Team Italia presented yesterday its crew in the premises of the Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria di Palermo, taking advantage of the training sessions the team is currently carrying out, aboard 2 TP52 yachts off the Palermo coast. "It's an honor for us to be able to host this group of sailors so closely related to our nation", stated Gabriele Guccione Al, President of the Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria. The team's schedule calls for a series of training sessions both offshore and ashore (sailing, physical training and tactics) until the 22nd of December. It will then move to Valencia and Auckland for the final training sessions before the start of races.  read more »

Mutua Madrilea undisputed leader with two bullets in as many races; 7 points ahead of Quantum Platoon shows consistency and scores two thirds Bribn get their act together while Artemis disappoints It was another tricky day on the Lanzarotean waters for the 14 crews taking part in the TP52 World Championship Islas Canarias Puerto Calero. The race committee had to move the starting line a mile further offshore, trying to get a better breeze but had to fire the gun with no more than 7 knots of a northeasterly. There was no shortage of challenges for the tacticians today, albeit less than yesterday, but for Mutua Madrilea it was another day in the office. Vasco Vascottos team with 3 victories in 5 races is now leading the championship, 7 points clear of second placed Quantum Racing. Artemis is still third overall but their performance today was far from what one would have expected, scoring an 11th and a 13th. The days first race was a one way victory for Vasco Vascottos Mutua Madrilea that sailed as close to perfection as possible. Favini, in concert with Bruni on tactics and Vascotto, took control of the situation with a clean start at the pin end and from there on stayed on top of the fleet until they crossed the finish line. Together with Bribn and Synergy they opted for the left side of the course and stuck to it. Dean Barker on the helm of Bribn was constantly putting pressure on the Italians but was unable to make them relinquish leadership.  read more »

Our friends from the excellent Italian sailing website Zero Gradi Nord have published an exclusive video interview with Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi's owner, regarding the America's Cup. The Swiss yachtsman was in Porto Cervo, Sardinia where he won Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in the Mini Maxi division with a comfortable margin, scoring 4 bullets in 6 races. Bertarelli has chartered the 66ft yacht Numbers and raced with a crew almost entirely of Alinghi team members. Bertarelli talked to the Italian media present in the regatta for about 30 minutes covering most aspects of the America's Cup. The interview was in Italian and for the convenience of our non-Italian readers we publish the translation. Note: The translation is mine and hopefully as reliable as possible. Although I consider myself very fluent in Dante's language a few errors might have slipped in, especially when at moments Bertarelli's voice was silenced by the noises of forks and knives. Be patient, the article is long... Ernesto Bertarelli talks to the Italian media. Port Cervo, 6 September 2008. Video copyright Zero Gradi Nord Question: Given the latest court decision in favor of Alinghi, are you thinking about a multi-challenger Americas Cup? Ernesto Bertarelli: You could think about organizing an Americas Cup next year with multiple challengers but even if you consider there is a very small percentage the court might rule and decide that Cup doesn't count it is not feasible. We are currently in the same situation we have been for some time now, waiting. Question: Is there still room for diplomacy in the duel between Alinghi and BMW Oracle? Ernesto Bertarelli: We have been using diplomacy for a year now. I think we committed an error in July 2007. We should have taken the scheduled 3-week holidays immediately after winning the America's Cup. The other big error we made was that instead of putting the documents on the table, we should have first presented our vision, the reason of existence of the new Protocol. We made a mistake and didn't do these two things. Yet, what we did from July until November was to sit with the Challengers, always inviting BMW Oracle, and made 13 modifications to the Protocol. We also let the Challengers, without our presence, take a decision on the new boat rule. We then agreed on the regatta format. During these 3-4 meetings the Americans always refused to attend and instead decided to go ahead with their litigation to Justice Cahn. After they won the case with Justice Cahn we once again sat with them and told them, "very well, you won, let's now work this out and find a solution to go out of the court and on the water for a multihull race". They refused a solution that would have given us the time to build a boat. We couldn't accept a regatta where they would have ready a 90ft catamaran while we only had a Version 5 ACC yacht or a 40ft catamaran. This is why we appealed because we had made a proposal and they refused. Can we talk about diplomacy when one party doesn't want to give in, or better said when one party takes a step ahead but the other party always takes a step back?  read more »

Related MP3 file Franck Cammas gives his first impressions on the BMW Oracle "Stradivarius" (in French) [Source: Franck Cammas - Groupama] Based in Anacortes on the west coast of the United States since 21st August 2008, the skipper of the Groupama Trimarans and his team are full of praise aboard the 90 foot trimaran BMW Oracle designed by the French architects VPLP. After the initial sail trials, Franck Cammas gives us his take on events. "This trimaran is the only one of its kind. She is fairly extreme and has enormous potential. We're gradually taming her". Designated as helmsman by Russell Coutts, the triple winner of the America's Cup, during these initial outings, the skipper of Groupama has been collaborating with the American Team as a coach and consultant for over a year. On the water, the power emitted by this trimaran which is over one and a half times the size of Groupama 2 is impressive. As wide as it is long at 27.5 metres, equipped with a mast which culminates at 50 metres high, a 500 m2 mainsail and a 700 m2 gennaker, she is designed to sail close to the shore in mild conditions.  read more »

A new event was presented last Friday in Milan, Italy. It will take place in Cattolica, on the Italian Adriatic coast, from Thursday till Sunday and will see James Spithill and Russell Coutts, respectively helmsman and CEO of BMW Oracle, face off in a series of match races.

The two sailors will participate in this exhibition regatta, organized by their Italian teammate Max Sirena, aboard the now-famous Extreme 40 catamarans in what will probably be a training session for the upcoming 33rd America's Cup Match, presumably to be held some time between October 2008 and July 2009.

According to Sirena, the event is open to all interested match racers. For the inaugural event only Spithill and Coutts will take part but from next year, the best sailors of the world will have the opportunity to join. Obviously, by that time next year the 33rd America's Cup might be over and depending on its result there might be no interest at all in match racing Extreme 40's.  read more »

Santa Margherita Ligure, 30 April 2008: A few hours separate us from the start of the Regate Pirelli Trofeo Carlo Negri in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy, organized by the Yacht Club Italiano, the opening event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008. The line up for the inaugural event of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008 is impressive and scores of Americas Cup and Olympic sailors will be racing on the waters of the beautiful bay of Santa Margherita. All boats are now side by side on the Italian citys yacht club pier and despite the cold and rainy weather, shore crews are putting the final touches on the GP42 yachts in order to have them race ready for tomorrow, Thursday, first day of the event. There are great expectations for this seasons newcomers in the class, Roma GP42.2 and Airis from Italy, Near Miss from Switzerland and MADRID from Spain, that have decided to have a new boat designed and built in order to participate in this growing class and that will undoubtedly use every minute before the races in order to fine tune their yachts and crew.  read more »

[Source: BMW Oracle] Lorient, France 11 April 2008 BMW ORACLE Racing today completed a successful two-week training session here off Frances Brittany coast, on board the 60-foot multihull Groupama 2. Its been great for all of us to get onto a bigger boat which has accelerated the learning curve for everyone, said BMW ORACLE Racing helmsman James Spithill (AUS). Groupama 2s skipper, Franck Cammas (FRA), trained the entire two weeks with the U.S. Americas Cup Challenger, sharing the in-depth experience of his teams big multihull sailing. BMW Oracle training aboard Franck Cammas' Groupama. Lorient, April 2008. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle The Groupama guys have many years of experience in these boats, so its been a huge opportunity to have this time with Franck and his team, said Spithill. Weve had a range of conditions from big waves and wind to light air. It was good to see the boat perform in different conditions. Once the team had a few days to shake down on the 60-foot trimaran, they had several days of racing training against another 60-foot ORMA class trimaran, Banque Populaire. The BMW ORACLE crew put the 60-footer through the paces with a series of practice starts and short races daily. The team also rotated among the 10 race crew positions on board the 60-foot trimaran to give 15 crew members a chance to experience the big multihull racing. We learned more than we expected to, said tactician John Kostecki. Its been a successful session for us but we still have more to do to be ready for racing later this year.  read more »