Trofeo Desafio Espanol, Peter Holmberg al timone di Luna Rossa

[singlepic=691,250,170,,left]Trofeo Desafio Espanol – Valencia – Presentato questa mattina a Valencia il Trofeo Desafio Espanol, seconda edizione della regata annuale del Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, d quest’anno aperta anche ai classe Coppa America.
Come detto nei giorni scorsi, quattro sono i team presenti: Desafio Espanol con Laureano Wizner al timone, Alinghi con Murray Jones, Team Origin con Ben Ainslie e Luna Rossa. Impegnata con ITA-94, la barca italiana sarà timonata da Peter Holmberg, vice di Ed Baird in Alinghi.
A bordo dello scafo di Patrizio Bertelli, uscito questa mattina in allenamento, ci saranno anche lo stratega Robert Scheidt, quattro volte medaglia olimpica, e il tattico Andy Horton.

Nel corso della conferenza stampa si sono toccati anche argomenti relativi all’America’s Cup.
Manuel Chirivella, presidente del Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, attuale Challenger of Record, ha detto: “Abbiamo fatto molto per mettere gli sfidanti a loro agio. L’eventuale sentenza finale arriverà nei primi mesi del 2009, ma contiamo di evitarlo. Certo, tutto dipende dalla volontà di BMW Oracle Racing. Comunque vada, l’ultima decisione della Corte sarà inappellabile. noi vogliamo dimostrare di esistere. La nostra sede è nella base di Desafio Espanol e nel Port America’s Cup ci sono i nostri ormeggi, accettiamo soci sulle basi di uno Statuto che lo prevede e possiamo ospitare barche. Con questa regata vogliamo dimostrare il nostro impegno sportivo: oltre agli ACC, infatti, ci saranno almeno settanta scafi d’altura”.

Trofeo Desafio Espanol – Luna Rossa, crew list
Peter Holmberg
Andy Horton
Robert Scheidt
Marc Mendelblatt
Nacho Postigo
Giulio Giovannella
Wade Morgan
Albert Jacobsson
Emanuele Marino
Marco Montis
Stefano Rizzi
Claudio Celon
Ian Barker
Paul Westlake
Ben Durham
Daniele Bresciano
Paolo Bassani

[flashvideo filename=video/varie/CNEV_annual_regatta_pressconf.flv /]
Video courtesy Alinghi.

FOUR ACC YACHTS AND OVER SEVENTY CRUISERS WILL RACE AT THE 2ND TROFEO DESAFIO ESPANOL
[singlepic=692,250,170,,left][Trofeo Desafio Espanol Press Release] The second annual regatta of the Club Nautico Español de Vela (CNEV) has been presented today in a sunny day in Valencia. Four teams on board ACC yachts and over 70 RN cruisers and Platu 25 will race at the 2nd Trofeo Desafí­o Español that is taking place in Valencia this weekend. The fourth team to officially enter the ACC regatta is Luna Rossa.
The press conference was atended by Manuel Chirivella, president of the CNEV, Challenger of Record of the 33rd America’s Cup; Laureano Wizner, traveller of Desafí­o Español; Murray Jones, strategist and helmsman of Alinghi for this event; Rober Scheidt, strategist of Luna Rossa; Ben Ainslie, skipper of Team Origin; and Javier Moner, owner of one of the RN yachts and representative of the class for the event.
Manuel Chirivella said that the goal of this regatta was a “get together of the amateurs and fans with the top sailors of the sport to enjoy what we love the most, sailing”. Moner added to this that he was “overwhelmed with the fact of being able to share a press conference with some of the best sailors in the World and to sail close to them in the same event, just by seeing them you learn!”, he said.
Laureano Wizner, traveller of Desafí­o Español, said: “We are looking forward to go back racing on the ACC. I may helm the boat but probably Paul Cayard will steer ESP-97 most of the time”.
Murray Jones, strategist of Alinghi and helmsman of SUI-100 for this event, added: “Our crew work is a bit rusty at the moment but we hope SUI-100 is still as fast as last year!”
Robert Scheidt, strategist of Luna Rossa, shared the same feelings, “is very positive to be able to race on the ACCs is a great opportunitty to go back to work”. The Brasilian sailor won silver medal on Star during the Beijing Olympic Games, but he also has three golds from Athens 2004 and Atlanta 1996, and another silver medal from Sydney 2000.
Ben Ainslie started thanking Desafí­o Español for lending ESP-88 to Team Origin for the races and hoped that “we can go on with the racing”. This will be the first regatta for Team Origin on an ACC boat.
Today the four ACC have done a training fleet race. The first race is scheduled for tomorrow at 1pm. There will be races also on Saturday and Sunday.

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