| Pierre Tinnerholm Speech |
| Thursday, 29 July 2004 |
Swedish Match Tour President Pierre Tinnerholm. (Guido Cantini/Sea&See)
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(Transcript of the speech by Swedish Match Tour President Pierre Tinnerholm announcing the partnership between the Swedish Match Tour and BMW on July 29, 2004, in Cascais, Portugal.)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is a very proud week for the Swedish Match Tour.
The Tour’s sixth season commenced two days ago with the start of the inaugural Portugal Match Cup. Justino de San Machado, his crew at Sun Sailing, and the representatives of the Naval Club of Cascais have done an outstanding job organizing this event.
Offering a prize purse of 150,000 Euros, they’ve set a new standard by which other new Tour events will be judged.
The Portugal Match Cup also features the debut of the Swedish Match 40. While the new boats still need some shaking out, we feel confident we’ve created a solid match-racing boat that will provide in close competition down the line.
Since the Tour’s inception in 2000, we feel we’ve built the best professional sailing series in the world. One that offers great consistency from event to event. One that attracts the world’s best match-racers. One that is respected by those sailors as offering outstanding competition.
Today, we affirm those beliefs.
I proudly present BMW as the newest Partner and official car of the Swedish Match Tour.
BMW, the global automobile manufacturer headquartered in Munich, Germany, joins the nine-event Tour in a three-year agreement that runs through the completion of the 2006-2007 Tour season.
The Swedish Match Tour awards $60,000 to the Tour champion at the end of the year. Thanks to BMW’s involvement, the value of the championship will increase to $145,000.
In becoming the official car of the Swedish Match Tour, BMW found many of the same qualities that we believe the Tour offers.
There’s the Tour’s close association with America’s Cup teams, many of which use the Tour for match-racing practice and crew training in their quest to win the America’s Cup.
There’s the Tour’s distinction as the most successful professional sailing series, its global presence, and the great opportunity to provide international hospitality and customer relationship programs in the different BMW markets.
The partnership between the Swedish Match Tour and BMW brings together a premium sailing series supported by a premium car brand. That’s a great foundation for a successful future in professional sailing.
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