21 Olympians, 36 AC campaigns, 7 circumnavigations, 47 World Championship wins – all-star 9 nation lineup for Extreme Sailing Series 2012

With less than two weeks to go until the Extreme Sailing Series™ in Muscat, Oman, the Act 1 team line-ups have been confirmed, revealing a stellar cast of top professional sailors. Following the final event of 2011 in Singapore last December, the team managers and skippers have spent the last two months securing the best crews possible to help take them to overall victory in 2012.

Once again, the team rosters include world-renowned sailors from a multitude of backgrounds representing 9 different nationalities. French sailing superstar Loick Peyron, Britain’s three-times ISAF World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, Austria’s double-Olympic Gold medalist Roman Hagara return to the circuit, whilst American double-Olympic Gold medalist Charlie Ogletree and five-times America’s Cup sailor, Bernard Labro from France are two new faces gracing the roll-call. The teams boast an array of Olympic, America’s Cup, match racing and round the world credentials, as well as a sprinkling of ocean racing record setters. The two key cornerstones for success in this highly competitive circuit are experience and consistency and to this end 2011 runners-up Groupe Edmond de Rothschild from France and the Swiss team of Alinghi are keeping their crew changes to a minimum, whilst the two Oman Sail teams are sporting a near new line-up with only Leigh McMillan and Nasser Al Mashari retaining their places. And there are plenty of new team combinations for this season to spice up the competition!

Key Stats:
21 Olympians
4 Gold Medalists + 1 Silver
50 Trans-Atlantics
36 America’s Cup campaigns
47 World Championships
28 European Championships
11 records
7 round the world circumnavigations

A new team for the year is ZouLou who will have the current superstar of sailing, Loick Peyron at the helm for Acts 1–3 prior to team owner Erik Maris taking over. One of France’s most well-known sporting exports and a legendary multihull expert who recently shaved almost 3 days off the non-stop round the world Jules Verne record, Peyron will return to the Extreme Sailing Series. In 2010 he was the skipper and helm of 4th place Oman Sail Masirah.

Peyron contrasts his recent experiences: “I can’t wait to go back to the Extreme Sailing Series with ZouLou crew, and especially to Muscat where I already spent a few weeks with the local team in 2009 and 2010. After two round the world tours in one year [Barcelona World Race and Jules Verne] I am really looking forward to going back to this intense racing amongst these top level crews.“

Groupe Edmond de Rothschild has retained their core team of Pierre Pennec on helm and Hervé Cunningham introducing two new faces on bow in the form of Bernard Labro and Jean-Christophe Mourniac who raced for another team in Singapore last December. The Swiss team Alinghi will be helmed by Ernesto Bertarelli supported by the regular Extreme 40 Alinghi crew including Tanguy Cariou, Nils Frei and Yves Detrey. Meanwhile, the renowned Austrian duo of Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher on the Red Bull Sailing Team have confirmed that Matthew Adams will be part of the regular racing crew and introduce ‘newbie’ Graeme Spence on bow who makes the step from shore team to race team.

GAC Pindar skipper Ian Williams has gone the extra mile to secure a crew who can race with him for the season: “We have assembled a really strong team this year with a great mix of different skill sets. The only real opportunities to practice will be before the first event in Oman and before Act 5 in Cardiff so having a consistent team will be crucial to improving from event to event.” His crew includes Mark Ivey, Mark Bulkeley, Adam Piggot and Andrew Walsh – all have raced with GAC Pindar for at least one event in 2011 – and this combination will be integral in continuing their upward trend on the leaderboard.

The Oman Sail teams of The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air return this year with only Olympic Tornado sailor Leigh McMillan and Nasser Al Mashari retaining their roles from last year. McMillan who skippered The Wave, Muscat into fourth place overall in 2011, has handpicked a team that includes previous Extreme 40 sailors Ed Smyth from the USA, Pete Greenhalgh who with his brother Rob won the inaugural 2007 Extreme Sailing Series, and they will be joined by newcomer Omani sailor Hashim Al Rashdi who has come up through the Oman Sail programme.

Oman Air, will be led by record setting America’s Cup sailor Morgan Larson: “I’ve followed the Extreme Sailing Series since its conception and to now be competing on the tour with such a talented group of competitors is a dream come true.” The team that last year had 3 different skippers including Britain’s Olympic star Ben Ainslie, will benefit from the Extreme 40 experience of Olympic sailor Will Howden and Omani sailor Nasser Al Mashari who raced in 2011 with Oman Air on bow, whilst double Olympic gold medalist Charlie Ogletree brings a fresh skill set.

In a test aimed at keeping opportunities open for new talent, the teams will race Act 1 with five sailors rather than four, plus a VIP guest or media person when appropriate. This additional 5th sailor must be either female or under 23, or be classified as an amateur by ISAF. Both The Wave and Groupe Edmond de Rothschild will sail with female sailors as a result – Rachel Williamson and Adeline Chatelet respectively – the first girls to race since Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson skippered ‘iShares’ in 2009.

An 8th team for Muscat is still to be announced.

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As the inaugural Extreme Sailing Series Asia gets off to a successful start in Hong Kong (20-24 November), OC Events, organisers of the Extreme Sailing Series, take a look back at the highlights of the 2009 iShares Cup, revealing the key statistics from the series third season, and preview the 2010 European Extreme Sailing Series.
 
For the planned six events in 2010, four countries are already confirmed, with events taking place in the UK, Germany, France and Spain. Venue announcements will be made over the coming months, but it can be confirmed today that the final round of the Extreme Sailing Series 2010 will take place in the region of Andalucia, Spain, at the port of Almeria over the national holiday weekend in mid-October.

Almeria hosted the 2009 finalé and recently published the results of an Economic Impact Report produced by the Council of Tourism, Commerce and Sport for Andalucia confirming that the event had generated 2.7m Euros of return on their investment. Over 75,000 spectators attended the Spanish event in October this year. A total of 15,000 tourists visited the city, 92% visiting because of the event and 80% of visitors expressed their intention to return. Hotel occupancy was up by 19.2 per cent compared to the same time in 2008, with more than 606,000 overnight stays. The visitors scored the event 8.1 points out of 10, considering the event to be ‘well organised’.

Seven teams who competed in the 2009 European series have already expressed their commitment to return in 2010 ahead of the publication of the official Notice of Race.

The full media evaluation report of the 2009 iShares Cup will be published shortly by independent agency Havas Insight. In the meantime, enjoy some of the key statistics from the highly successful 2009 circuit that saw 48 of the world’s best sailors compete in 108 races across six European venues with only two capsizes, compared to five in 2008, but six collisions…!

To find out more about the current Extreme Sailing Series Asia, CLICK HERE…

2009 FACTS AND FIGURES:

Entries:

BT (EUR) – Nick Moloney (AUS)
Ecover (EUR) – Mike Golding (GBR)
Holmatro (NED) – Carolijn Brouwer (BEL)
iShares (EUR) – Shirley Robertson (GBR)
Gitana Extreme-Groupe LCF Rothschild (FRA) – Yann Guichard (FRA)
Groupama 40 (FRA) – Franck Cammas (FRA)
LUNA (FRA) – Erik Maris (FRA)
Oman Sail Masirah (OMA) – Pete Cumming (GBR)
Oman Sail Renaissance (OMA) – Loïck Peyron (FRA)
BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) – James Spithill (AUS) (Venice/Hyères only)
WIRSOL Team Germany Kiel Sailing City – Roland Gabler (GER) (Kiel only)
Rumbo Almeria – Fernando Echavarri (ESP) (Almeria only)

Sailors:

48 sailors across 12 teams
52 World Championships
17 Olympians
7 Olympic medalists (4 Gold)
27 America’s Cup participations
17 Round the World navigations
11 different nationalities

Racing:

108 races: Venice 17; Hyéres 19; Cowes 20; Kiel 19; Amsterdam 17: Almeria 16

Regatta wins: Oman Sail Masirah 4 (Hyéres, Cowes, Kiel, Almeria); Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild 2 (Venice, Amsterdam)

Number of 1st places: Oman Sail Masirah 36; Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild 19; Oman Sail Renaissance 16 (9 out of the 12 teams, all scored 1 or more race wins during the season)

Best number of race wins per venue: Oman Sail Masirah 11 (Cowes); Oman Sail Renaissance 5 (Kiel, Amsterdam); Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild 5 (Almeria)

2 capsizes: Holmatro at Cowes (practice day); Ecover at Kiel, day 1 (5 capsizes in 2008)

6 collisions: Oman Sail Renaissance hit Ecover (Hyéres); Team iShares hit spectator boat (Cowes); Oman Sail Renaissance hit WIRSOL Team Germany (Kiel) and Gitana Extreme hit WIRSOL Team Germany (Kiel); Oman Sail Renaissance hit Ecover (Amsterdam, practice day); BT hit Oman Sail Masirah (Amsterdam)

7 disqualifications: Groupama 40 (Venice); Oman Sail Renaissance (Kiel); Holmatro, Team iShares and BT (Amsterdam); LUNA and Team iShares (Almeria)

Venues:

Venice, Italy
Hyeres-TPM, France
Cowes, England
Kiel, Germany
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Almeria, Spain

(2007 x 4 rounds / 2008 x 5 rounds)

Spectators (estimated):

2009 200,000

(2007 57,000 / 2008 150,000)

VIP entertainment:

2,124 VIP guests were entertained in the VIP facilities at the six events in 2009

93% of VIP guests agreed that the iShares Cup fell within the top three events they had ever attended.

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After a 6th position at the inaugural event of the iShares Cup in Venice, Nick Moloney and his team matched that again at the iShares Cup Hyères-TPM with another sixth place. This also leaves BT in 6th overall in the iShares Cup 2009 circuit going into Round 3 that takes place in the UK over 1st-3rd August at the start of Cowes Week.

BT had a strong first day, winning the final race: “It was awesome but also quite tricky at times. It was very aggressive out on the racecourse. We just tried to be consistent scoring thirds and fourths, then a win in the final race was good enough to put us second on the leaderboard at the end of the day. Our training session in Hyères a couple of weeks ago has really paid off – losing Darren was tough as you lose 25% of your consistency but Mitch has been the ideal replacement.”

 

Mitch Booth took over the helm of BT as Darren Bundock, regular driver of the BT Extreme 40, was forced to step down due to injury: “I have not sailed an Extreme 40 for three years,” explained Mitch who then summed up day two in succinct terms: “We did good on the first day before having a shocker yesterday! We had too many bad positionings, got locked out of the starts twice, and in that class once you’re out, you’re out! And every mistake is paid for in full.”

The racing for the 10 top international Extreme 40 teams was intense and aggressive. The conditions were near ideal with a similar weather pattern over the three days starting in light conditions before building during the afternoon – the bigger breeze piling on the pressure for the teams.  In these conditions, the iShares Cup Race Committee staged 19 races in total, within view of hundreds of spectators – the finish line itself was set almost within touching distance of the crowds.  The BT crew were ‘pumped up’ for the final day and quickly put two bad results behind them to get back in the game with a second place in race 17 and a fourth place in the final double points race.

Nick was pragmatic about BT’s result and not overly disappointed: “You have to remember here that we are racing against some of the top sailors in the world, so getting a 1st or a 2nd in a race is huge.”

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It was an interesting day for all the teams on the water today in the shifting condition in Hyeres, and no more so than for the two Oman Sail teams. Overnight leaders Masirah started their day by recording their worst result of the series thus far but Renaissance, in contrast, scored their best. The sixth place for Masirah and second for Renaissance put them both at the top of the leader board but it was to be the last race of the day for Loick Peyron and his team as Mike Golding on Ecover put paid to his day. Golding misjudged a port – starboard crossing and took one of Renaissance’s rudders out of action; it took some skillful boat handling by Peyron to record the second place that they did.
It was an interesting day for all the teams on the water today in the shifting condition in Hyeres, and no more so than for the two Oman Sail teams. Overnight leaders Masirah started their day by recording their worst result of the series thus far but Renaissance, in contrast, scored their best. The sixth place for Masirah and second for Renaissance put them both at the top of the leader board but it was to be the last race of the day for Loick Peyron and his team as Mike Golding on Ecover put paid to his day. Golding misjudged a port – starboard crossing and took one of Renaissance’s rudders out of action; it took some skillful boat handling by Peyron to record the second place that they did.

It was bitterly disappointing for him and his crew to see all their hard work lost due to no fault of their own.  Omani fifth man for the day Mubarak Al Battashi explained, ‘We knew that Ecover was going to hit us and all we could do was watch- everything happens so quickly on these boats. Loick did an amazing job of getting us to the finish line in second place. It is unfortunate that our day will be settled by a sailing jury in a room and not by us on the water. We look forward to tomorrow!’

Masirah didn’t have to win the penultimate race to take th em through to the next day as leaders but they gave the watching crowds a great show as they powered down with third placed Holmatro only to lose by 10 feet from them on the line. With 12 knots of breeze blowing, the Extreme 40′s had hulls flying which only made the battle for second place between BMW Oracle and Gitana Extreme-Groupe LCF Rothschild all the more exciting. BMW Oracle managed to take a well-needed first place but Gitana held on and took second place. Holmatro showed great form in the last few races and will see them go into Sunday’s final races as potential podium placers. Renaissance spent some time in the protest room but as it was an obvious error on the part of Ecover, they were awarded average points based on their results the day before. Fortunately they didn’t have a result worse than fifth throughout the day which gave them a well needed boost going into the last day..

Final positions for the day have Masirah in the lead with 110 points, Renaissance in second with 100 points and BMW Oracle take the final podium place of the day with 97 points.

The chasing pack are:
4. Gitana Extreme-Groupe LCF Rothschild,
5. Groupama – 85 points, 6. BT – 77 points
7. Holmatro – 63 points,
8.  iShares – 62 points,
9. Luna – 39 points
10. Ecover – 33 points

By the start of the last race the wind had started picking up and gusts of up to 20 knots were seen across the water. This is the upper limit of the Extreme 40 racing catamarans and it is the point when they start to offer edge of the seat racing for all the spectators. BMW Oracle pinned Renaissance down at the start and took them out to the far side of the course in an attempt to push them down the leaderboard and make BMW Oracle’s position stronger. BMW Oracle still managed to get to the top mark in second place and had successfully pushed Renaissance down to fifth as well as rattled the crew’s nerves. At the bottom mark Renaissance botched their kite drop and were left hobbled as several boats went past them. They recovered well and got to the top mark with two boats behind them and managed to hold that position to the finish line that was enough to beat Gitana Extreme overall by 3 points and the late charging Groupama by 4 points. BMW Oracle sailed a textbook race to take the finish gun by a strong margin over Groupama but it wasn’t enough to beat Masirah who took third place on the water but first overall with a safety margin of 10 points.
The top 5 places were separated by 30 points but third, fourth and fifth places had only 4 places between them. This means that it is all change at the top of the leaderboard as they pack up and head for Cowes on the first of August. BMW Oracle have taken the first place on the podium with 18 points from two legs after a second in Venice and second in Hyeres. Masirah and Gitana Extreme share second place tied on 17 points and Renaissance hold on to third (or fourth, depending how you look at it) with 16 points. Needless to say all the teams will be looking forward to facing off with each other in Cowes in the south of England in three weeks time and you can guarantee that BMW Oracle won’t want to make it three bridesmaids in a row!

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Fresh from their victory over a quadruple Olympic medalist and an America’s Cup challenger, Oman Sail’s Masirah Extreme 40 is on the top step of the podium after the first day of the iShares Cup. The conditions off the coast of the South of France matched the conditions off Muscat in which Masirah trained in and gave them four first places out of six races and a worst result of a fourth in the first race.
The team on Masirah was the same as that which won the Round the Island Race in the UK two weeks ago when they beat British Olympic sensation Ben Ainslie and America’s Cup mastermind Russell Coutts. Once again Khamis Al Anbouri was crewing on Masiarh and playing a full time role in the tactical roles and even had a few words to say on the podium, ‘There was a lot of teamwork involved on the boat today and we put together a lot of the things we have done in training. As one of the five people who worked hard to get the boat to the top step of the podium I am very proud. We still have a lot of work to do tomorrow and Sunday though!’ The helmsman of Oman Sail’s Masirah is Chris Draper, an Olympic medalist, who went on to say that ‘Khamis is our lucky charm’.

Saturday will see up to ten races sailed on the water right in front of the breakwater of Hyeres, in the province of Toulon. Last year was the first time Hyeres featured on the iShares Cup circuit and saw some of the most exciting sailing ever seen on Extreme 40′s. This year the weather forecast is slightly tamer and there is less chance of seeing the thrills, spills and capsizes of last year.

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You cannot ask for much more. Tremendous racing conditions with a building Mistral and a lumpy sea, made worse by the constant attention of the spectator fleet. Porto Cervo laid it on thick and the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds 2009 delivered. None more so than the new World Champions Barking Mad (USA) and runners up, Nerone (ITA).

 

 

Nerone went out all guns blazing. Once again she took the left side of the course popping out from the pin; tactician Vasco Vascotto relying on his vast experience in these waters to take the initiative early,  He could not have been more right. First to the windward mark, Nerone led around the track to win from Giovanni Maspero’s Joe Fly and Helmut Jahn’s Flash Gordon (USA). Barking Mad, meanwhile, had opted for the centre and according to Richardson, things did not go as well as intended.

These are the moments that championships are won and lost. Rounding the top mark mid-fleet, the American crew may have briefly wondered if this was the regatta slipping away from them.

But Richardson and crew had a game plan and were not about to give up on it just yet, as Hutchinson chips in, “without question we felt we could win going into the start of the week. But feeling it and doing it are two completely different things. When we lined up on the first day we had a mode that we have not had in a while. We had a game plan of being safe and the mantra all week on the boat was that we just want to get on base, we didn’t want to hit any home runs, just keep getting on base and advancing the runners.” To get back ‘on base’ in this race was going to take some effort.

If doubts were creeping-in none were shown. “We showed a lot of fortitude to sail back through the fleet to finish sixth which kept us one point in the lead,” said a relieved Richardson.

The minds of both crews must have been buzzing heading to the start of the final deciding race.

Again, it was all down to keeping one’s head and applying the game plan. Nerone headed left once more. Mezzaroma confirmed their strategy did not change because of their relative position to the leader, “we were one point behind and were not in a position to control them. So we had to make our own race.” On Barking Mad, the lure of the left was not so strong. This was a conservative crew after all.

According to Richardson, immediately before the start, “we just looked at each other and said this is why we’re here. We’re here for an opportunity to win the regatta on the last race. What more could you want.” Any self-doubts were kept private, though post-race Richardson confessed to some troubled thoughts, “I never doubted my team’s capability. But leading wire-to-wire puts a little bit of extra pressure on each and every race. In 1999, we led going into the last race and ended up third, so that was in the back of my mind. I felt pretty comfortable that we were going to be able to get a good start in the race and get around the course in good shape. We certainly weren’t giving up. We knew we had our hands full, but we knew we had to sail well and that is what we did.”

As the initial beat unwound, the crew of Barking Mad found themselves in second place, hot on the heels of Alessandro Barnaba’s Fiamma (ITA) and overtaking them at the offset mark with a textbook spinnaker hoist. Those watching the racing started counting back to Nerone. The left had clearly not paid. In fact, it had bitten the Italian crew hard. The miraculous recovery of the previous day that kept them in the hunt was going to have to be repeated. That was a Herculian task. Barking Mad were not sailing as though their lives depended on it, they did not need to. They just needed to keep between Nerone and the finish, as Hutchinson explained, “the team responded brilliantly. We got a great start. We got a little break from Plenty, who let us tack across them. From there it was into a good lead and extend. Fortunately Nerone was back. They gained on us on the second beat, but we were safe down at the bottom mark. At that point it was about minimising damage and sailing a good clean race through to the finish.” 

 

 

 

With Barking Mad home and dry in second, the finish of Nerone was immaterial, although eighth was good enough to hold onto the runner’s-up position overall.

A feature of the Farr 40 fleet is the friendly rivalry between crews on and off the water. Vascotto and Hutchinson have been adversaries for many years, but they found time to speak this morning before heading onto the course, as Hutchinson remarks,  And, it is evident that the competitors hold each other in a regard rarely seen in other sports. “Sailing against somebody like Vasco makes you a better sailor and we hold the highest respect for that team,” he adds.

Both Hutchinson and Richardson knew they had been engaged in a battle royal. When they last won in San Francisco it was by 40-points. Mezzaroma echoed the quality of the contest, “it was a great competition sailing against all these good crews, these good boats. It is the key of the Farr 40. The level is always so high, it becomes higher and higher every year.” Vascotto, too, was gracious in defeat, “I think we did a fantastic championship: three firsts, two seconds, two eighths – usually you win with these kind of results! This time we found in front of us Barking Mad, sailed in a perfect way. We tried our best, but this is sport.”

For Richardson, it is a dream come true, “We’re very, very happy. Coming to Italy and winning this World Championship in Porto Cervo is an amazing feeling for us. There are so many good teams out there, particularly the Italians and to be able to win in their home waters is a great thrill for us.

We tried to stay calm all week. It’s easy to get too wound up and too hyped up. Our basic philosophy throughout the regatta was not to take chances, or take risks. If necessary we ducked boats rather than try to force an issue. Our point-score is a tribute to how well we sailed the boat, without taking any risks. Our worst race was a sixth and that is pretty good.” He is not kidding, no previous winner of the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds has averaged less than four points for the Championship. As Vascotto pointed out, even Nerone’s score would have won in all previous years.

For Vincenzo Onorato, the outgoing, three-time (in a row) World Champion, who laughingly remarked that his last race this year was the first race of his 2010 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds campaign, this was “a wonderful story for the Class.”

After four days of competition, played out in an exceptional venue, we’ll allow the winners to sum it up: “there’s nothing better than this, that’s for sure!”

PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER 10 RACES
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Nation, R1-R2-R3-R4-R5-R6-R7-R8-R9-R10-Points

1. BARKING MAD Jim Richardson USA, 1-6-4-1-6-6-3-3-6-2-38.00
2. NERONE Massimo Mezzaroma ITA, 5-1-13-2-4-2-1-8-1-8-45.00
3. JOE FLY Giovanni Maspero ITA, 4-5-5-4-1-19-2-6-2-5-53.00
4. MASCALZONE LATINO Vincenzo Onorato ITA, 2-10-2-9-8-1-13-13-7-1-66.00
5. FLASH GORDON Helmut Jahn USA, 20-4-3-11-11-20-4-2-3-3-81.00
6. PLENTY Alex Roepers USA, 12,13,19,13,10,4,15-5-4-7-102.00
7. TWINS Erik Maris FRA, 14-8-15-14-5-5-6-18-8-9-102.00
8. TRANSFUSION Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AUS, 9-7-1-3-20-25-5-4-17-13-104.00
9. ESTATE MASTER Lisa & Martin Hill AUS, 8-18-10-7-15-21-9-10-5-10-113.00
10. TWT Marco Rodolfi ITA, 6-9-14-19-13-13-7-1-20-15-117.00

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Yann Guichard’s crew on Group LCF Rothschild end the weekend with the overall win of the Venice event.  The French team proved omnipresent in the leading group, making very few mistakes and gradually capitalising on points to move closer to final victory after each race. The wind direction today forced the Race Committee to set-up oblong courses leaving few tactical options to the skippers, and more than ever winning the first mark was key – any hesitation or imperfect placement on the startline was immediately sanctioned by a costly result. Show-wise, it was absolutely perfect with the boats coming under gennaker, flying a hull, just metres away from the race village!

Loïck Peyron’s Renaissance (Oman Sail), had a great start to the day and won two races in a row before collapsing in the final confrontation, while the Groupama 40 boys were on good form as well, posting a first win today then a second place while Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild and BMW ORACLE Racing were having a ‘shocker’ in race 14. At the end of the latter, Renaissance was third only two points away from the America’s Cup team! Pressure was building up, with the perspective of the last race of the day counting for double points. By that time Renaissance had moved into second place, and tension was high as anything could happen for second, third and fourth places! And indeed, it did. Renaissance’s risky start option did not pay off and Peyron ended up at the back of the fleet whilst Ecover was leading at the first mark… before being relegated to the last place in the final race with so many points at stake! BT captured the last victory of the iShares Cup Venice event in front BMW ORACLE Racing while Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild came third and secured overall victory.

Yann Guichard: “It’s a great feeling to win here, I guess we were coming knowing we were somewhere in the top five, but winning the first event is fantastic! We concentrated on our starts, communication within the team was excellent and we did not lose our focus. There is a lot of pressure on the helmsmen as the boats are very close, and it’s very demanding physically for the crew but we were working perfectly together. That’s one in the bag, and five to go! We really enjoyed the format, I think it’s been great for the spectators as well. We’ll go back to training soon, as the next event in Hyères will probably be more windy and a bit different, but we’re looking forward to it.”

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- Official launch of the 2009 iShares Cup staged today in Sèvres – Paris.

- Extreme 40s sailing on the River Seine for the first time ever!

- Ten top teams, legendary skippers, and six premier European venues.

Today in Paris  the 2009 iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series was officially launched with the top line-up of skippers and sailors in attendance alongside Rick Andrews, Head of iShares Marketing Europe at the Parc Nautique de l’île de Monsieur, Sèvres. And for the first time ever the Extreme 40s actually sailed on the River Seine, stopping passers by i n their tracks as the 40-foot catamarans raced by!

Nick Moloney (BT), Mike Golding (Ecover), Yann Guichard (Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild), Franck Cammas (Groupama), Loick Peyron (Oman Sail’s Renaissance), Carolijn Brouwer (Holmatro), Shirley Robertson (iShares), Erik Maris (LUNA), Pete Cumming (Oman Sail’s Masirah) and John Kostecki, representing skipper James Spithill, from BMW ORACLE Racing gave their impressions of the iShares Cup season ahead. Over 150 media and guests gathered at the Parc Nautique de l’île de Monsieur.

Gilles Chiorri, OC Events Director : “It has been great to officially launch the iShares Cup 2009 and we extend thanks to Voiles de Seine and very much appreciate the presence of François Kosciusko-Morizet Mayor of Sèvres, Deputy Mayor of Boulogne Billancourt, Pierre-Christophe Baguet and Jean-Pierre Champion President of the French Sailing Federation (FFV).”

Rick Andrews, Head of iShares Marketing, Europe said, “As the title partner to the iShares Cup, we have had a great two years so far and are looking forward to the third season of the Extreme 40 Series which we are sure will go to another level in terms of sporting competiveness and reaching an even wider audience. It’s a great experience; for our clients to go out racing on the boats is really exceptional experience, the media coverage provides a great return – we even have a 60-foot billboard out racing on the water, so we are very happy. The iShares Cup is about teamwork, strategy and passion – that’s what we believe in at iShares. To lead from the front, promoting cutting edge competition and a global presence – this sport and our business are well-matched.”

The award-winning iShares Cup pan-European series will visit six major European destinations this season in Italy, France, UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain between May and October. Each regatta is made of up three days of competition with a media day held on the preceding day of each event. Up to 24 short and adrenalin-pumping races can be staged at each round, each race lasting just 15-20 minutes.

Attending the press conference today at the Parc Nautique de l’île de Monsieur, Sèvres, Francois Kosciukso-Morizet, the Mayor of Sèvres welcomed the skippers and international media, “I’m really glad to welcome the iShares Cup today at this fantastic venue dedicated to sailing in the heart of Paris. It’s a great pleasure to have all these talented sailors and world champions with us today. I wish a great success to all of you for the season.”

Forty sailors across 10 teams are now officially confirmed for the 2009 iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series. The World’s best sailors, who between them hav e over 50 World Championship titles, 27 America’s Cup participations, 17 Round the World navigations and 14 Olympic campaigns will be aspiring to lift the iShares Cup Overall Trophy at the end of the season in Andalucia.

Also announced today were the final two venues on the 2009 circuit. The iShares Cup at Cowes Week (1-3 August) will host the UK round and Amsterdam, will see the penultimate event when the series returns for the third year to the IJ Haven Canal.

Quotes from the iShares Cup Skippers:

Franck Cammas, Groupama 40:
I first discovered the iShares Cup in Marseille two years ago. I find it amazing straight away. The boats are fast and extreme, the venues are amazing and you can share all that with the public which is just a couple of meters away from the race course. We all have a lot of fun and I’m really glad that Groupama wanted to get involved.

Yann Guichard, Gitana Extreme 40 – Groupe LCF Rothschild:Gitana Team is involved since a very long time with sailing and they participate in almost all the greatest oceanic race with multihulls, big or small. When we proposed the iShares Cup project to the Baron de Rothschild he was really enthusiastic and we just decide to do it and join this amazing event and line up.Loick Peyron, Renaissance (Oman Sail):
I’m really glad to participate in the iShares Cup this season. The format of mixing the sport of sailing and the public is fantastic. The Extreme 40, well, it’s a perfect name for the boat! They are perfect to deliver a close and crazy show to the public.

 

Nick Moloney, BT:
It’s obviously difficult to pick out the two strongest teams especially from this line-up of skippers we have here today. I have a huge admiration for many sailors especially on the extreme side of the sport. But I guess for me, Loick Peyron and Franck Cammas are the two biggest threats on the circuit this season down to their pure knowledge of racing multihulls.

Pete Cumming, Masirah (Oman Sail):
We’ve spent the last six months training in Oman this winter with our Omani squad from Oman Sail. One of the key objectives of Oman Sail is to reignite the country’s maritime heritage and to inspire Omanis to take up the sport of sailing. We will have some of the Omani squad shadowing us for the 2009 iShares Cup season, taking the 5th man spots when they can as we continue their Extreme 40 training with the aim of having an Omani racing onboard the Extreme 40 full-time next season.

Carolijn Brouwer, Holmatro:
I competed in the circuit in 2007 but not in 2008 as I was competing in the Olympic Tornado class but, for sure, the level has sky-rocketed since I started in the Extreme 40 class.

Shirley Robertson, iShares:
I’m really looking forward to this season. Racing for iShares this season, I have a new crew includ ing Hugh Styles who raced the boat last year and he is really my right-hand man and a veteran Tornado sailor so he is teaching me! The calibre of sailors just gets better and the venues just get smaller – it’s going to be an interesting iShares Cup this year!

Mike Golding, Ecover:
Well, I definitely like a challenge and the iShares Cup will be one, for sure. I’ve watched the circuit grow and there really is not other circuit that exists in our sport like this one with such an eclectic mix of sailors on one race course. It’s the perfect fit for Ecover and it goes to every target market so a great corporate fit. On a personal level, I thought it would be a great thing to do and I get a lot of pleasure sailing with a crew. Really looking forward to the iShares Cup Venice – I think it will be a sensory overload!

John Kostecki, BMW ORACLE Racing:
It’s important to be the best we can be and we’ll be racing against the top field here. It will be the best experience in the short period of time we have [Note to Ed: until the start of the next America's Cup] and we definitely want to win the iShares Cup!

2009 Venues iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series:

Event 1 – Venice, Italy, 15th to 17th May
Event 2 – Hyères-TPM, France, 3rd to 5th July
Event 3 – Cowes, United Kingdom, 1st to 3rd August
Event 4 – Kiel, Germany, 28th to 30th August
Event 5 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 25th to 27th September
Event 6 – Almería, Andalucía, 10th to 12th October

2009 Entries iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series:

BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) – James Spithill (AUS)
BT – Nick Moloney (AUS)
Ecover (EUR) – Mike Golding (GBR)
Gitana Extreme – Groupe LCF Rothschild (FRA) – Yann Guichard (FRA)
Groupama 40 (FRA) – Franck Cammas (FRA)
Oman Sail’s Renaissance (OMA) – Loïck Peyron (FRA)
Holmatro (NED) – Carolijn Brouwer (NED)
iShares (EUR) – Shirley Robertson (GBR)
LUNA (FRA) – Erik Maris (FRA)
Oman Sail’s Masirah (OMA) – Pete Cumming (GBR)

Follow all the action from the iShares Cup at www.iSharesCup.com

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