Multicard !

The third event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 promises once again to be interesting, with nine top level teams led by some of the world’s best sailors.

The Austria Cup will begin on Wednesday May 28 with the match racing event. After a full round robin held in two days, the team owners will take the helm for three days of fleet racing. A long distance race - the DHL Trophy - will allow all the participants to discover the beauties of Lake Traun, together with some of its local wind effects! 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.

Sebastien Col explains after his first training day on Lake Traun: “yesterday we felt all the specificities of the lake which is very inside the mountains, with an unstable wind (we had to cross the lake during twenty minutes with the tender to find wind). Our objective is thus focused on the operations/manoeuvres rather than on speed. We have still also some sails to test today to choose our sails for the event.

Concerning the crew, there is one change for this event because one of the crew-members had to be replaced, and we will thus benefit from the experiment of a woman on board… a great opportunity for us since she is Austrian and that she knows the race course very well. That will be very interesting to benefit from her knowledge.

It is clear that this event will not be won with speed only, but with perfect manoeuvres, reactivity and correct use of the wind.

Our objective with Team Hiroshi is really to improve during this event, and we particularly have to gain on the reactivity/communication.

I think that more or less, anybody can take the lead in this event.

Only Mascalzone Latino will not be here for this time, but it will be the first time for John Kostecki.”

SEBASTIEN COL IN TP52 IN MARSEILLE AFTER THE AUSTRIA CUP
“After this RC44 event, I will be in a hurry to leave for the French event of the TP52 circuit which will take place in Marseille from June 2-7, and to discover these boats. I will sail with Vasco Vascotto as a tactician on board Mutua Madrileña, and Vasco was the winner of the 2006 season. It is thus a great opportunity for me, always with this objective to learn and develop the experiment, the contacts and the tests for the future K-Challenge’s sailing team.”

It is the first time this season that the RC 44’s will race on a lake: the Austrian Traunsee; a mountain lake well known for its consistent thermal breeze. Will the flat water and possibly tricky tactical conditions change the Class’ hierarchy? Only time will tell but one thing is sure: Armando Giulietti and Sébastien Col - who currently sail with the Championship Tour leader’s gold wheel - will face a strong opposition from amongst others Igor Lah / James Spithill, Patrick de Barros, Chris Bake and other sailors such as Cameron Appleton, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Kevin Harrap or Markus Wieser. Winner of the match race event in Cagliari last month, Larry Ellison will sail the match race event with Russell Coutts and the fleet regatta with John Kostecki; as for Coutts, he will sail the fleet regatta alongside Patrick de Barros’ Team Banco Espirito Santo.

Another team to watch will be Team Austria, a local team led by Christian Binder, sailing on board Miroslav Reljanovic’s Cro-A-Sail with some of their usual crewmembers. Together with Sylvia Vogl, an Olympic Games participant, the home team may well be a strong competitor thanks to their local experience.

The teams involved:
(Name of team, owner, pro sailor)
Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, Armando Giulietti / Sébastien Col
Team Banco Espirito Santo, Patrick de Barros / Russell Coutts (fleet)
Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton
Team Ceeref, Igor Lah / James Spithill
Team Austria, Miroslav Reljanovic / Christian Binder
Sea Dubai, DIMC, Markus Wieser
Team Beecom, Isao Mita / Kevin Harrap
BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison / John Kostecki (fleet)
Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki / Mateusz Kusznierewicz

RC 44 Championship Tour 2008 (after 2 events):
1) Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, 40 points
2) Team Banco Espirito Santo, 75 points
3) Ceeref, 78 points
4) Sea Dubai, 81 points
5) Team Aqua, 84 points
6) Cro-A-Sail, 112 points
7) BMW ORACLE Racing, 120 points
8) Team Organika, 136 points
9) Beecom, 138 points
10) Mascalzone Latino, 164 points
11) Magia Alike, 184 points
11) Jelik, 184 points
11) Jelik, 184 points