?

 
At 9:07 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I think it was built by LR right there in VLC base. Container built by Knierim - very nicely - was on display at Ddorf show.

 

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