America's Cup Website & Boat News
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America's Cup Website & Boat News
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| The Coutts & Cayard Show | Top |
We started this story many months ago, when our rumours page got too big we relegated it to the archive. It was all speculation and no confirmation, nothing new there! but we were sure it wasn't really an AC story. AC it may not be, but it won't go away and we are convinced a major new regatta series WILL soon be announced. Why are we so sure? A single posting in that fount of all accurate sailing reportage Sailing Anarchy :-) really rings true. Not only does the story have Iain Murray joining the team but the following paragraph makes it all fit into place:- "The big news though, is the nature of the boats.... 70 footers that can be broken down and packed into 40 foot containers!!!!! No other details but speculation was that the bow and stern sections would probably be removable and the mast broken into three sections. " Of course! Why didn't we think of that. That's how you can transport a Grand Prix Circus around the world. Got to be true... Still worried about moving all those keel bulbs, but then we saw this in ACOSV via IACC-City :- " As for design rules anything goes: canting keels, water ballast, wing masts, hiking racks for the crew. Length is just about the only constraint. " So that's it lightweight 70 footers with no rule other than length, (and crew number?) Anyway here is the original story back from banishment to the archives, await developments... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For a long time now there have been stories that Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard have been looking at a collaboration on a major yachting project. Most reporting, and most people's perceptions, have been that this project would be a new "Grand Prix circus" type event for large, possibly one-design, yachts. If pushed people might also add that the series would have backing from interests in the Arabian Gulf. In the first week in October Sailing Anarchy reported, (quite quietly for them) that, "We are hearing that Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard have started employing people for their own AC effort..." This was not the first time that it had been said that the C&C project was an AC challenge but this has been denied quite specifically by Coutts in the past. As this is a speculation and rumour site (although some seem take our scribbles very seriously) it may be worth digging a bit further into this story:- Facts -
Factoids:-
Speculation:-
Off the wall:-
We say:- The Emirate way is to aim big:
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| The Return of Fremantle | Top |
The OzBoyz Challenge has become a bit notorious for press "spin". You'find some of the history in the Archive pages of this site and there's no need to rake it up again. Anyway the last thing their web site said was that they were considering the club in who's name they would challenge. Just a few days ago that was repalced by a variation on their strapline saying, "OzBoyz Challenge is looking forward to making an announcement in February 2005. Like us, feel proud and be part of our journey to the America's Cup." No mention of a club, is it now chosen?. About the same time all AC media folk got this release:- "Fremantle Sailing Club Media Advisory WHAT: The Fremantle Sailing Club will be announcing a new and high profile strategy that will put the Club back on the world map. WHEN: This announcement will be made “virtually” and sent on Tuesday 15th February 2005 @10.00am “We have been working on this new strategy for sometime now and we are delighted with the decision we have made,” said Bruce Wallis General Manager of the Fremantle Sailing Club" Now these could be unrelated events with February announcements... So watch for the announcement on the OzBoyz site on Tuesday (that's 10 AM Western Australia time). If this really is a Challenge they will have to move fast to get a boat organised for June, we shall see.
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Fremantle Sailing Club plays a key role in the Western Australian maritime community
with involvement in a wide range of sailing activities including some of the
highest profile yacht races like the Around the World yacht race stop-overs,
numerous west coast offshore races, and the Fremantle Harbour Classic. Oh dear, what a letdown...
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| 11 Team Bases at Valencia | |
Its a while since we talked about the facilities in the Darsena Interior. The first acts came and went with the dock wall being extended in the North and a quite presentable dressing up of the sheds and old passenger terminal. The plan to remove the sheds was changed and now the wokk is underway to extend the wall further and build the bases in front of the Southern sheds and along the Northern wall where the container bases were last year. Fine so far, the tender is accepted the work well underway and the base sites allocated to the teams. The sites were allocated on a "first come - first served" basis so Alinghi had the first choice the BMWOR the +39 and so on. The point is there are 11 sites, which rather limits the number of participants. A story in Las Provincias on Jan 20 showed the current plan and site allocation. Here's an enlarged version of that small illustraton.
This has bases numbered from 1 to 11 Going anti-clockwise from the new (projected) channel at the top we have Alinghi, +39, Shoshloza, BMWOR, Luna Rossa. Then there is the ACO area, press building, etc. then the bases in front of the sheds. Going from left to right we have ETNZ, K-Challenge, Desafio and three small bases not yet allocated. So that's 3 spare bases to share among WHOM? Well, latest thinking (Jan 21) is, in order of likelyhood :-
Really we would be surprised if all five of these entered, and VERY surprised if any of the others entered. We reckon there will be four, it's just we can't say which four. Too many cards are still up in the air. So looks like ACM and the Valencia Parntership got the plans right. Let's hope so. More recently ACM have released a more detailed plan. This shows Desafio Espanol actually has two bases on the "corner" of the South dock. By the way the bases will be handed over to the teams for interior fitting on April 1st, according to MasMar. That's pretty soon! Are they really going to be ready...? April 1st is considerd an inauspicious date in some parts of the world :-) +39 are tho be the first to move in. They were the first to freeze the base design and when they come up from Palermo they will need somewhere straight away. Most other teams still have facilities around the Yacht Club or in Gandia. Shosholoza and ETNZ will probably also need facilities as soon as they arive back in Europe. Pictures and renderings here (is that a basketball court?) |
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| Major Sponsor Announcements | |
There are still acres of empty space on many of the challengers and corresponding shortfalls in budgets. So between now and the start of the 2005 season in June expect some big-money deals to be announced. The first of the year is announced today: T-Systems part of Deutschen Telekom becomes "Official Chief sponsor" of the South African America's Cup team Shosholoza, check here and here... Boats on the home page ! Promising! The deal is said to be worth at least €10 million and seems to include German sailor Tim Kroeger (ex Le Defi, Illbruck, Swedish Match, etc.) being added to the Shosholoza crew. The text of the press release (which escaped a few days early) is here. Quite where this leaves the German challenger project Fresh Seventeen is unclear. It may be a major setback that a German blue-chip corporation decided to support an overseas team but it could awaken other German corporates to the opportunity of AC sponsorship. Let's hope it's the latter. January 25. " Emirates Team New Zealand and Vodafone New Zealand today announced a new alliance that will see the team's global telecommunications needs supplied by Vodafone." As it says in the press release. Much about cooperation etc. not much about funding, this reads as though it may just be a supply agreementt. But it could be a major sponsorship deal. certainly Vodaphone is a name evryone expects to see writ large on someone's sails. Let's see how large it is on ETNZ's. +39 have managed to get serious support not just from their home region of Lomabardia but also their chosen base in Sicily. It is said (Cup in Europe quoting Finanza & Mercati ) that Lombardia are in for €8 million and Sicily €6 million. Wonder how much the County of Marin will contribute to Sausalito Challenge? More sponsorhip for +39. Sergio Tacchini will be a sponsor and supplier.
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| The Chinese Challenge | |
China has unlimited money and in recent years has not been shy of spending it to get established on the World stage. The race tracks built for Formula One and GT racing are simply the best ever built. The preparations for the 2008 Olympics are also "no expense spared". So if China decides that the Americas Cup is up there with F1 and the Olympics, (as we keep getting told) it follows they will throw unlimited money at that too. That is not to say they will spend recklessly, they will be very clever. So the objective will be nothing less than to stage the 33rd Americas Cup in China. Now, you can do that two ways: Win the cup like Auckland or Fremantle did OR make a winning bid to the Cup winning team like Valencia did. Note that ACM made it clear that the Valencia franchise is for AC32 only. If Alinghi win again the bidding will start again. There is no reason to think that candidates will be limited to Europe. If a European team win they would almost certainly run the next Cup in their own country as usual, but if an American (i.e. San Francisan) team were to win does it follow that the next Cup would be in The Bay? We think not, the scene has now been set, the Cup will go to the city that bids and promises most, not likely to be San Francisco or Oakland is it? Once the bidding goes outside of the Bay Area it could be anywhere in the World. So back to China's plan. If the AC33 host city goes "on the market" they will bid and must win. The host will go to global bids if Alinghi or an American team win. There is a pretty good chance of this. To increase the chances even further Chinese interests could buy one (or more) of the existing teams. It would have to be one that wouldn't mind having its identity subsumed and with no great patriotic or sponsor attachment to its home country. Candidates for this takeover are those teams with boats, management structure in place or on call-up, not fully funded and feasibly "becoming" a Chinese or International entry. We see them as:- Sausalito, K-Challenge, Le Defi, Mascalzone, GBR, Victory, Team Dennis Conner and possibly +39. So the first priority is be to get on good terms with ACM. To faciltate this the Chinese Yachting Association has offered to organise a 2006 Act at Qingdao the new Olympic sailing venue, apparently this is now 80% certain to happen after meetings with ACM. The second way to please ACM would be to make an aditional entry in the 32nd Cup. So that reduces the "take over" prospects to Le Defi, GBR, Victory, TDC or Mascalzone. Of these Le defi has to be favourite as it is active and has recent experience. So what evidence is there for this, very plausible, scenario? First Mr. Li Quanhai, The Secretary General of Chinese Yachting Association has said there are two teams working to become China Challenge, one France/China team, the other America/China team. (i.e Le Defi and TDC) Secondly Mr. Wang Chaoyong the President & CEO of ChinaEquity, has said his company will spend US$50million buying a European team (or teams). A translation of his statement is on 2007ac.com, there are some fascinating snippets including the hope that entry in the Americas Cup will prevent future misunderstanding such as the recent burning of Chinese shoes in Spain! Further BabelFish translations are on 2007ac.com courtesy of "Greg". These seem to refer to setting up a team centre in China and the aquisition of three boats... There is litttle doubt that these are people of substance and the plans are real. Furthermore Michael Bonnefous and others will be encouraging this participation as a major breakthrough in the globalisation of the Cup and its status as a Global event. For several syndicates that have given up, or were thinking of doing s, this could be a lifeline. Keep tuned here and 2007ac.com for more news. OK, we may be putting two and two together and making five, at least, but isn't that what a speculation site should do? Here's our latest theory:- Greg's translation contains the words, " including three sailing ships, namely the ship, the ship and unfolds the ship ", what does that mean? Syzygy also in 2007ac.com further interprets this as, " three yachts, one for competition, one for training, one for exhibition ". So Mr Wang is looking to buy a team with three boats, who could that be? Of the teams that could be considered "for sale":- Mascalzone
had three boats but has just sold one to Sausalito Challenge. Le Defi has 2 boats and one stripped hull To us this points to GBR. Le Defi of course also fits, but GBR makes so much sense. they had a working design team till a few day's ago but no sailing team. And two boats at least partway converted to version 5 of the ACC rule. No sailing team is no disadvantage, the Chinese interests want to find and train their own. Also from the observant Syzygy; " An invitation to host an America's Cup Crew Selection Regatta in 2005 is under consideration", this piece is from the newsletter of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club...needless to say British links to the RHHYC are strong, it's so plausible we'll run with it for now. So watch for the headlines, "Chinese buys GBR Challenge" . More details emerged after the turn of the (non-Chinese!) year. This is translated by Pat Joyce at 2007ac.com. The main points to come out of this is that a deal to take over a team will be finalised at the start of the year and the team will compete in Valencia in June. Initially they will have 3 Chinese crewmen growing to 7 by 2007, although not in the "main force" - afterguard. It appears that three syndicates are competing for what will be a single national challenge. By Feb 07 sina.com (via Syzygy) were reporting that the Chinese challenge had put together the following budget:- "10,000,000 euros purchase of existing boats: 50,000,000 American dollars one ship construction cost: 50,000,000 euros one season of competition expense: 80,000,000 American dollars new boats. At least one Chinese hull: The fitting may be imported, but the entire ship must be made in China." Now these are funny numbers. The 10 million euros to buy a team seems fine and indicated that it is a European team they are looking to buy. So not GBR (Fresh 17 has said recently they have made an offer to GBR) we are pretty certain it is Le Defi that will be bought. The 50 million USD for a new boat is wide of the mark and not relevent if they have the two Le Defi boats. 50 Million euros expenses for a season is also way too high, even if they mean three seasons. 80 Million USD for new boats built in China is also way high, so we think these numbers gained something in the translation. Taking the low end numbers in each case and ignoring the "new boat" we have a 140 million USD budget which puts them right up with the big boys... In case we got it wrong here is the original Chinese text:-
And now (March 08) it is official! China Team has bough Le Defi and has entered thre 32nd America's Cup. Here is an initial press release from ACM (thanks ACRC) :- "Geneva, 8th March 2005 – Chaoyong Wang, Chairman
of China Equity Investment Group, a leading Chinese venture capital firm,
and Xavier de Lesquen, co-founder of LE DEFI, a French sports management
company, have today announced a joint venture that opens the way for
China to participate at the America's Cup for the first time. There is much play on the "joint venture" aspect of this arrangement but we expect the Le Defi name and branding to disappear by the start of the season. CHINA TEAM (capital letters seem obligatory!) is such a marketable and promotable concept that it will quickly catch on. Expect to see a few Chinese crew, at least in training, over the next couple of months. It may be a joint venture but AC challenges need a nationality (not that again!) and this programme is planned to be increasingly Chinese. FRA69 is being converted to v5 and will soon launch, as CHN69?
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| Nine Entries, some secrets and some PC's (Prospective Challengers) | |
ACM announced straight after the deadline that there were six accepted challenges, no surprise there. What was a surprise was the further announcement that, " ... two more prospective teams have today sent in the paperwork ... Following the wishes of the two teams concerned, the America's Cup will not immediately reveal the identity of these teams, allowing them to manage their own communications " So are you looking here for the identity of the two? One of them must be Sausalito but they have already announced there entry on their own web site. So why the secrecy? Surely they'd get more publicity with an announcement today than a "confirmation" in a week or so. ...better be careful here, we've had our wrist slapped for speculating about this syndicate before. Won't go there. The most likely reason is that team naming/branding has yet to be fully agreed with the sponsors. The second one was announced on Dec 22 to be Desafio Iberdrola, although ACM called it "El Reto" in their statement we think this is because the paperwork has always used that name and the name will be changed soon. The challenge is in the name of the Spanish Sailing Federation, Real Federación Española de Vela. This is apparently upsetting some European syndicates and there may still be an issue here. Apparently Mascalzone also completed and submitted an entry but withrew at the last minute, probably due to sponsorship negotiation issues. So expect them back in the "second round" of entries ACM also says "... There are several project teams working to become full Challengers ahead of this final deadline [April 29]" Who are these? well they obviously include the other two from the three above, plus OzBoyz, who have the same "yacht club problem" albeit of there own making. Le Defi have not officially given up, even GBR have skeleton staff looking for support. So it looks like this:-
Sausalito Challenge (nothing
announced till June? surely ACM will say something after April 29
deadline ) Decision (Madrid Challenge this has now gone quiet) C7 Malasia challenge, well past its launch date - looking unlikely - prove us wrong... On Jan 23 Le Defi was reporting that a ninth challenger had entered:- " Pour ceux qui aiment les surprises, un 9ème Challenger a déposé son inscription … son nom reste pour le moment confidentiel. Wait and see ! " "For those who like surprises, a 9th Challenger has lodged its entry... its name remains, for the moment, confidential. Wait and see!" So is it themselves? They seem to be the only ones running the story! Of course, we think that 10 sets of entry papers have been submitted with Mascalzone Latino and Sausalito Challenge putting theirs "on hold" at the last minute. So is there another one or are Le Defi thinking of these? As they say, " Wait and see ! " On January 31st Sausalito Challenge said that, whilst they would be host cocktails for Challenger Commission members at Sausalito Yacht Club, their entry papers had been "reviewed" by ACM and the team is finalising sponsorship deals prior to announcement. What does this mean? The entry has not yet been fully lodged. Presumably it is the Performance Bond that is still to be lodged. Other than cocktails, we assume, Sausalito Challenge will play no further part in the Challenger Commission meeting at the GGYC. More to come on this... The Sausalito Challenge web site is now saying that the team will announce their sponsors on June 3rd in Valencia. This will be followed by 10 days crew training before Act 4 starts on the 15th. This means, of course, that their boat will need to be purchased and converted to v5 of the ACC Rule by then. Yet more news from Sausalito. The ever fertile minds of the team principals have come up with another publicity raising (and maybe money raising) idea. We can't link to it, but take the "Celebrity Crew" menu item For just €10 million dollars the "most qualified" applicant (or their appointee) will become a full crew member! Not 18th man, but a full working position. Now, this is not an unusual arrangement in motor racing but is new in yachting below the owner/skipper level. It will be interesting to see if it works. €10 million for three years would be high end in car racing and seems a lot for the relative anonymity of a grinder or sewerman. Surely an afterguard position would be too valuable to risk with an amateur. The other problem is that however accomplished the person they get labled "pay driver" in motor racing and it takes a lot to shift that image. It can be done though, double World Champion, Niki Lauda borrowed £300,000 form a bank to pay for his first season in F1, then borrowed a similar sum from his Grandma for his second. Anyway, Sausalito certainly aren't dull, as ever - watch this space :-) Further news on the Victory Challenge front. On the day after the deadline Dagens Nyheter (Daily News, Swedens largest morning newspaper) ran a story clearly aimed at saying, "We are still in this thing..." Certainly the people who were in volved in the2003 challenge have been active in the various Valencia prospective challenger meetings, and despite their non-functional website word has been that they could start the challenge up again really quickly. We are indebted to Mats Grip for the following summary of the Swedish story:- "According to Dagens Nyheter (Daily News, Swedens largest morning newspaper),
Bert Willborg said Hugo Stenbeck (Jan's son) and the old Victory team
are looking into the possibilities to challenge for '07. On January 18 as.com was reporting a second Spanish challenge "Challenge Decisión" . The Real Club Nautical of Madrid would be the challenging club. The consortium of Madrid business interests and the yacht club say that they do not feel represented by the challenge of Desafio Iberdrola and will attempt to raise €50 million by the April closing date. The challenge offers a problem for the Spanish Federation as they lodged the Desafio challenge on the understanding that there would be only one challenger from Spain. More of a problem is time. The last deadline for entry is ostensibly the end of April, but really it's much sooner. To have an ACC boat ready for measuring on June 14th the team will need 3 to 4 months to acquire a boat, get it to its chosen builder and modified to comply with V5 of the rule. This puts the "real" deadline just a month or so away. The agenda of the recent Challenger Commission meeting was leaked on Sailing Anarcy (nothing new there). Everyone said "very interesting, I'd like to be a fly on the wall". Now here's a dangerous precedent. You can be a fly on the wall. The full minutes of the meeting are published on the Challenger Commission website. That's the sort of open-ness bsuinesses and public bodies promise but rarely deliver. It quite shocked the America's Cup world, which thrives on rumour, leak and innuendo. Dangerous? Of course, if everybody promptly and honestly published details of all of their dealings what need would there be for a "Rumour and Speculation" page? And this page gets 80% of the site's hits. Only joking. The site is very welcome, keep it up Tom. Now similar a similar blog from Michael Bonnefous is eagerly awaited... The CC blog goes from strength to strength and in early March was revealing who the current PC's "Prospective Challengers" were and exorting other projects to come to the March 16 Valencia meeting or formally give up... Mascalzone puts its deal together. It is beginning to look as though Mascalzone Latino have resurrected the deal that seemed to have fallen through on December 17 2004. They did submit entry papers but pulled back when financial arrangements were not met. Then at the beginning of March Il Mattino de Padova was noted by "spys" on 2007ac.com as reporting a bank as the major sponsor and that the announcement just awaited Vincenzo Onorato's return from the Farr 40 Championships in Australia. Whilst there Onorato has, according to another 2007ac.com correspondent, been telling people he has entered and has bought the Stars & Stripes boats from 2003 which are still in New Zealand. We are rather mystified as to why the S&S boats are needed as ML has a 2003 boat of their own, although that has been said to have been sold to Sausalito challenge, are you keeping up...? On March 09 their new website said that they "...will take part officially" |
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| New ACC Boats | |
This section will grow inexorably as the months pass and teams start to build their (up to) two new boats for the 32nd Cup. So there could be 14 to 20 new boats, the average has been 20 new boats per cup for the four events to the current rule. First one out? It looked like Shosholoza. Building was planned to start in late November 2004 for an April 27 2005 lauch date and a comittment to be ready for measurement in Valencia in the second week of June 2005. A second new boat was to be built for 2006 Acts and that was planned to see them through to the 2007 LV Cup. Details of the build plan were published on the Sohsholoza site. However that all changed, the webite by January was showing this timeline:- JANUARY 2005 JUNE – SEPTEMBER 2005 NOVEMBER 2005 OCTOBER - MARCH 2006 APRIL - SEPTEMBER 2006 OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2006 JANUARY 2007 This now looks to us as though they have decided to go with RSA48 for another season with major modifications and not firm up their first "new" boat for a few months yet. This is almost certainly a better plan than rushing a new boat out for 2005. Everyone would have had great expectations of the new boat which would, almost certainly, not have been realised. Crew development is the priority for 2005 and a modified RSA48 will do for that. The new boat will be ready for Southern Summer training in late 2005 and training against the known RSA48 should result in a real challenge for the 2006 season. There is one other interpretation of this plan. Shosholoza could lease a boat (or two) for the 2005 . As recently as Jan 19 RSA48 was still sailing, with T-Systems branding. So what next?
Sausalito Challenge say on their website that their new boat will start building on Jan 01 2006 at Novis Composites with a launch date of May 01 2006 at their Treasure Island base. December 05, FRESH SEVENTEEN announced that it plans to have its new cup yacht built by Knierim in Kiel in 2005/2006." The renowned shipyard promises to deliver state-of-the-art technology thanks to the substantial support of stake-holder Klaus Murmann" ETNZ launched NZL68 "Pinta" on dec 09. The boat is in full "version 5" trim with a 100 mm longer fin keel and a tonne lighter keel bulb. She will also be sporting a longer spinnaker pole and new sails. Speaking to Stuff NZ, Grant Dalton said that NZL68 will train with NZL81 in the comining weeks. He said "NZL81 is in version five in terms of weight and draft but not in terms of having the hula, NZL81 is a very known quantity now, so testing it against NZL68 we know what we are dealing with. If we took the hula off we wouldn't know - so effectively it is the control on the testing." A very sensible move, there are many stories of lost opporunities for comparative testing in the America's Cup. Dalton also said that the boats will undergo hull modifications before next year's pre-cup regattas, which start in Valencia in June. In January Alinghi reported, " A month ago, SUI 75 returned to her birthplace at the Decision SA boatyard in Vevey, Switzerland. The Cup holder's second boat is now being modified to meet the new class rules for 2005. Turned upside down, cut, re-laminated, re-finished and re-painted, SUI 75 will be entirely rejuvenated by the time she is lowered back into Spanish waters in February " At the end of January it was reported that Fresh Seventeen had been in contact with GBR Challeange about the possibility of acquiring their boats. What is happening with Shoshlosa for 2005? RSA48 was repaired after it's cetacean encounter, but no mention of version 5 conversion. Given that it is quite a big job. (3 months for SUI75) and the boat has to be transported to Valencia its too late already! The only answer is that Shosholosa will be leasing a boat (or 2?) in Europe his year. From whom? There are no converted version 5 boats aound. The only part converted boats are GBR and presumably Le Defi. Something has to happen here. Soon. And it has! On March 08, the first anniversary of RSA48 arriving in Capetown, Shosholza annouced their new boat:- " The Team Shosholoza base was officially opened on 25 February 2005 in premises specially made available in Cape Town's popular V&A Waterfront. Meanwhile one of the world's leading naval architects Jason Ker had relocated to South Africa in March 2004 to head a team of experts commissioned to design and build two new America's Cup class racing yachts in South Africa. The first of these, designed to meet the 2005 America's Cup rules will be launched at the end of April this year(2005). Shosholoza RSA 83, as she will be known, will be campaigned by Team Shosholoza at six Louis Vuitton Acts or pre-regattas in Europe this year " So, RSA83 it is... |
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| The Desafio Iberdrola deal | |
So, it went to the last minute, the meeting of sponsors, yacht clubs, sailors and, crucially, politicians went on till dawn. The solution was in the event obvious; a challenge in the name of the primary sponsor under the auspices of the national sailing body. So Desafio Iberdrola it is. The Spanish energy company will fron the operation, contribute 20 million euros and controll the pursestrings. The dramatic last minute rescue also increases their press exposure and casts them as saviours of the challenge, all good PR. Other sponsors are Caja Madrid bank and Mahou brewing (San Miguel) as expected plus Qebramar, Portugese sports clothing company and IMS sponsor. The compromises go further; Agustín Zulueta is named as Director of Sport but sport direction will be joint with Pedro Campos and Calvo Sotelo. A compromise too far may be the agreement to challenge not through the yacht club of Valencia or Barcelona but through the national body, Federación Española de Vela. Of course the America's Cup Deed of Gift is very clear that the competition is between proper yacht clubs that hold regattas, but it seems that ACM / Alinghi / SNG have re-interpreted the Deed to include national bodies. (As long as there is only one challenge from that nation). This is the same ruling spoken of by OzBoyz in their recent statement and would seem to now be the rule. So that's all right then. Every seems very happy, Pedro Campos said, "My general valuation is very simple: enchanted of which there is a Spanish boat in the water ". Our view is that compromise is a good thing if it gets another boat into the event. So, let's hope the entry goes through and the famous mothballed OWC boats get out to sea soon, Desafio Iberdrola wasted a good summer of experience and have a lot of catching up to do. Mid January Las Provincias reported that the One World Challenge boats had finally been bought by Desafio Iberdrola (ex El Reto). That's USA56, USA65 & USA67. Now to become ESP. ESP65 & ESP67 are being converted to v5 and plan to sail in February. There is no indication of where the conversion is happening or to who's design, which makes the story a bit doubtful, not unlike a lot of the Spanish Challenge story. There is a story tha the Spanish Challenge has been offered a base in Gandia along with K-Challenge but it is thought unlikely to happen. The previous El Reto / Desafio had a base at Valencia Yacht Club, but this is where the Alinghi base is now. At last the official announcement of the Spanish Challenge. News is on the Real Federación Española de Vela website wich is the official site until a real one is operational. Quebramar, Caja Madrid & Iberdrola are confirmed as sponsors. The management structure looks a little top heavy, not surprising considering the wheeling and dealing that went into getting this thing going. They principals are:- Ignacio Galán,Iberdrola, presidente, Manuel Chirivella Bonet, Enrique Puig Planas & Javier de Tomás Valls, vicepresidentes, Luis Merino Bayona, Agustín Zulueta Calvo, Michael Anthony Whiddon, Juan José Brenes Barreda, José Luis Doreste Blanco, Pedro Campos Calvo-Sotelo, José Cusí Ferret, Ib Ussing Anderssen, Gerardo Pombo García, Salvador Font Estrany, Jaume Sodupe Roure, Cristóbal Grau Muñoz & Luis Gómez Artes, board members. Yes that's the same José Luis Doreste that sailed with Luna Rossa in the Valencia Acts in 2004. See the story at Las Provincias. The website that appears at www.desafioespanol.com is very odd. The domain is not registered to Iberdrola (although desafioespanol.info and .biz ARE) The splash page has a very old 1992(?) vintage boat and the copy is full of English grammar mistakes. Most of all, it has no Iberdrola branding and the Desafio Espanol logotype is completely different to that at the Valencia launch see MMediaPress . Keep checking... We notice that the official ACM site is linking to www.desafioespanol.com |
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| Hauptsponsor beim südafrikanischen Team Shosholoza
T-Systems nimmt Kurs auf den America's Cup
Frankfurt am Main, 1 0 . Januar 2005. - T-Systems ist "Official Chief Sponsor" des südafrikanischen America's-Cup-Teams Shosholoza. Damit stellt die Geschäftskundenmarke der Deutschen Telekom ihr Segelengagement künftig auf drei Säulen: die Unterstützung von sechs deutschen Olympiabooten, der südafrikanischen America's-Cup-Yacht sowie eines internationalen Austauschprogramms für Nachwuchssegler. Das High-Tech-Boot Shosholoza wird bei der wichtigsten Regatta im internationalen Segelsport von 2005 bis 2007 nicht nur das Logo von T-Systems auf dem Segel tragen, sondern erhält vom Hauptsponsor auch breite Unterstützung bei der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik sowie im Marketing. "Das Engagement beim südafrikanischen America's-Cup-Team ergänzt auf ideale Weise unser Sponsoring der deutschen Olympiasegler. Südafrika ist ein wichtiger Markt für T-Systems und bietet als Ausrichter der Fußball-WM 2010 eine zusätzliche Perspektive. Während wir mit dem Engagement im America's Cup die Marke T-Systems international platzieren, zeigen wir mit dem deutschen Olympiateam 2008 Präsenz auf unserem Heimatmarkt Deutschland", erläutert Dieter Schweer, in der Geschäftsführung von T-Systems verantwortlich für Marketing und Kommunikation, das Sponsoringengagement des Unternehmens. Shosholoza - ehrgeiziger Newcomer im America's Cup Sportliches Ziel des südafrikanischen Bootes ist es, mindestens das Viertelfinale zu erreichen. "Danach ist alles möglich", so Salvatore Sarno, Sportdirektor der Shosholoza. "Das Team Alinghi aus der Schweiz hat beim letzten Cup vorgemacht, dass man auch als Newcomer die Favoriten ausbooten kann." Das südafrikanische Team konnte bereits wichtige Spitzensportler verpflichten, darunter Skipper Geoff Meek, der profilierteste Segelsportler aus Südafrika, den deutschen Topsegler Tim Kröger und den englischen Segel-Profi Paul Standbridge. Mit weiteren internationalen Seglern, unter anderem aus Spanien und Frankreich, werden Gespräche geführt. Mit neuer Yacht, die Ende April vorgestellt wird, tritt Shosholoza in diesem Jahr in sechs weiteren Vorregatten gegen die derzeit sieben anderen Teams im America's Cup an. "Shosholoza" bedeutet frei übersetzt: "Die Ärmel hochkrempeln" oder "Mutig nach vorne schauen". Zu dem 2003 gegründeten Team der High-Tech-Yacht gehören erstmals in der Geschichte des America's Cup schwarze und weiße Sportler. Das Team geht zurück auf das Stiftungs-Engagement südafrikanischer Segler, die sich für Jugendliche einsetzen. In Sportcamps lernen die Jugendlichen den Segelsport kennen. Die Besten haben den Sprung auf die Shosholoza geschafft. "Das südafrikanische Team tritt mit hohen Ambitionen beim America's Cup an", so Schweer. "Die junge Mannschaft des Teams Shosholoza ist schon heute der Publikumsliebling und wird bereits in den Vorregatten in diesem und im nächsten Jahr zum absoluten Sympathieträger des America's Cup avancieren." High-Tech-Segeln - Leitthema der Kommunikation von T-Systems Mit dem Sponsoring des Teams Shosholoza baut T-Systems sein Engagement im Bereich High-Tech-Segeln weiter aus, das Leitthema der Markenpositionierung von T-Systems ist. Seit 2004 ist die weltweite Kommunikationsstrategie des internationalen Dienstleisters für Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik auf den Segelsport ausgerichtet. "Segeln verbindet Werte wie Kompetenz, Zuverlässigkeit und Flexibilität. Das sind auch die Markenwerte, für die T-Systems steht. Mit dieser internationalen Kommunikationsplattform positionieren wir uns bei unseren Zielgruppen optimal", betont Schweer. Kooperationen mit deutschen Segelverbänden Das Engagement bei Shosholoza ist eine von drei Säulen, auf der die Sponsoring-Strategie von T-Systems aufbaut. Im Rahmen der Zusammenarbeit mit dem Deutschen Segler Verband (DSV) fördert T-Systems zunächst bis zum Olympiajahr 2008 je zwei Teams der olympischen Bootsklassen 49-er, Tornado und der Frauenklasse Yngling. Die dritte Säule ist ein Austauschprogramm zwischen der deutschen Nachwuchsförderung olympischer Segler, vertreten durch den Norddeutschen Regattaverein (NRV) in Hamburg, und des Royal Cape Yacht Club in Kapstadt, der auch ausrichtender Club der America's-Cup-Kampagne Shosholoza ist und den Nachwuchs für den Cup fördert. Dieses Programm wird von T-Systems unterstützt und startet ebenfalls in diesem Jahr. "Mit den deutschen Olympia-Seglern, dem America's-Cup-Engagement und dem Austauschprogramm für den Nachwuchs ist T-Systems weltweit eines der ersten Unternehmen, das die Sportart Segeln derart konsequent besetzt", so Schweer. Einige Teammitglieder der Shosholoza sowie die von T-Systems unterstützten Olympia-Segler werden zum Start der "Boot 2005", der weltgrößten Schau rund um Boots- und Wassersport in Düsseldorf, auf einer Pressekonferenz vorgestellt. America's Cup erstmals in Europa Nach mehr als 150 Jahren findet der America's Cup erstmals in Europa statt. Im Juni 2007 werden die Teilnehmer der 32. Segelregatta um die älteste Sporttrophäe der Welt im spanischen Valencia antreten. Der America's Cup wird die weltweit wichtigste Sportveranstaltung in jenem Jahr sein. Welche Yacht gegen den Titelverteidiger antritt, entscheidet sich im Louis Vuitton Cup, der von April bis Juni 2007 ebenfalls in Valencia ausgetragen wird. Im Vorfeld des America's Cup messen sich die teilnehmenden Teams in einer Reihe von Regatten. So finden bereits in diesem Jahr sechs Rennen statt, 2006 sind es drei. Der America's Cup ist die älteste regelmäßig durchgeführte Sportveranstaltung der Welt und hat ständig an Popularität gewonnen. Er gilt heute als die "Formel 1 des Wassersports". Der America's Cup wird seit 1851 ausgetragen - inzwischen alle vier Jahre. 132 Jahre lang dominierte der New York Yachting Club (NYYC) den Cup und gewann jede Regatta. Erst 1983 beendete ein australisches Team die längste Siegesserie der Sportgeschichte. T-Systems Das Unternehmen optimiert für seine Kunden die Prozesse, senkt die Kosten und gibt seinen Kunden so zusätzliche Flexibilität in ihrem Kerngeschäft. Dabei setzt es gezielt Branchen-Know-how und modernste Technologie ein. Die Leistungen von T-Systems umfassen die komplette Wertschöpfungstiefe der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnik - von ICT-Infrastruktur über ICT-Lösungen bis hin zur Übernahme ganzer Geschäftsprozesse (Business Process Management). Mehr Informationen zum Unternehmen und seinen Dienstleistungen finden Sie unter http://www.t-systems.de und http://www.t-systems.com
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| Where did GermanyOne come from? | |
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GermanyOne introduces itself to the public. GermanyOne America's Cup Yachting team is a German team with a German Skipper. We want to inspire Germany for the sail and yacht haven and to use the potential and the motivation of German Segler. Recent talents to trust to buy and the youth an honest chance and a clear perspective give no Segler from other nations accompany with the idea: "no money on sail millionaires spend!" Evenly ", old virtues follow larva in Germany ". "sleeves roll up and anpacken". Thus we will create jobs in Germany, on board, ashore and in the team. We take responsibility and want model for the youth to be. GermanyOne will take over a America's Cup team and/or a used AC yacht will buy, on which the beginning of the team sifting and the training is introduced immediately in May 2005. Starting from June 2005 GermanyOne will go with running the ACTs to the start. The Coaching and training take place via experienced America's Cup and Matchrace professional. Beyond that GermanyOne has olympia medals winners and world champions in the team. 2009 will be built a new yacht to win and get to Germany with the goal 2011 the America's Cup. 2015 are to be ausgesegelt the America's Cup in Germany, that are the goal of GermanyOne. GernanyOne has a slim and at the same time most efficient project management by an experienced authority team. GermanyOne is a new and AC on a long-term basis put on enterprise model the one financial foundation creates for a long-term and successful participation in the following Cups. Roland Gaebler will take over the sporty line, marketing and the PR. The management, project and yacht management and logistics are placed by The Friendship Racing division. We accept the challenge and look for the sportily fair comparison. GermanyOne will convince a chance and a perspective with achievement and passion and the youth will give. To bring the experience of older and successful Seglern and coaches used a German team to the point. We want to win and show emotions. GermanyOne has itself to announce the ambitious goal set still before expiration of the term on 29 April. The substantial columns become secured by private Finanziers. GermanyOne in finalkept in track now to try the small remaining financial gap, for the security of a solid start to place by partners from the economy surely. This should will not succeed GermanyOne training, the sifting and the work nevertheless takes up around at the latest for 2011 and the 33ste Challenge to be perfectly prepared. Germany we come to the Cup and GermanyOne comes for you! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The press release came from Alexander Bruhn who is involved with "The Friendship" match race team and a sailing service company of the same name. No doubt all will become clear. The Friendship have this banner on their partners
page:- Isn't the America's Cup wonderful? The involvement of
America's
Cup Yachting and Sail
Incentives and Supersail is
integral to the GermanyOne story. This operation (one business three web
sites?) is promoting corporate events based on America's Cup boats. Which
boats? Well we hear they have just been purchased from the UK. This means
they could be FRA33 & FRA37 which SunSail have been operating out a Portsmouth
for the last few years, these are the most likely. Less likely are GBR39
and USA16 both of which are for sale in the UK but don't make as nice a
matched pair as the Frances. Another possibility is GBR52 GBR's old Japanese
boat. There are of course the 2003 GBR boats GBR70 & GBR78 but these are,
I think, waiting a bigger deal.... |
email trevor@mariantic.co.uk
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