Speaking of the Pope...

...in this case Pope Benedict XVI, we gleaned this from the Vatican Radio website this morning in re. the Pontiff's visit to Valencia early next month -- in case team members were looking to participate in, or avoid, the action:


Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the last two ceremonies on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th July. After arrival at Valencia’s Manises airport on Saturday July 8th at around 11.30 a.m. the Pontiff will be welcomed with a ceremony, followed by his address to the gathering. From the airport the Pope will be driven in an open vehicle to the cathedral of Valencia in the city centre. Pope Benedict will then visit the cathedral, the Holy Chalice Chapel and the Basilica of the Virgin of the Helpless. After reciting the Angelus in the basilica's square, the Pope will be received in the residence of Archbishop Archbishop Agustín García-Gasco of Valencia, where the Pope will reside during his stay in Valencia. The Bishop of Rome will then go in an open car to the testimonial meeting, which beginning at 8 p.m., will gather more than a million pilgrims at the Puente de Monteolivete in a context of prayer and testimonies. On Sunday 9th July the Pontiff will preside over the solemn closing Mass at 9:30 a.m. and deliver the homily. At the end of the Mass he will lead the recitation of the Angelus. After taking bidding farewell to the pilgrims, the Pontiff will leave Manises at 1 p.m. on his flight back to Rome.


The purpose of the Pontiff's visit is, of course, the 5th World Meeting of Families. The official website, in a number of languages, is here.

Too bad His Holiness is not arriving the weekend before; no doubt he would be more than welcome as an 18th man with any number of teams. Problem would have been choosing which one given all the possible connections, to name a few: local hosts Desafio Espanol seguro que si, all three Italian teams for the obvious reasons, United Internet Team Germany (he is, after all the first German Pope since the 11th century), the Munich-flavored BMW ORACLE Racing (he's not only German, but Bavarian), even perhaps Alinghi given Serono's historical convent connections.



One of the posters found on the World Meeting of Families
site, nicely tuned to current events in Valencia even if the
yachts are circa 1977. That's Sverige (S-3, upper left) and
Australia (KA-5) in the days when S was the sail code for SWE
and KA, obviously, for AUS. Dyer reminds us these yachts
raced in both the 1977 and 1980 challenger trials off New-
port. Can anyone tell us which year this photo was taken?