http://lamp6.ocvision.co.uk/index.php en Jessica.Gray@intotheblue.biz Copyright 2012 2012-02-12T18:58:30+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_take_the_first_event_of_the_rc44_season1 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_take_the_first_event_of_the_rc44_season1#When:18:58:30Z A three hour wait for the breeze to fill in delayed proceedings on the final day of the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup, AEZ took their second race win in Lanzarote, but Team Aqua were not far behind giving them their first event win of the 2012 season. A three hour wait for the breeze to fill in delayed proceedings on the final day of the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup, AEZ took their second race win in Lanzarote, but Team Aqua were not far behind giving them their first event win of the 2012 season. Puerto Calero has shown to be a real test for the 14 teams competing in the first leg of the RC44 Championship Tour. After their winter break it was the reigning champions who showed they could change gear in the wide range of conditions in Lanzarote. Chris Bake and the crew of Team Aqua (GBR) started the week slowly with a 10th and 13th, but quickly got in the groove slotting in four wins, a second, third and fourth to give them victory by 11 points over second placed Aleph Sailing Team (FRA). The team will retain their golden wheels for another event but are wary of the competition for the rest of the season. “Every boat out there is a concern, they all have the capacity and they all have their days,” said Bake, however the team were chuffed with their first win of the season. “For the team obviously every win is a great win, especially in this class where the teams really give you a run for your money, as you saw the first few days. It’s easy to make a mistake and once you do that its game over, so all in all its really appreciated by all the team that we were able to pull out another great event.” For the young French team missing an eighth place in the final race secured them second overall, exceeding their own targets for the event as the team’s tactician, Mathieu explained. “It’s a fantastic result for us second place, we couldn’t expect such a good result so it’s great. The team is improving at every event. We had a good first year and I think this year the team is pretty strong.” Artemis made up the podium, just two points adrift of the French, Torbjorn Tornqvist teaming up with Artemis Racing’s CEO, Paul Cayard for Lanzarote. AEZ seemed to excel in the lighter shifty conditions, the team from Austria clinching the final race of the series, adding to their win from the previous day and taking them up to fifth overall. Rene Mangold’s team have been a regular on the Tour since 2009, over the winter they bought in new tactician, Markus Weiser (GER) who has high expectations for the season. “The last two days have been very good for us, they worked out really well, we had a shocker in the second day, we were second to last after four races and we were really disappointed, we had a few boat handling problems but recovered quite nicely. We have a few new sails for the next event which will make us a little more competitive.” The fleet will now head to Cascais in Portugal the second round of the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour, with the racing being hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais from 28th March – 1st April. 2012-02-12T18:58:30+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/bertrand_favre_rc44_class_manager_talks_to_vsail_info http://www.rc44.com/news/view/bertrand_favre_rc44_class_manager_talks_to_vsail_info#When:11:18:03Z The RC44 one-design yacht, conceived and created by Coutts, is weathering the crisis very well with a fleet that fluctuates between 14 and 16 boats, a very respectable number. We caught up with Bertrand Favre, the RC44 Class Manager, and talked about the present and future of the class. One might or might not approve the way Russell Coutts is managing the America’s Cup but there is one area, in my opinion, where we must unanimously agree. The RC44 one-design yacht, conceived and created by Coutts, is weathering the crisis very well with a fleet that fluctuates between 14 and 16 boats, a very respectable number. We caught up with Bertrand Favre, the RC44 Class Manager, and talked about the present and future of the class. VSail.info: We have 14 boats on the starting line here in Puerto Calero, a very respectable number if one takes into consideration the current crisis affecting the world economy in general and the sport of sailing in particular. What, in your opinion, makes the RC44 Class and its championship resilient? Bertrand Favre: I think that one of aspects that is very important for the boat owners and their teams is the one-design as well as the fact costs are reasonable and controlled. VSail.info: Why are costs reasonable and how are they controlled? Bertrand Favre: We have very strict limits on the number of sails we validate each year and a rule that limits the number of professionals onboard. Since it’s a one-design class there are no costs associated to boat development. One season costs approximately 500,000 euros and it’s very difficult to spend more than that unless, of course, you want to fly to the venues in first class and stay in five-star hotels. VSail.info: How much does an RC44 yacht cost? Bertrand Favre: A new boat, without any sails, costs 425,000 euros while a boat ready to race with a complete set of sails costs about 520,000 euros. It’s very interesting to point out that a second-hand boat, four years old, sells for approximately 300,000 euros. As you see, thanks to the one-design aspect of the class, the old boats don’t lose their value in such a dramatic way. Obviously, everything devalues but unlike other classes second-hand boats are not worthless. On the contrary, we still have old boats that are very competitive. For example, AFX Capital Racing, the new Italian team, bought the former Mascalzone Latino boat, our seventh boat to be built, and has a very respectable performance in the middle of the fleet and already makes some of the more established teams worry. VSail.info: Has any owner sold his old boat and built a new one? Bertrand Favre: The only one to have done it is Chris Bake, owner of Team Aqua. He has a new boat now and the old one has been bought by RUS 7. In fact whether you own the RC44 yacht number 2 or number 20, you will have identical boats, with the obvious differences that the older one has been used more or might have suffered more accidents or breakages. VSail.info: Has the RC44 yacht changed since her creation? Bertrand Favre: We have evolved the boat by introducing various modifications but always throughout the entire fleet at the same time. This year we introduced a bigger mainsail, 2.50m2 bigger than the previous one, we added a jib cunningham and a system to adjust the checkstays. Our philosophy is to slowly evolve the boat in a one-design manner. VSail.info: Are there any potential owners knocking on your door? Bertrand Favre: We have a number of people that are interested and this is a continuous process. We have potential owners with whom we are in discussion and another one that will charter the Polish boat MAG Racing in the Cascais regatta. As you see, this is a continuous process and in Cascais we will have 15 boats. We are a class that has been conceived with the owners and their teams in mind. The owners pay an annual fee of 15,000 euros, much smaller compared to other classes, and they are provided with a wide range of services. We offer them a service, we have a technical team ready to solve any problem the boats might have during an event, we take care of the shipping and transport. They must pay for the shipping and transport but we take care of it and when you negotiate prices for 35-40 containers you, obviously, get much better prices than you would get for just one or two containers. We have owners that come and others that go but that’s normal and it happens in all yacht classes and circuits. At the end of each season you have changes. VSail.info: So, are you a class primarily geared towards wealthy owners? Do any owners try to find sponsors and will sponsors get any return on their investment? Bertrand Favre: I think that our strongest point is our hospitality program and the onboard guest position. Sponsored boats have the possibility to offer their partners a very good platform. Right now we have five sponsored boats and quite often there exists a privileged relation between the owner and the sponsor but the hospitality side of our circuit is clearly very attractive for all sponsors. VSail.info: You have also made changes to the race format and match racing forms now a small part of the schedule. What was the logic behind that decision? Bertrand Favre: Yes, we have taken off one day from the match race part and we don’t do an overall result for each event. The owners like driving their boats and if you had asked me two years ago whether in 2012 we would still be doing match racing I would have said no because the class is evolving towards fleet racing. However, we now have an increasing number of owners that want to steer in match racing because they love it. They want to do it because they like it but also because they see it as a great tool to train and progress. Even young sailors that train for the Olympics do some match racing because it develops their reflexes and skills. One factor we have to always take into consideration is the time owners can take off their daily business obligations. I think that being outside of their companies five times a year four-five days each time is probably the limit. As a result, we will continue with the current format at least this year. We might make some changes if we have more boats. If you have 18-20 boats you simply can’t have half of the fleet racing while the rest is just sitting there and waiting. We will have to be creative in order to find other solutions. That’s why we have already shortened the prestart down to two minutes. I think we still have a small margin but if the fleet gets much bigger we will definitely have to find other solutions. We might have two separate race areas or we might even have some teams that simply don’t want to match race but desire to have a practice fleet race in another race area. We will see. VSail.info: While the number of boats is increasing, I see that you are struggling to find new venues and this year you will only have five. Do you encounter difficulties in finding more venues? Bertrand Favre: No, on the contrary. It’s a decision taken by the owners not to have more than five events per season, for the reason I told you. Six events are just too many for them. I could even claim that now that our circuit is well established and consolidated, I have cities that directly contact me, interested in our project. VSail.info: I also notice that all venues this year are in Europe. You don’t visit the US or the Middle East. Is that as well a wish by the owners that want to concentrate their obligations in a smaller area? Bertrand Favre: I think there will be surprises in the 2013 calendar. I am now in conversations with various cities and most probably we will go out of Europe once again. I would say that this year it was more of a coincidence the fact we are only in Europe. We appreciate the cities and local organizers, such as Puerto Calero, with whom we have a good relationship. It is also a simple question of timing. The further away you go, the more time you need to move from one venue to another. You have to take those factors into consideration. If it takes you two months to move to the next venue, logistics become very complicated. VSail.info: Is it expensive for a city to host an RC44 event? Bertrand Favre: It depends on the infrastructure already in place. We have a host-city fee, a small one in my view, but we are very demanding in what regards the quality of services offered by the city. Let’s take the example of Valencia. It didn’t cost a lot because they already had the media center, the VIP area, the technical area and didn’t need to build anything. On the contrary, in Marstrand they had to build everything so it cost much more. On average the total cost for a city is around 200,000 – 300,000 euros, including the host-city fee. It’s a reasonable price that reflects the philosophy of our class. It also allows cities to have a good return. Just the amount of money spent by the 16 teams in the local economy is more than that. It’s also the reason very often the cities want to repeat. I discuss with the various potential venues and before I make any binding agreements, I talk with the owners who ponder each venue and tell me what they think. Nevertheless, our first and foremost consideration in choosing a venue are the wind and sailing conditions. Whether they are small or big cities they have to be sailing venues where the probability of losing racing days is very small. Another major priority is to go to places where the marina is located within walking distance from the hotels, the restaurants and the urban area. VSail.info: With the exception of Ironbound, all your owners are also European. If I remember well, Frank Pong from Hong Kong took part one year in the circuit. Do you think it’s impossible to have non-European owners that stay longer. Bertrand Favre: We also had Isao Mita from Japan that participated in two seasons. Even if we want to expand the class outside Europe, the problem for him was that he was spending too much time travelling to the venues. He was spending too much time on the airplane. For that reason, we will return to countries where we think we have a chance to develop the class in the future. We are still in negotiations with potential venues in those areas. VSail.info: Is Asia a target for the RC44 class? Bertrand Favre: No, not yet. VSail.info: Going back to the amateur rule, is there any discussion in allowing more professional sailors in the crew? Bertrand Favre: No, because it’s one of the key elements of the class. It gives owners the possibility to have friends in the crew. Igor Lah sails together with his son and in a number of teams you have young sailors. It’s also a very good opportunity for young sailors to enter the market and we had a number of them that raced two years as amateurs and then jumped into professional sailing, either here or in other classes. It’s a very good springboard for them. AEZ is one of the five sponsored teams of the RC44 fleet. Puerto Calero, 10 February 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info VSail.info: The RC44 class used to have BMW and DHL as sponsors and partners and I now see Beluga as the only partner in 2012. Bertrand Favre: Yes, Beluga is our partner and they provide us with delicious vodka and some cash. It’s true the class is actively seeking a naming sponsor or at least a major sponsor but, as you very well imagine, the current difficult economic situation makes that more difficult. The entire sport of sailing encounters the same problems but we are lucky to have partner cities and owners that are united in making this a viable and sustainable project without any problems. Obviously, the moment we find that sponsor we will be able to increase the level of what we are doing. VSail.info: Are you happy AUDI stopped supporting the Medcup circuit? Bertrand Favre: No, not at all because it’s not a positive development for the sport of sailing. We never considered them as our competitors. In fact, we had good relations with them and we always tried to avoid any overlaps in our calendars, as much as possible. The TP52′s might have less boats but it is always an important class. Another aspect is that the AUDI Medcup was a very different product from ours. It had much bigger budgets, teams that were 100% professional and a very commercial approach. Again, nobody can be happy when a flagship circuit disappears. 2012-02-12T11:18:03+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_back_on_form http://www.rc44.com/news/view/aqua_back_on_form#When:19:15:29Z Four back to back races at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup shook up the leaderboard on a race track Michele Ivaldi (ITA) described as, “full of traps and important to keep an eye on the pressure to cope with the shifts.” Four back to back races at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup shook up the leaderboard on a race track Michele Ivaldi (ITA) described as, “full of traps and important to keep an eye on the pressure to cope with the shifts.” With lighter winds forecast, the course was moved around the coast of Lanzarote to Puerto del Carmen, in sight of Lanzarote’s capital Arrecife. A weakened north-easterly gradient breeze, with the gusts topping just 12 knots, made for a very different days racing from the strong breezes that had dominated the event thus far. Team Aqua (GBR) was dominant. Three wins and one third place added just six points to the team’s score, taking them from sixth overnight, straight to the top of the leaderboard, five points clear of second placed Aleph Sailing Team (FRA). For the team that missed out on the podium at the RC44 World Championships in Lanzarote last November – the only podium they missed out on last season – it could not have gone better. “Today was a big day, we did a lot of things right and although we had some fairly tricky starts, Cameron (Appleton) was very much in phase with the wind, the teamwork was back on form. It was just a matter of not making any mistakes,” said Chris Bake, owner/driver, Team Aqua after a long day on the water. The only other team to win a race was AEZ, the Austrian team slotted in a 5, 1, 8, 3 score-line moving them from one-off the bottom of the leaderboard to seventh overall. Owner/Driver Rene Mangold was very satisfied with the team’s efforts. “It was a great day for us, we were a little bit unsure of how it would go as we hadn’t used the mainsail in light wind conditions, but it worked really well, much better than we expected. We’re improving all the time. We hope to build for the rest of the season, this is obviously our first regatta with Markus (Weiser), but we hope to keep this configuration and keep the performance and spirit high.” France’s Aleph Sailing Team did enough to stay in second overall. They started well with a second and fourth, before succumbing to their first double figure score of the series, an eleventh followed by a seventh. With no discards allowed at any RC44 Championship events, tomorrow will be all about consistency and the young French team are still well in with a chance of the clinching the trophy. Consistency is something Team Nika (RUS) need to fulfil their obvious potential on the race course. Often at the front of the fleet after the first lap, a penalty and difficult spinnaker drop regularly puts them to the back of the fleet. Owner Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) explained their day. “We had a good first race. The second race could have been better; we got a penalty for tacking too close to the committee boat but recovered really well in to fifth or sixth place, then got another penalty! The third race we had a chance to win, but then lost by maybe five or ten metres, that was a real shame. Then the final race of the day was just bad!” The team finished the day in sixth overall, eleven points off of Artemis Racing in third place. Three races are planned for the final day of racing at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup with the first warning signal due at 11.00 (GMT). 2012-02-11T19:15:29+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/peninsula_petroleum_take_the_early_advantage http://www.rc44.com/news/view/peninsula_petroleum_take_the_early_advantage#When:18:08:44Z Some new faces are emerging at the top of the leaderboard at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup. With the anticipation of strong winds the fleet left the dock early, slotting in three races by early afternoon, with big velocity changes and shifts, the tactician’s were kept busy. Some new faces are emerging at the top of the leaderboard at the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup. With the anticipation of strong winds the fleet left the dock early, slotting in three races by early afternoon, with big velocity changes and shifts, the tactician’s were kept busy. Team Aqua (GBR) won the day’s opener, before making a rare error which left them back in 13th place at the finish of the second race, as owner Chris Bake explained. “Consistency has not been part of today! We had a good start to the day, then in the second race I made a mistake and broached pretty badly, I came around way too aggressively, we didn’t have the shoot ready, came up too high and ended up on the wrong side of the course. Then the last race we were a bit more on form, just a few issues. It was a full on day.” A fourth place in the final race keeps Team Aqua well in contention in sixth place overall. The French Aleph Sailing Team had been leading the day’s opener before finishing third. They then turned the tables in the second race, third at the final windward mark, they passed No Way Back (NED) and Katusha (RUS) on the final run to secure their first race win of the year. “It was another great day on-board Aleph, especially in the first two races we were very fast in the strong breeze and the team is doing a great job in these conditions,” explained tactician Mathieu Richard (FRA). “It was very difficult out there in the last race, the wind was shifting all the time which was a nightmare for the tactics but we finished ninth so it’s still a great day.” Aleph sit second overall after four races, three points off the leader. A team that seemed to relish the shifty conditions was John Bassadones’ Peninsula Petroleum (GBR). Having teamed up with tactician Vasco Vascotto (ITA) at the end of the 2011 season, the new partnership leapt onto the podium at the RC44 World Championships last November and now find themselves leading the season opener, their worst result a fifth. Starting at the pin for every start today, Peninsula Petroleum proceeded to play the shifts and slot in a very consistent 2,4,1 scoreline. “The team sailed very well, it was very tricky out there, it was very shifty but we had a couple of good starts and tactically we were solid.” Said owner John Bassadone once ashore. Peninsula Petroleum has a three point cushion over their French rivals, but with no discard at RC44 events tactician Vascotto had a clear message for the team. “We had three great races and were really happy about the results today, but we need to only enjoy this for 15 minutes and then forget this kind of result to come back to our plan of learning, learning, learning! We still have a lot to learn.” Synergy Russian Sailing Team suffered minor damage after their halyard broke in the first race of the day, putting them out of the last two races of the day. Four more races are expected tomorrow for the penultimate day of the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup with the first warning signal due at 11.00 (GMT). 2012-02-10T18:08:44+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/no_way_back_quick_off_the_blocks http://www.rc44.com/news/view/no_way_back_quick_off_the_blocks#When:17:07:20Z The fleet was eager to get the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour started in Puerto Calero today. With a general recall to start the day, Principal Race Officer – Peter Reggio – was quick to get the black flag out with the forecast for boat breaking conditions. The fleet was eager to get the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour started in Puerto Calero today. With a general recall to start the day, Principal Race Officer – Peter Reggio – was quick to get the black flag out with the forecast for boat breaking conditions. The black flag duly kept the fleet behind the line for a clean start. Aleph Sailing Team (FRA) were closest to the pin, too close, they were first to fall foul of the umpires, receiving a penalty for clipping the pin end buoy. This forced the French team to gybe and head to the right hand side of the course, a move that was ultimately to their advantage. After a quick 1.4 mile beat and the wind hovering just under 20 knots it was Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) steering Team Nika (RUS) who rounded the windward mark first closely followed by Ironbound (USA), Synergy (RUS), Katusha (RUS) and then No Way Back (NED). The Dutch team’s new tactician Ross MacDonald (CAN) called for the early gybe as they rounded the spreader mark, by the leeward gate they were on the tail of Team Nika. By the final run No Way Back had edged ahead of Team Nika, putting some much needed clear space between themselves and the fleet behind. A late call to gybe for the line saw the pair having to two sail into the finish line, but Dutch team had enough room to take the race win. A good opener to the season for the No Way Back team: “We had an OK start today and then really good speed upwind, we came around the first mark about fifth and had a good gybe out very quick. It was great boat handling and fantastic work by the guys, we just power over the fleet downwind. We had a couple of mistakes take downs but downwind we were really flying. It was just great.” Pieter Heerema, owner/driver, No Way Back. Artemis Racing (SWE) and French Aleph Sailing Team relished in the full on surfing conditions and took full advantage of other teams mistakes. Artemis Racing, who had rounded the first windward mark in 13th place, stormed across the finish line in second place having timed their final gybe to perfection. Aleph was just behind, managing to plane across the line ahead of early leaders Team Nika, who could only watch as they two sailed into the finish. Mathieu Richard, tactician, Aleph Sailing Team. “We got a penalty today in the pre start for touching the pin mark, it was our mistake we miss judged the pin lay line and so we had to gybe and go to the right side of the course. But we were lucky with that because my goal was to go for the left and in fact the right was not too bad, we managed to pass around the first mark in 10th place. We did a gybe set and were directly on the gate, it was a good call and we jumped into third place at that point which was a great come back we gained seven or eight places at once." It was also the first day the fleet had raced with the new larger mainsail which has increased two square metres in size to 73.1 sq, but with the head of the sail increasing from 1.70m to 2.5m, it was a good test for the new set-up as Torbjorn Tornqvist from Artemis Racing explained. “The new main gives the boats a little more sail area, particularly to give the boats a little more power in the lighter winds. The main was great even in winds like today when you would normally want a smaller main, as far as we saw it performed really well, it was easy to manage and you could de-power it in the top. It’s difficult to say on a day like today, a lot of the sailing was about surviving but i think in the light winds it will make a real difference.” With the wind increasing to a steady 30 knots plus the fleet were sent ashore. With a similar forecast tomorrow racing will start at the earlier time of 10.30 (GMT) for the first warning signal. 2012-02-09T17:07:20+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/full_on_start_to_the_rc44_season http://www.rc44.com/news/view/full_on_start_to_the_rc44_season#When:21:23:29Z The 2012 RC44 Championship Tour kicked off in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote with a full day of match racing. A familiar team was at the top of the leader-board after nine flights and six matches a piece, and some new faces showed they will be real contenders this season. The 2012 RC44 Championship Tour kicked off in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote with a full day of match racing. A familiar team was at the top of the leader-board after nine flights and six matches a piece, and some new faces showed they will be real contenders this season. Ask Team Aqua (GBR) what makes them so good and they will always answer ‘consistency’, and the key to that consistency has to be their team. Cameron Appleton (NZL) was at the helm today and had a familiar team around him, names like Matt Cassidy (USA) and Andrew Estcourt (NZL). With six wins and no defeats their season started as it ended in 2011 and credit went to the team. “The guys really need to take credit for today they did a great job, it was tricky and everybody got tested, every boat had issues and a big part of what they did all day long was what got us around the race course in such good shape.” Cameron Appleton, match race helm and tactician, Team Aqua. Former World Match Race Champion Ed Baird (USA) is new to the class; today he took the helm of Synergy Russian Sailing Team and they nearly finished the day with a clean sheet, had it not been for a ripped spinnaker in their race against Katusha, who also finished the day with a 5-1 score-line with new helmsman in the form of four-time America’s Cup winner Brad Butterworth (NZL). Baird was happy with his first day’s racing with the Russian Synergy team. “It was really exciting conditions today with the big shifts and big gusts which was a lot of fun. The team is fantastic these guys are very well prepared I’m impressed with how well they sail the boat, it makes my job a lot easier when I know that everything is going to go smoothly. Unfortunately we had one race where we broke the spinnaker and lost that race but otherwise it was a very good day!” Tomorrow s owner Valentin Zavadnikov will take over the helm. Pieter Heerema was the top rated owner driver on the water with No Way Back (NED) winning four, and losing two, defeats coming from Team Aqua and the French Aleph Sailing Team steered by Mathieu Richard. A good start to the 2012 season and some new additions to the team as Heerema explained. “We thought it might get a bit too windy for a good day of match racing but it worked out really well, in fact the weather was absolutely fantastic.We have some new team members and our new tactician (Ross MacDonald) worked really well with the crew, so we’re very happy.” With the NE wind picking up to 20 knots at times and the fleet raced to the leeward side of the Island, it really was a baptism of fire for the 14 teams. One team whose results really didn’t reflect their performance on the water was AFX Capital Racing Team (ITA), but the Italian team were in no way down beat at the end of the day. “The racing today was fantastic. I really enjoyed it even if we lost all of our match races. For me it was my first experience and for most of the team the boat is a new one so with each match we found more details that we need to improve on. I’m looking forward to the fleet racing; we can work on the boat speed and have some good races for sure, I am very optimistic about that.” Massimo Barranco, owner AFX Capital Racing Team. With six matches completed by each of the teams in Lanzarote, the continuous round robin will carry on throughout the season at every RC44 event until the end of the season in Croatia where the 2012 RC44 Match Racing Champion will be crowned. The fleet racing which counts for the RC44 Championship starts on Thursday 9th February at 12.00 GMT. Racing continues through to Sunday 12th February. 2012-02-08T21:23:29+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/heesen_is_the_main_sponsor_of_synergy_in_2012 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/heesen_is_the_main_sponsor_of_synergy_in_2012#When:11:53:58Z Synergy Russian Sailing Team signed partnership agreement with Heesen Yachts, world leader in design, engineering and construction of luxury superyachts. Synergy Russian Sailing Team signed partnership agreement with Heesen Yachts, world leader in design, engineering and construction of luxury superyachts. Heesen Yachts will be the main sponsor for Synergy in the RC44 Championship Tour-2012. The Dutch company's logo appears on the Russian team's RC44 yacht, on her sails and hull. Fabio Ermetto, Sales and Marketing Director at Heesen Yachts, comments: “Speed is part of the Heesen DNA and the RC44 is most likely one of the fastest racing yachts on the water. On behalf of all of us at Heesen Yachts I would like to wish buon vento to the Synergy team and I hope to be able to celebrate with them some great victory in this exciting 2012 circuit!” Synergy Russian Sailing Team races on hull number 24, launched in 2010. Boat Owners and helmsmen Valentin Zavadnikov and Leonid Lebedev together with American tactician Ed Baird lead team Synergy, which had won 15 match races last year and finished 12th overall both in 2010 and 2011 seasons. Having also run successful TP52 and Louis Vuitton Trophy campaigns, Synergy’s goal is to develop top level yacht racing in Russia by creating professional crew to compete against the world’s best sailors. 2012-02-08T11:53:58+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/team_thoughts_getting_ready_for_the_2012_season http://www.rc44.com/news/view/team_thoughts_getting_ready_for_the_2012_season#When:18:39:28Z The Italian team have high expectations and the defending champions think the event will be won and lost on mistakes rather than performance areas or being fast or slow. Read the thoughts of some of the teams as they get ready for the 2012 season: The Italian team have high expectations and the defending champions think the event will be won and lost on mistakes rather than performance areas or being fast or slow. Read the thoughts of some of the teams as they get ready for the 2012 season: Gabriele Bruni (ITA) tactician for AFX Capital Racing "We are new to the fleet an very excited for our first day of racing tomorrow. Our expectations are high because we all know we want to do well, however we also know that the level of racing in the class is very high. We are ready to learn from the top teams, there are a lot of very good sailors in the fleet but we will fight hard to win as much as we can. There are strong winds predicted for this week, but for us the more wind we have the more fun racing is! Of course we are new to the class and the strong winds are going to make it difficult to learn but  I think to start our season in difficult conditions is a good thing!" Cameron Appleton (NZL) tactician for Team Aqua "Coming into this year after winning the 2011 season is a pretty good feeling and last year was extremely memorable. It would be nice to start the season with a good event, I think we have to rely on our ability and just trust ourselves. We've done a little bit of training here over the last few days and the breeze has been really dense and fluctuating in strength because were so close to the land. There are strong winds predicted for this week so I think we're in for a tough event. We've got a couple of new faces onboard so our goal is to take it a race at a time and settle into it. I think this regatta is probably going to be won and lost on mistakes by the teams rather than performance areas or being fast or slow, it's all going to be about the teams getting the boat around the course. So thats what we will be focusing on." Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) owner of Team Nika "It's predicted to be windy all week which is going to crate some difficult conditions but it will also mean vary fast racing which for us, makes the event very enjoyable. It's hard to say how well we will do this year, in match racing I think we have a good chance as our helm and tactician Tomislav Basic is a very good match racer and I belive this and the team work onboard give us as good a chance as any. As for fleet racing we hope to climb the leaderboard, last year we joined at the second regatta of the season and came 11th so I hope this year doing the full circuit we will be able to improve and finish somewhere in the middle." 2012-02-07T18:39:28+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/14_teams_confirmed_for_2012_rc44_championship_tour http://www.rc44.com/news/view/14_teams_confirmed_for_2012_rc44_championship_tour#When:10:03:39Z New faces and one new team are confirmed in the line-up for the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour, which kicks off in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote next week (8 February 2012). New faces and one new team are confirmed in the line-up for the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour, which kicks off in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote next week (8 February 2012). Each of the 14 competing teams will be hoping to emulate the success Chris Bake’s Team Aqua (GBR) saw in 2011. Bake will be back with the same team, including longstanding tactician Cameron Appleton (NZL), and fighting to lift the trophy for the second year in a row, despite some heavy-hitters joining the Tour in 2012. The new all-Italian team joins the fleet for the 2012 season. AFX Capital Racing Team is owned by Massimo Barranco, founder and General Manager of Eurograni SpA Company, the largest wheat and cereal trader in Italy. The team will debut at the first event in Puerto Calero. With a strict 50-50 split between amateurs and professionals in each eight-person crew, the amateur owners take the wheel for the fleet racing while the pro tacticians get their chance to steer during the match racing phase of the RC44 Championship Tour. In 2011 some of the owners proved very successful themselves at the helm for the match racing, a trend set to continue in 2012. New professionals such as multiple America’s Cup winner Brad Butterworth (NZL), fellow Cup winner Ed Baird (USA) and Olympic medallist Ross Macdonald (CAN) are listed on the crew lists for first event of the season in Lanzarote. Butterworth is perhaps best known for his role in the America’s Cup as tactician and skipper for Team New Zealand and Swiss team Alinghi. The New Zealander is no stranger to the RC44 fleet, having last season coached the David Murphy’s Ironbound in Austria. For 2012, he will be tactician for Gennadi Timchenko’s Russian entry Katusha, replacing long-time tactician Paul Cayard who will focus on his 34th America’s Cup commitments as CEO of Artemis Racing. American Ed Baird also has an esteemed America’s Cup career, having been a coach for the 1995 Cup winning Team New Zealand and a helmsman for the 2007 Cup winning Alinghi team. For the Lanzarote, Baird joins the Valentin Zavadnikov and the crew of the Synergy Russian Sailing Team. Ross Macdonald is one of Canada’s most successful international sailors, having won silver at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Macdonald will be aiming to help owner Pieter Heerema and the crew of No Way Back (NED) find their way back to the top of the leader board after finishing seventh in the 2011 Tour. Adding another experienced match sailor to their crew, Team AEZ (AUT) will this season welcome Germany’s Markus Wieser. His past success in numerous Dragon regattas is sure to add to the Austrians’ fighting chances as owner as owner Rene Mangold explained. “It was Christian Binders idea to ask Markus to join the team. Christian wants to concentrate further on his role as a sailmaker/designer for our project and will be on board AEZ as a crew this season, as well as being responsible for the sails and crew management. Apart from Markus the rest of the crew will be the same as 2011. Keeping this consistency we are confident that we have a lot of potential to improve. But it’s anyone’s game and to predict a result is hard to say in a fleet with so many world class sailors.”   Absent from the 2012 season is ORACLE Racing, whose crew will be fully concentrating their efforts on the defence of their title at the 34th America’s Cup. The 14 competing teams will again be challenged by a mixture of lake, ocean and harbour racing in 2012 with new host port, Cascais in Portugal, welcoming the fleet for the second round of the Tour.   2012-02-02T10:03:39+00:00 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/new_italian_team_joins_the_rc44_fleet_for_2012 http://www.rc44.com/news/view/new_italian_team_joins_the_rc44_fleet_for_2012#When:12:33:52Z A new Italian team is set to join the RC44 Championship Tour as preparations continue for the start of the 2012 season, which starts 8 February 2012. A new Italian team is set to join the RC44 Championship Tour as preparations continue for the start of the 2012 season, which starts 8 February 2012. Italian-based AFX Capital Racing Team is owned by Massimo Barranco, founder and General Manager of Eurograni SpA Company, the largest wheat and cereal trader in Italy.The team will make their debut at the first event of the 2012 season in Puerto Calero, with the support of team sponsors AFX Capital and Eurograni SpA. Barranco, who is also the owner of competitive X-41 team Extra 1, explained why he has signed up to the RC44 Class. He said: “The first thing that attracted me to the circuit was the format of racing. It is very similar to the rules of the America’s Cup, with the match race and fleet racing. I also admire the high quality of competitive sailors and the technical competition.” “The RC44s are building a very competitive class, the boats are fast and the Tour is visiting some beautiful venues this year. I am convinced that the class will continue to improve and grow into the future and it is a project I am excited about being involved with,” Barranco added. Having bought the former Italian RC44, Mascalzone Latino, that won the last event of the 2010 Championship Tour in Miami, Massimo Barranco will be building a team with the help of Italian Olympic sailor Gabriele Bruni. The team’s tactician will be Gabriele’s brother Francesco Bruni, the runner up in the 2011 World Match Racing Tour. The boat is now in transit for Puerto Calero – Lanzarote and the new team will train there ahead of the start the new season. Undaunted by the high level of competitive sailing present in the class, Barranco‘s hope for the 2012 season is that, with the right choice of crew, they will aim to conclude their first competition well up the leader board! It is fighting talk from the AFX Capital Racing Team, who could well prove themselves as ones to watch throughout the 2012 RC44 Championship Tour. 2011-12-14T12:33:52+00:00