Two weeks to first round of "34th America's Cup Race & Media Evaluation Trials"

After a 5-month hiatus, Port America's Cup is slowly but steadily coming back to life in view of the upcoming first round of the 34th America's Cup "Race & Media Evaluation Tials", from July 22nd to 25th, and the RC44 Valencia Cup, from July 27th to August 1st.

The "Race & Media Evaluation Trials" will consist of a series of match races between 2 RC44 yachts and 2 Extreme 40 catamarans with the aim to, according to BMW Oracle's official mantra, determine what type of boat (monohull or multihull) would be most suitable for this edition of the world's oldest sports trophy but also test new TV configurations.

I'm not aware of whether any official program has been released and what, if any, possibility the media will have in order to follow these trials but Valencia Sailing will, obviously, be there, if allowed. It will certainly be interesting to see what the trials will consist of and what exactly this new approach to TV coverage will be. The RC44's in particular are not a brand new boat, they have a good circuit, with the highest level possible of sailors taking part and a very good TV production company. As a result, hundreds of hours of TV footage have been produced and I'm curious to see what the America's Cup Defender will try and how this had eluded for 3 years the current TV producers.

I suppose BMW Oracle will use their 2 RC44 yachts, the "Deal Breaker", usually helmed by Larry Ellison, and the "RC44 Challenge", usually helmed by James Spithill. As for the 2 Extreme 40 yachts they will most certainly use the ones they trained with for the 33rd America's Cup. There was no sign of those yachts in the BMW Oracle base this morning but the signs of activity were apparent.

The first RC44 yacht that arrived in Valencia was the Dutch "No Way Back" and went to the Victory Challenge base. It won't be long before the remaining RC44 yachts disembark in some of the bases here as a number of them will start training already next week. Conditions are simply superb these days. The Iberian peninsula has been hit by a heatwave, especially the southwestern part of Spain and Portugal. While this might sound horrendous its side effect, at least in Valencia, is a great seabreeze, starting as early as 11am and building up to 15-17 knots at 4pm.

Last but not least, the bases of Luna Rossa and Emirates Team NZ were busy as well with the preparation of the TP52 yachts for the Barcelona AUDI Medcup event in 2 weeks.

The BMW Oracle base has some action again. Valencia, 7 July 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The BMW Oracle base has some action again. Valencia, 7 July 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Business as usual in the Luna Rossa base where the Italian team and Quantum Racing are preparing their TP52 yachts for the Barcelona AUDI Medcup event in 2 weeks. Valencia, 7 July 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The world's best monohull sailing team are preparing their TP52 yacht for the Barcelona AUDI Medcup event in 2 weeks. Valencia, 7 July 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The first RC44 yacht to arrive was "No Way Back" and headed to the Victory Challenge base. Valencia, 7 July 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing