Friday, April 4, 2008

RC44: The Best Of The Best...


Organised by Yacht Club Cagliari, the second event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 is full of promises, with no less than ten strict one design RC 44’s and world class sailors such as Ben Ainslie, James Spithill, Russell Coutts, Sébastien Col, Cameron Appleton and many more.

The second event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 will take place in Cagliari (Sardinia, ITA), between April 23-27. Organised by Yacht Club Cagliari, with the support of the City of Cagliari, this regatta will assemble some of the world’s best sailors on board ten strict one design RC 44’s.

The Cagliari Cup will start on Wednesday April 23 with the match racing event. After a full round robin, hopefully completed in two days, the team owners will take the helm for three days of fleet racing. A coastal race - the DHL Trophy - will take the fleet around the Gulf of Salinas. The winner of this race will be awarded with the DHL Trophy, whilst the points of the regatta will be incorporated in the fleet race ranking.

Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano (Armando Giulietti and Sébastien Col), current leader of the Championship Tour, will face a strong opposition. Involved for the first time this season, Vincenzo Onorato’s Mascalzone Latino (with pro skipper Jes Gram Hansen) will lead the charge alongside Team Ceeref (Igor Lah / James Spithill), unbeaten in match racing since two events. Russell Coutts will be sailing as a tactician on board P-18, the latest RC 44, fresh out of the yard. Also in Cagliari with great ambitions, Chris Bake and Cameron Appleton - winners of the 2007 Championship Tour - are looking for revenge after a disappointing result in the Dubai RC 44 Cup. Last but not least, triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie will discover the RC 44 yachts on board Patrick de Barros’s Team ES Bankers Dubai.

Other teams will look for precious points on the Championship Tour, such as DIMC’s Team Sea Dubai with Marcus Wieser at the helm, Maciej Nawrocki’s Team Organika with another Olympic Champion at the helm, Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) or Isao Mita’s Team Beecom (JAP). The RC 44 fleet is currently on its way back from Dubai. The boats will reach Italy (La Spezia) on April 9 and will be transported to Cagliari thanks to Moby Line.

The teams involved:
(Name of team, owner, pro sailor)
Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, Armando Giulietti / Sébastien Col
Team Omega, Patrick de Barros / Ben Ainslie
Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton
Team Ceeref, Igor Lah / James Spithill
Cro-A-Sail, Miroslav Reljanovic / Morten Henrikson
Sea Dubai, DIMC, Markus Wieser
Team Beecom, Isao Mita / Kevin Harrap
P–18, Russell Coutts Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki / Mateusz Kusznierewicz
Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato / Jes Gram Hansen
http://www.rc44.com