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| LINEUP CHANGES ANNOUNCED FOR BRAZIL |
Chris Dickson (right) and Ian Williams rub gunwales during their Flight 8 match, won by Dickson. (©Swedish Match Tour/Guido Cantini)
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Cameron Dunn and the Mascalzone Latino -- Capitalia crew work upwind at the Monsoon Cup. (Swedish Match Tour/Guido Cantini)
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The first SM40 is nearly extracted from its traveling container in South America. (Photo courtesy Brazil Sailing Cup)
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The first SM40 rests at the Yacht Club Angra dos Reis after being successfully unloaded from its traveling container, completing a journey of more than 4,000 nautical miles. (Photo courtesy Brazil Sailing Cup)
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ANGRA DOS REIS, Brazil (Feb. 16, 2006) — A couple of lineup changes have been announced for the Brazil Sailing Cup, the first event of the newly minted World Match Racing Tour (successor to the Swedish Match Tour), scheduled next month in Angra dos Reis, Brazil.
The first Grade 1 match-race regatta in South America, scheduled Mar. 14-19, boasts a lineup more stacked than the sails on the windward rail of a Volvo 70. It includes the top three on the World Tour leaderboard and five of the top eight overall. Two of the original entrants, however, have withdrawn and been replaced by two of the tour’s younger aces.
New Zealander Cameron Dunn and Briton Ian Williams take the place of Hamish Pepper and Peter Holmberg, respectively, in the lineup.
Dunn, a member of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, replaces his compatriot and former teammate Pepper, who is no longer part of the Italian challenge for the America’s Cup. Dunn, 28, placed 11th at the Monsoon Cup last December.
Williams, 28, replaces Holmberg of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Williams placed 8th at the Monsoon Cup and, with 16 points, is 4 points outside the Championship 8.
Holmberg, who won the season-opening PTPortugal Match Cup last July and is fourth on the leaerboard, withdrew due to scheduling conflicts with Alinghi. Holmberg is a helmsman for the reigning America’s Cup champions from Switzerland.
Dunn and Williams join a lineup that includes Championship 8 leader and reigning tour champion Peter Gilmour (AUS), No. 2 Staffan Lindberg (FIN) and No. 3 Ben Ainslie (GBR), of Emirates Team New Zealand. Gilmour leads with 48 points, and the top three are separated by 18 points.
No. 5 Ed Baird (USA), the only skipper to finish in the Championship 8 each season, and No. 7 Gavin Brady (NZL) are also entered.
“The World Circuit is an intense and exciting competition,” Baird said. “The participants are the world’s best sailors. The America’s Cup regattas are very similar with the difference they use large boats. Having the chance to practice our technical drills in World Circuit boats such as these helps a lot, since it will prepare us for the forthcoming contest with the greatest sailors, at Valencia, in 2007.”
The lineup also features a trio of helmsmen for America’s Cup syndicates: Dean Barker (NZL), Magnus Holmberg (SWE) and James Spithill (AUS). They’re the lead helmsmen for Cup challengers Emirates Team New Zealand, Victory Challenge and Luna Rossa Challenge. Each has enjoyed past success on the World Tour, and Spithill is the reigning world champ for match-racing and the Melges 24 Class.
“It’s quite a daunting lineup,” said Williams. “Events in the off-season tend to end up with tougher a lineup because people have more time. It’s a stellar lineup for Brazil, probably the hardest we’ve seen for quite a while.”
Williams competed at the Auckland Match Race Cup last month where he placed fifth, defeating the likes of Baird (7th), Magnus Holmberg (8th) and Lindberg (9th).
“It was a good result for us,” said Williams. “The top four were Kiwis (Barker, 1st, Chris Dickson, 3rd, and Cameron Appleton, 4th) and Bertrand Pacé. They probably had a slight edge in the MRXs.”
The SM40 (successor to the Swedish Match 40) is the boat of choice for the Brazil Sailing Cup. The fleet of six boats arrived at the Yacht Club Angra dos Reis on Feb. 3 after being shipped last month from its home base in Cascais, Portugal.
The fleet was the first group of SM40s built, and has logged plenty of miles. It was used for the first two editions of the Portugal Match Cup and also at last year’s Toscana Elba Cup. After the journey to South America the six 40-footers have logged nearly 7,000 nautical miles in travel, not to mention hours of bashing by the competitors.
“It’s a delicate transport, since we’re dealing with boats estimated at ($90,000),” said Justino de Sa Machado, chairman of Boatzone, a Brazil Sailing Cup organizer, and founder of the Portugal Match Cup and Brazil Sailing Cup. “They will be assembled in early March and afterwards launched into the water.”
The Brazil Sailing Cup is the fifth of nine-scheduled events on the World Tour calendar. After Brazil the World Tour stops in Split, Croatia, for the 20th anniversary ACI H1 Match Race Cup (May 23-28). The 10th anniversary Match Race Germany (June 1-5) follows on Lake Constance off Langenargen, Germany. The Swedish Match Cup is Stage 8 (July 4-9) and the Tosana Elba Cup (July 11-16) wraps the seventh season.
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RELATED CONTENT
Brazil Sailing Cup to Launch World Tour (Jan. 24, 2006)
Brazil Sailing Cup summary
Brazil Sailing Cup gallery
BRAZIL SAILING CUP ENTRANTS (as of Feb. 16, 2006)
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand — Currently placed 3rd on World Tour leaderboard
Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi — Currently placed 5th on World Tour leaderboard
Dean Barker (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand — Four career World Tour victories
Gavin Brady (USA) Beau Geste Sailing Team — Currently placed 7th on World Tour leaderboard
Cameron Dunn* (NZL) Mascalzone Latino -- Capitalia — Placed 11th at Monsoon Cup
Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST — Nine career World Tour victories
Daniel Glomb (BRA) Brazil Match Race Team — First World Tour event
Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge — Six career World Tour victories
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team — Currently placed 2nd on World Tour leaderboard
Thierry Peponnet (FRA) K-Challenge — Seeking first career World Tour victory
James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge — Reigning World Match Racing champion
Ian Williams** (GBR) Williams Racing Team — Placed 10th on World Tour leaderboard
(*Cameron Dunn replaces Hamish Pepper)
(**Ian Williams replaces Peter Holmberg)
ABOUT THE WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR
• The World Match Racing Tour is the leading professional sailing series in the world.
• The World Match Racing Tour awards $100,000 to the top eight finishers at the end of the season. The World Tour Champion wins $30,000 and a BMW X3 3.0i from Tour partner BMW AG.
• World Match Racing Tour events take place in venues with virtual on-the-water stadiums, which allow general public spectators to follow the races shoreside.
• World Match Racing Tour television programs and highlights reach nearly 500 million households in 190 countries around the world.
• World Match Racing Tour partners include BMW AG. World Match Racing Tour Official Sponsors include Musto, Sebago and Travel Places.
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Newsletter - September 2008
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