With just three weeks to go until round two of the RC44 Championship Tour gets underway on Lake Traunsee, Austria, the class are welcoming a new team and a new boat to The Tour.
Russia's Team Nika will join the class in time for the RC44 Austria Cup from 11-15 May. New owner and technology entrepreneur, Vladimir Prosikhin first got a taste for RC44 racing, as a guest onboard the RC44 Beecom in Portorož, Slovenia in 2009.
After an enjoyable 2010 season competing on his Shipman 72 in the Rolex Mediterranean Circuit and chartering the Volvo 70, Ericsson 1, for last year’s Middle Sea Race, Vladimir decided that his future was in one-design racing.
“I am very excited and happy about joining the RC44 class. I was thrilled by the way these boats raced, was very impressed by the event in Portorož, the atmosphere and the people involved with the class. It was just a matter of time before I entered the class as I wanted a fair one-design race in one of the best modern boats.” Vladimir Prosikhin, owner Team Nika.
Having purchased the former K-Challenge and recruited many of the former Slovenian RC44 EKIPA 44 team, including double Olympians Mitja Margon, Tomaz Copi and Tomislav Basic Vladimir is planning to build a strong competitive team that can challenge for the Championship title in future seasons.
“We haven’t yet raced together onboard Nika as a team, but hope to build a strong competitive team and eventually win. I will be happy if we finish this season in the middle of the table.”
Chris Bake’s Team Aqua is not new, but a leading force on the RC44 circuit since its launch in 2007. They too have plenty to celebrate in Austria as they take delivery and compete for the first time in their brand new boat GBR 2041.
The original Aqua, the oldest boat in the fleet, enjoyed a fantastic swansong in San Diego as the team clinched third place, but now Aqua decided that to maintain the momentum behind their championship challenge, a new boat would be invested in for the 2011 season. The team is set to arrive in Austria to commence testing at the start of May to put the new boat through her paces ahead of racing.
To read more about the build of the new Team Aqua and view pictures of the build process, Click here.
Team Nika Crew List
Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) - Owner Driver
Tomislav Basic (SLO) -Tactician
Darko Hajdinjak (SLO) -Trimmer
Andrej Justin (SLO) -Tailer
Iztok Knafelc (SLO) - Grinder
Tomaz Copi (SLO) - Main Trimmer
Toš Skrt-Golja (SLO) - Pit
Simon Johnson (IRE) - Pit
For more information about Team Nika click here.
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Two new arrivals for the RC44 class 20th April 2011