Copenhagen, next stopover for the RC 44 Championship Tour

[Source: RC44 Class Association] The RC 44 Championship Tour is about to discover a new venue for the third stage of its Championship Tour 2010: Copenhagen. Ten World Class teams will take part in the event on June 8 – 13.

Copenhagen will host the third regatta of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2010 on June 8 – 13. Organised by the Royal Danish Yacht Club, the event will bring together ten RC 44 one-designs for a week of fleet and match racing.

Organised for the first time, the RC 44 Copenhagen Cup will be part of the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of Oresund bridge; the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe. Completed on 14 August 1999, the bridge connects the two metropolitan areas of the Oresund Region (the Danish capital of Copenhagen) and the Swedish city of Malmö.

Founded in 1866, the Royal Danish Yacht Club is one of Europe’s most prestigious yacht clubs. “We are very proud to host the RC44 fleet here in Wonderful Copenhagen”, says Morten Lorenzen, CEO of the club. “Organizing great events for great classes is part of our strategy in the Club. The RC 44 Copenhagen Cup follows recent events like the 470 World Championships in 2009, the X-Yachts Gold Cup in 2008, the Farr 40 Worlds in 2007 and since 2000 our annual Danish Open in Match Racing, as part of the World Match Racing Tour. As hosts of the RC 44 Copenhagen Cup we look forward to welcoming owners, sailors and guests in Copenhagen. We will do our utmost to make sure they all feel welcome, and we are eagerly looking forward to present the RC 44 fleet and intense racing to the knowledgeable sailing audience in Denmark. A group of more than 50 volunteers and our skilled staff, supported by great sponsors and partners, is looking forward to hosting the RC 44 Copenhagen Cup.”

The format of the event will be as usual, with two days of match racing followed by three days of fleet racing. The teams involved in the event include all the teams who competed earlier in the year in the Al Maktoum Cup (Dubai) and the Austria Cup. Pieter Heerema’s Team No Way Back currently leads the overall ranking after two events (4 points), ahead of Team Sea Dubai (7 points), BMW ORACLE Racing and Artemis (9 points). No Way Back also leads the fleet race ranking whilst BMW ORACLE Racing is the overall leader of the match race ranking.

The teams involved in the RC 44 Copenhagen Cup:

Team No Way Back (Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies)
Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist / Terry Hutchinson)
CEEREF (Igor Lah / Rod Davis)
BMW ORACLE Racing (Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts)
Team Aqua (Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton)
Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (José Juan Calero / José Maria Ponce)
Katusha (Guennadi Timtchenko / Paul Cayard)
Team Sea Dubai (Harm Muller Spreer / Markus Wieser)
Team Austria (René Mangold / Christian Binder)
17 (Ian Vickers / James Spithill)