Monday, October 31, 2011
TEAM NEWS
Picture perfect
ORACLE Racing is gracing the covers of notable sailing magazines. Yachting World in the UK has a picture of ORACLE Racing Spithill on its ear during the ACWS Plymouth Speed Trials. Germany’s Segel has a picture of ORACLE Racing Coutts flying the windward hull as the crew works upwind. Both magazines have lengthy feature stories accompanying the cover artwork.
The November issue of Seahorse (UK) carried Artemis Racing and Korea Team on its cover plus interviews with Russell Coutts and ACEA's technology boss Stan Honey. The continuing high levels of coverage show that the America's Cup is squarely back on the news agenda and that the switch to multihulls is generating great stories and stunning images.
ACWS SAN DIEGO
The village takes shape
Source: America’s Cup website // Oct. 30, 2011
Peter Ansell is the Onshore Operation Director for the America´s Cup World Series and is managing the 12 person team in charge of setting the village up. His crew is working full time to have everything ready as soon as possible.
Watch a video: CW6 News reports on ACWS San Diego
“We´ve got about 108 shipping containers, although not all of them will come up here,” Ansell explains. “Some of them contain the RIBs and we need to do some work on them. The on-water guys have a program of maintenance that they´ve got to do on the boats, and then the boats will come directly by water from the terminal.”
The cargo vessel came straight from Plymouth via the Panama Canal and arrived in San Diego last week.
“In the last couple of days we´ve been discharging all the containers from the ship on to the dock side of the marine terminal so all of that has been done in advance. All the containers now are at the dockside and now we are bringing the containers by truck and building the race village, including all the team bases, the ACTV compound...
“We said to the teams that everything will be up and running ready for them to go sailing by the 8th but we receive their shore crews on the 1st and they will do the next stage of the preparation,” says Ansell, who has a lifetime experience working in different global sports events that include Formula 1, Football World Cup and a few around the world sailing races.
Link to full article: The AC village takes shape in San Diego
Related video: KUSI-TV Good Morning San Diego
Related articles: Regatta format released for San Diego
AC World Series begins setup in San Diego
Download the Sailing Instructions
Photos: Bob Grieser/ACEA
THE CHALLENGERS' FILES
Quest for China’s Argonauts
By Alvin Sallay, South China Morning Post // Oct. 31, 2011
For the next year or more, Thierry Barot will scour the length and breadth of China looking for prospective sailors who can join the mainland's odyssey for America's Cup glory in 2013.
Hong Kong-based Frenchman Barot is not a modern-day Jason, the legendary Greek hero, leading the Argonauts in a perilous sea quest for the Golden Fleece. Yet, the mission to win the Challenger Series by the China Team comprising mainly mainland sailors is a task of massive proportions, one which Barot, the chief executive of the team, acknowledges will be as tough as that mythical adventure.
"The aim by 2013 is to have seven members of the 11-man crew from China. Right now, we only have a couple and the goal is to unearth athletes in China who are willing to take on one of the biggest challenges in world sport," says Barot, a 25-year America's Cup veteran.
His search will begin in earnest this week as the China Team - the crew only, and not the boat - take part in the fifth China Cup International Regatta in Shenzhen. Apart from keeping an eye on the racing, Barot will oversee a recruitment programme where he hopes to discover potential sailing talent that can man the yardarm.
The Chinese were sailing the seven seas well before Columbus even dreamed of going on his voyage of discovery. Barot hopes to draw on this proud history to find the sailors of today, failing which he will settle for a basketball player or rugby player.
"We are looking for former athletes, rowers, anyone with a sporting background," says Barot. "We want athletes because they have a competitive mentality. Before I became a sailor, I used to play rugby and I know how important the hunger to win is."
Link to full article: Quest for China’s Argonauts
Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA
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