Archiv für die Kategorie „America´s Cup“

Mayor excited ahead of ACWS

Posted on 29 July 2011

The port city of Cascais has long been known as a great place to hold a sailing regatta and support from the city is an essential element as Cascais gears up to launch the 34th America’s Cup.

The city is becoming very engaged with the event. On Friday, Mayor Carlos Carreiras, stopped by the growing Race Village to meet with a group of volunteers who will be working side by side with the event organisers to run the event.

“Our expectation are very high as we get ready to start this big event,” the Mayor said. “These young people who are volunteering are ambassadors for the city and know they will receive our guests well and with respect and show them our hospitality.

The Mayor went on to say that Cascais is known as one of the premiere sailing locations in the world, and he had a message for the world’s sailors. Laughing, he said:

“Cascais is one of the landmarks sailing venues in the world. It is one of the best. All sailors, to be great sailors, should race here in Cascais. If you want to be considered a great sailor, come to Cascais!”

The volunteers the Mayor met with will be working in all aspects of the organisation over the next two weeks, providing essential assistance to the event and teams at the America’s Cup World Series – Cascais.

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Blog/2011/7/Mayor-excited-ahead-of-ACWS/

Three up

Posted on 28 July 2011

Energy Team, followed by Aleph and Team Korea were all out training on Thursday in more moderate conditions than what we’ve been accustomed to in recent weeks.

The wind was slow to fill in today eventually appearing early in the afternoon, allowing the three teams to get on the water to test headsails and practice manoeuvres.

Local media were also on the water to get a sneak preview of what these teams can do with the AC45s and came away impressed.

Meanwhile, over in the race village, work continues at pace with Artemis Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE Racing bases going up. The floats of the Kiwi boat were visible in their base as the team begins to unpack its containers, while just down the road Luca Devoti, the sport manager of Green Comm Racing, was looking over the RIBs his team will be using to support their team in Cascais.

On Friday, the three teams who were sailing today are scheduled to sail down the coast to relocate from their temporary training facilities to the Cascais Marina, in the heart of the race village. The America’s Cup World Series – Cascais is fast approaching!

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Blog/2011/7/Three-up/

Aleph keeps pushing

Posted on 27 July 2011

The Aleph team was the only one to train on Wednesday, with Team Korea and Energy Team taking maintenance days.

With the wind lighter than it’s been for most of the past few weeks, the French team did some load testing ashore with the wing on the AC45, before taking to the water near noon.

Before they left the dock, we caught up with helmsman Alain Gautier, who said his crew still had, “A lot of things to learn. We’ve learned a lot in the four days, but we have to learn more and more… We will have about 12 days of training (before racing). It’s not the same as the best teams, but it’s enough I think…”

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Blog/2011/7/Aleph-keeps-pushing/

Getting ready in Cascais

Posted on 26 July 2011

Preparations are running full-speed at the marina in Cascais, with the America’s Cup World Series Cascais now just 10 days away…

Here’s how it looks in Cascais early this week.

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Gallery/2011/7/Getting-ready-in-Cascais/

Practice and preparation

Posted on 26 July 2011

The teams are in full practice and preparation mode here in Cascais.  On Tuesday, Team Korea, Aleph and Energy Team all took to the water (see Aleph training here).

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Blog/2011/7/Practice-and-preparation/

AC World Series Experience – fun for all

Posted on 26 July 2011

The Cascais Marina will come alive with the America’s Cup Experience when the inaugural America’s Cup World Series kicks off in Cascais 6-14 August.

The nine-day international sporting competition will see fast action on the race course, while off the water, thousands of fans will enjoy local and international live music, access to sailing stars and, interactive displays in a fun-charged festival on shore at The Base.

Free to the public, the celebration of the AC World Series competition includes activities for all ages:

• Watch the racing live, featuring America’s Cup groundbreaking new graphics and live commentary
• Visit the America’s Cup Experiential, where visitors will get a taste of the teams and what it’s like to sail on a high-speed catamaran
• Take on the Racing Simulator, your own match race test, video-game style
• Get up-close to best sailors in the world, with the day’s racing highlights and first-hand reports from the sailing stars every race day at 20:30 on The Base stage
• Listen to great local bands and DJ’s, with surprise international live acts on the final weekend

The AC World Series Cascais will feature race courses designed to deliver close competition and high-speed fly-bys for the fans on shore. The innovative regatta format includes a mix of speed trials, head-to-head match racing, and all-out fleet racing with ten identical AC45 wing-sailed catamarans charging the line.

The Base is located at the Cascais Marina and is open 11:00 to midnight every day, from the 6 – 14 August, 2011.

See the full programme here.

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/News/2011/7/AC-World-Series-Experience---fun-for-all/

Garmin Selected as Official Supplier

Posted on 25 July 2011

Garmin Ltd., (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, announced today that it has been selected to be the exclusive official supplier of marine navigation, marine communication, and marine sensor equipment to the 34th America’s Cup.

A full suite of Garmin electronics, which includes the award-winning GPSMAP® 7000 series of touchscreen multi-function displays (MFDs), will outfit the fleet of support boats used for the America’s Cup World Series, the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup Challenger Series, and the America’s Cup Finals.

In collaboration with the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA), Garmin has developed tools that enable the most responsive management of the fleet of mark and marshal boats than ever possible before. America’s Cup mark and marshal boats can now be tracked and dispatched in real time. If conditions permit, this technological addition will give officials the ability to change the race course faster than has ever been possible in the past.   

“We’re honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with the America’s Cup competition,  bringing Garmin’s reputation for quality, commitment, performance and world-class support to the sailboat racing community,” said Engelhard Sundoro, Garmin’s Director of Marine OEM Sales and Marketing. “There’s no larger stage in sailing than America’s Cup, and Garmin gets to illustrate our ability to deliver customized systems to the marine industry while showcasing our technology to the best crews and fans in the world.”

“As we work to transform the America’s Cup and broaden its appeal globally, we are making a significant investment in technology to make the event more competitive on the water and more compelling off,” said Stan Honey, ACEA, Director of Technology. “Our partnership with Garmin has resulted in a set of tools that empowers our race management team to create world-class courses that will start and stop on time, something that has not been easy to achieve in a sport dependent upon the wind.”

This agreement, which includes the America’s Cup World Series; the Louis Vuitton Cup, The America’s Cup Challenger Series; and the America’s Cup Finals in 2013, will provide key products, including Garmin’s 12- and 15-inch GPSMAP 7000 series MFDs, to the support boats throughout the various stages of competition. The touchscreen chartplotters selected by the America’s Cup offer the ultimate in usability and intuitive control. During the races, the support staff can quickly and easily interact with the device, without hesitation on which button or knob to use complete to the command. These top-of-the-line MFDs feature Garmin G Motion™ technology that enables them to react with the high-speed responsiveness and performance needed in the race environment.

For the ultimate in situational awareness, race officials will also have access to premium mapping features with BlueChart® g2 Vision® functionality. BlueChart g2 Vision gives the user access to a growing database of high-resolution satellite imagery and 3-D “Mariner’s Eye” and underwater “Fish Eye” perspective views, plus utilizes Auto Guidance technology to suggest the best routes to follow. Other equipment selected by the America’s Cup to equip their support boats include a VHF 300i marine radio, AIS 600 transceiver, GMR™ 24HD radar, GMI™ 10 marine instrumentation, GHP™ 10V autopilot system and GSD™ 22 digital sounder.

Since its inception in 1989, Garmin has delivered 85 million GPS enabled devices – far more than any other navigation provider. Garmin’s market breadth in the GPS industry is second to none, having developed innovative products and established a leadership position in each of the markets it serves, including automotive, aviation, marine, fitness, outdoor recreation, tracking, and wireless applications. 

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/News/2011/7/Garmin-Selected-as-Official-Supplier-/

Venezia Challenge excused from America’s Cup

Posted on 24 July 2011

Venezia Challenge has been unable to meet the requirements to continue in both the America’s Cup World Series and the 34th America’s Cup.

Iain Murray, the America’s Cup Regatta Director and Chief Executive of America’s Cup Management Limited advised, “Following discussions and attempts to resolve in a timely way, there was an agreement to meet certain obligations by this weekend and the deadline passed.”  
 
The Italian challenger has advised that it was unable to meet required commitments within an agreed deadline. Accordingly, the Golden Gate Yacht Club has notified Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria which is represented by Venezia Challenge, that the Italian Challenger has been excused from further participation.
 
“Venezia Challenge failed to fulfil its commitments to remain eligible to continue in the 34th America’s Cup,” said Tom Ehman, Vice Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club.

In the meantime, preparations in Cascais, Portugal, continue apace with teams training hard in testing conditions  for the opening event of the 34th America’s Cup cycle, staged 6-14 August.

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/News/2011/7/VENEZIA-CHALLENGE-EXCUSED-FROM-AMERICAS-CUP/

Welcome to the club

Posted on 23 July 2011

Team Korea joined the AC45 capsize club on Saturday, during a training session ahead of the AC World Series – Cascais.

There was no damage to the boat or wing, nor any injuries to the crew, and the team resumed its training session without needing to check in at shore.
 
Skipper Chris Draper said, “We have been pushing the boat and the manoeuvres harder and harder all week, and today midway through our session we got caught out. We were trying a manoeuvre perhaps a little too early in our plan and paid the price when it didn’t go well!”

“Our guys reacted very quickly and the wing touched down slowly with everyone safe and uninjured. The support boat was very fast to help and we had the boat upright and damage free within three minutes, but it shows these ‘Cat’s have to be respected. After assessing the situation we were clear to get the boat wound up again and continued our training session.

“I’d like to say what a great job the support team and the guys on board did in being able to right the boat so quickly and not damage anything. We lost one winch handle, so it was actually very encouraging that we were able continue sailing and move on from this quickly.
 
“in many ways it’s good to have got this out of the way and behind us. It’s all been in our minds of course, and we were able to deal with it quickly and efficiently. These things are going to happen when you start to push hard, but we learnt a lot from the situation and will be able to improve the righting process further – if it happens again. Apart from that we are pleased with our progress and see today’s ‘blip’ as a positive, it’s done and we’re through it ok. These are really physically demanding boats and we’re learning more about how to handle it every day – clearly you can’t take any liberties with these cats…”

With today’s incident, Team Korea joins both ORACLE Racing crews, Artemis Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand in the ‘capsize club’.

With the new teams pushing both man and machine harder with each training sail, the question now becomes, who’s next???

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Blog/2011/7/Welcome-to-the-club/

Aleph makes its debut

Posted on 23 July 2011

With skipper Bertrand Pacé looking to win the Tour de France à la Voile for the eighth time this weekend, his Aleph teammates were busy in Cascais, taking out the team’s AC45 for the first time.

Alain Gautier was at the helm. “We had beautiful conditions for a first day with10 to 20 knots of wind. In this narrow body of water, we have been able to learn a lot and get in a lot of manoeuvres,” Gautier said. “Compared to a D35, the AC45 has more volume in the front, making it quite stable and, as might be expected, the rigid wing sail is very efficient.”

Today was Gautier’s baptism at the helm of the wing-sailed AC45. “Compared to a soft sail, the wing reacts much faster. One dose of power on demand and it is very easy to manoeuvre. After just a few hours on the water, we can already see that the AC45 has a lot of potential. It was also the first multihull experience for two of our teammates, Mikael Mergui and François Verdier, and they are not disappointed!”

Energy Team and Team Korea also took advantage of the more manageable conditions Saturday to get more practice in, making for a nice show for spectators on shore.  

“It’s beautiful here,” Gautier said. “We are currently housed within the River Tagus, while in Cascais, where I have been for eight years, everything is beginning to fall into place to host the event in two weeks.”

More images are available here and onboard images are here.

Article source: http://www.americascup.com/en/Latest/Blog/2011/7/Aleph-makes-its-debut/