Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup

PRESS RELEASE - RC44 Championship Tour – Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup

New teams join the RC 44 fleet for the Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup

Two new teams will join the RC 44 fleet in Slovenia at the end of the month for the Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup, bringing the total number of entries to eleven.

September 15, 2009 – Team Katusha (RUS) and Team Blue Grove Miss Slovenia (SLO) will participate in the Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup, bringing the total number of entries to eleven.

Team Katusha joins the Championship Tour with ambition, having hired Paul Cayard as skipper. Cayard already competed with the RC 44 Class in Lugano in 2008 as well as in the Austria Cup last June.

Team Blue Grove Miss Slovenia was one of the first teams to join the Championship Tour back in 2006, under the name Ekipa 44. The team that will sail in the Portoroz Cup 2009 is very similar to the initial one; it is mainly made up of Olympic and dinghy sailors, with Gasper Vincec at the helm for the match race and Michael Reardon steering the fleet series. This team finished 3rd of their last regatta, in Trieste in 2007, proving the depth of their talent. Team Blue Grove Miss Slovenia is now headed by Michael Reardon and it will sail on its home waters with a strong desire to perform.

With also Dean Barker, Markus Wieser, Jose Maria Ponce, Karol Jablonski, Cameron Appleton, Russell Coutts, Ray Davies, Christian Binder and Sébastien Col, the RC 44 Class is now clearly established as one of the most competitive series in the world.

The Bank Sarasin RC 44 Portoroz Cup begins on Monday September 28 with the practice Race and media day. The match race event will take place on Tuesday September 29 and Wednesday 30 whilst the fleet regatta will take place from Thursday October 1 till Saturday 3.

The teams involved:

(Name of team, owner, pro sailor)

Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton
Team CEEREF, Igor Lah / Sébastien Col
Sea Dubai, Yousef Lahej, DIMC / Markus Wieser
BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts
Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki / Karol Jablonski
Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, Jose Juan Calero / Jose Maria Ponce
Artemis, Torbjorn Tornqvist / Dean Barker
No Way Back, Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies
Team Austria, René Mangold / Christian Binder
Team Katusha, Paul Cayard
Team Blue Grove Miss Slovenia, Michael Reardon / Gasper Vincec

Photo: Team Aqua, current leader of the RC 44 Championship Tour (c) Loris von Siebenthal / RC44 Class Association

Information to the media:

News items, results, photos and updates will be posted on the Class website throughout the event at http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/index.php