2007 LVC Notice of Race is Published

Update 2150 Sunday: Am pleased to report that Commodore Jones has just issued the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 13 NOR as well, which has been forwarded by email to all Challenger Reps and Alternates same as the LVC NOR was earlier this evening.


VLC 1745 Sunday

Just over an hour ago, Regatta Director Dyer Jones issued the Notice of Race for the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup.

The CC has worked with Dyer on this document for more than a year. Your Ed. chairs the NOR working party, and it is with great pleasure and more than a bit of a relief that we are able to report this achievement to you tonight.

Our goal had been to have the NOR out before Christmas; we didn't quite make it, but at least it is out before the end of the year, even if only just.

My thanks to the all of the CC for their guidance and support, especially to Chair Alessandra Pandarese (Mascalzone), past Chairman George Clyde (AREVA), and working party members Jim Farmer (Emirates TNZ), Bruno Finzi (Luna Rossa) and Luis Saenz (Luna Rossa). Rules advisors Jack Lloyd (Emirates TNZ), Marco Mercuriali (Luna Rossa), David Perry (Victory Challenge) and Richard Slater (BMW ORACLE) also played important roles.

Special thanks to Commodore Jones for his leadership in bringing the NOR to a timely conclusion, and to PRO Peter "Luigi" Reggio for his many contributions.

Early in the New Year we will post the NOR here on the CCB, and explain some of the nuances and novel features. When you read it, I think you will agree that the NOR helps fulfill the CC's goals of selecting the Challenger that will face the Defender in the Cup, and developing the best possible Challenger -- one that can achieve the CC's mission "To relieve the Defender from the burden of holding the Cup."

Happily, this will be our final post of 2006. May we take this opportunity to thank all of our Challenger colleagues, fans and readership for your continuing support and interest. On behalf of Alessandra and the entire CC, best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Now, anyone for a glass of Moët?

The New Valencia

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating" seems particularly appropriate here, given that the proverb apparently dates from Cervantes in his Don Quixote of 1605....




Valencia Opens To The Sea - Spain's City Of Light To Become City Of Sails; Mediterranean Port Welcomes America's Cup
Dec 21, 06 | 2:22 pm


Valencia, SPAIN, December, 2006 - To welcome the competitors for the America's Cup next year, Valencia is opening itself to the sea. For the first time in more than 150 years - from June 23 to July 7, 2007 - Europe will host sailing's most prestigious event. Aficionados from around the world - some 6 million are expected - will flock to this sunny city on Spain's Mediterranean to watch the world's best yachtsmen from 10 countries battle it out as the Swiss Alinghi team defends its title against 11 other teams. Officials are predicting the America's Cup will create 10,000 jobs and generate $1.5 billion for the Spanish region's economy.

In 1851 Queen Victoria watched the last competition in Europe as the yacht America representing the New York Yacht Club beat 15 British vessels racing around the Isle of Wight. Since then, America's Cup races have only been held in Britain, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Reliable wind conditions, year-round temperate weather and the promise of a race that will bring spectators closer to the sailing action were key factors in convincing officials that Valencia would be the best venue. Preceding the America's Cup April 3 to 7 is the Louis Vuitton Act 13 Fleet Race and the Louis Vuitton Cup, April 16 to June 12. The winner of the final Act goes up against the Alinghi team.

Three years ago, Valencia began an ambitious urban planning program with a view to creating one of the top ports in the Mediterranean. One of the major projects has been the creation of a new urban area, the Balcón al Mar, which integrates the city with the port, marina and beach areas. Valencia has spent $637.5 million revitalizing the waterfront alone, and by next year the inner harbor and commercial port will be transformed into a state-of-the-art marina - or several of them. In the center of the inner harbor will be the mega yacht marina for vessels larger than 98 feet. A 1,968-foot channel has been opened to allow the racers and their boats direct access from their bases to the sea. A new breakwater provides marinas on either side of the channel with mooring for 700 sailing vessels. At the entrance to the canal sits the emblematic Sails and Winds building, the Foredeck & Owner's Club designed by David Chipperfield and Fermín Vázquez. Offering panoramic views of the inner harbor, the $45.9 million building will have six restaurants, 20 clubs, bars and other entertainment venues - all providing privileged bird's eye views of the races. Lying alongside the channel is the 34-acre America's Cup Park, where 600,000 sailing enthusiasts will follow the competition on giant TV screens. Here, more restaurants and entertainment venues will be joined to the lower seafront promenade by ramps leading down to Malvarrosa Beach and the mile-long, palm-lined Paseo Maritimo.

Full story



The Port America's Cup, as it exists (for the most part) today. While life for the teams in a 24/7 construction zone has not been all peaches and cream, the facility is second-to-none in the history of the Cup. Build it and they will come? We shall soon find out.



June '06 -- the opening ceremony for the Port America's Cup during Act 11.

Feliz "Dia de los Santos Inocentes"

Today is the "Day of the Innocent Saints" here in Spain and many Ibero-American countries.

The origin of the holiday is historical and deeply religious (Christian), the celebration of which dates to around AD 485.

These days 28 December in Spain is roughly equivalent to April Fools' Day in the USA -- a day for pranks. Prank victims are called inocentes, or alternatively, the pranksters are the innocents and the victims should not be angry at them, since they could not have committed any "sin." In some cultures it is said to be an unlucky day and no new project should be started.

It would appear the editor of one esteemed AC site was not taken in by what would otherwise appear to be an Alinghi prank. See Pierre's post this afternoon speculating that the image on Alinghi's website of a partially unveiled and new-looking ACC yacht is not a photo of their second new ACC yacht now under construction in Switzerland.

Indeed, one hears that Alinghi's new deck may be under construction here in Valencia at the RCNV.

So if you are in Spain enjoy yet another holiday (no doubt accompanied by fireworks tonight), and Feliz Dia de los Santos Inocentes.

Happy Boxing Day

Not only is today the birthday of our esteemed former chairman, George Clyde, in the British Commonwealth it is "Boxing Day." While not a holiday celebrated in the States, for our American readers it is a little like the Friday after Thanksgiving.

To the best of your Ed.'s knowledge today's holiday has nothing to do with boxing, the sport -- unlike shopping in the USA on "Black Friday," which can be a real slug fest.

As we are often asked by our American and other non-Anglo friends about the true origins of Boxing Day, here is as succinct a description as we could find on the Web:


Boxing Day

---

The holiday Boxing Day may get it's name from the 19th century English custom of giving Christmas boxes containing food or money to family servants and suppliers, the day after Christmas.

Another possibility is Boxing Day may have come from the opening of church poor boxes that day.

The most basic understanding is that gifts, or boxes, were given to those who were less fortunate, on the day after Christmas, while gifts to those with equal standing were given on Christmas day.

It is also known as, the Feast of St. Stephen, or St. Stephen's Day - the first Christian martyr.

It is most often celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada on December 26.

Although it is a statutory holiday in these countries it is not celebrated as such. Most countries host Boxing Day sales on that day which have little or nothing to do with the holiday at all.

Source: Kids' Turn Central

Those of you just dying to investigate this further, you may wish to check out this site.

In the meantime, happy birthday George, and happy Boxing Day to the rest of you. We struggled a bit to find an image appropriate to both occasions, and finally settled on this....



;)

Happy Holidays

Nice Ink: China's Wave

Terrific article in today's Shanghai Daily on China Team. In your Editor's humble opinion, it is sooo nice -- and good for the event and the sport -- to have first-time challenges from China (arguably the world's largest economy), South Africa (Africa's largest economy) and Germany (Europe's largest economy)....


Venture capitalist Wang Chaoyong, whose name suggests "surging wave," is the force behind China Team that aims to be China's first entry in the prestigious America's Cup yachting race series, writes Zhou Zuyi.

One's name has long been a crystal ball for Chinese fortune tellers. They go to great lengths to plumb the characters comprising the names of their customers, seeking omens about career and life.

But it doesn't take an all-mighty prophet with extraordinary insight to answer Wang Chaoyong's question about his future.

The 41-year-old venture capitalist has two characters in his name related to water, with Chao meaning "wave" and Yong connoting "surging." So, for fatalists, it's no wonder he would make a splash in anything aquatic.

But Wang himself had to wait until he was 20 years old and enrolled in Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University before he got his first glimpse of the ocean.

But Wang could hardly have foreseen his role two decades later as the founder of a successful investment firm and head of a historic team of Chinese and French sailors hoping to compete as the mainland's first entry in the prestigious America's Cup yacht race series. The first event is in April off the coast of Valencia, Spain.

"When I first saw the ocean, I had a great passion for it, and it had a big impact on me for its immensity and power," says Wang, who founded the technology-focused venture capital firm ChinaEquity seven years ago.

Using many of the same skills that helped him invest in and nurture upstarts such as search engine Baidu.com, Wang, the founder and syndicate head of China Team, has rallied government officials, corporate sponsors, and the international sailing community behind his plan to put China on the yachting map. Sailing is an Olympic sport and the 2008 Beijing Olympics will hold the sailing event in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

Wang fell in love with sailing in 1998, when, as a young investment banker for JP Morgan Chase in New York, he joined a company team-building exercise aboard a sail boat.

"I wasn't aware of it when I first got on the boat, but through the years, when I thought of my sailing experience, I could more closely correlate business and sailing," Wang says.

"We invest in very risky and early-stage high-growth business, and the most important element of our business is to be optimistic and to be able to face the uncertain future, because not only do you need to navigate your team but you must also help the ones in which you invested.

"You have to help the portfolio companies and their management teams to run a better business and go through tough times. So it's totally the same skill set."

Wang, who took his five-year-old son on a week-long yachting vacation on the French coast this summer, is still a fan of sailing but his approach to the America's Cup has been that of an entrepreneur, not an athlete.

In 2004, eager to found the first Asia-based team, Wang began by tapping into his network of wealthy Chinese businessmen, such as Charles Zhang Chaoyang, founder of the portal Sohu.com and William Ding Lei, the founder of NetEase, the online game company that also owns the 163.com portal.

"My way to promote it to them was to say, 'Look, you guys are so successful, you see yourselves as China's Larry Ellison, you want to build a successful company like Oracle, and this is the best way to make this statement,"' he recalls.

Full Story

Valencia Crónica #63

Issue #63 of Valencia Crónica is now available here. This is the final edition for 2006. Sorry for the delay (it was issued 10 December), but we have been a bit busy with year-end work -- and also had some FTP problems which are now, thankfully, sorted.

The usual fine print.... Editor Bridget Baker issues VC approximately every other week, and it is intended solely for AC 32 team members and their families. Accordingly, VC is passworded to protect the privacy of contributors' contact info. To obtain the password, or to be added to the email distribution list for Crónica, please write Bridget at valenciacronicaspain [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] nz. Over 500 families are now receiving VC by email.

Patriotic Parents

Nice article in today's Cape Times (Cape Town, South Africa) by Di Meek about the Cup-enthusiastic parents of Shosholoza grinder Reinhardt Rauscher....

The patriotic parents of a gung-ho grinder

Tossing it all into the wind comes naturally for Shosholoza enthusiasts, writes Di Meek

December 19, 2006

The parents of a Team Shosholoza sailor, Reinhardt Rauscher, have been so inspired by South Africa's first challenge in the America's Cup race that they have sold their home, bought a yacht and set sail for Valencia, Spain, to support the team in the final legs leading up to the tournament in June next year.

That they had never been on a yacht before was simply a minor |detail for adventurers Martie, 46, a book-keeper, and Rusty Rauscher, 48, who had a racing car repair business in Boksburg - a dry highveld town east of Johannesburg some 600km from the sea.

"Reinhardt was our biggest inspiration. He was lucky enough to join Team Shosholoza in January 2005 and we are just so proud of him and what the team is doing for South Africa that for a long time now we've wanted to be part of it all.

Full Story

I Spy With My Own Eye...

Alinghi's SUI 64 and SUI 91 trialing off Dubai, in a photo we found on their website today. Notice anything interesting? Photo by Th. Martinez/Alinghi.

FRA 93 Sails

Congrats to the AREVA Challenge, who sailed their new boat FRA 93 here in VLC yesterday. 93 is the first new ACC yacht to sail since Emirates Team NZ launched NZL 92 in AKL in October. 94 through 99 are all expected to be sailing early in the new year. 100 is presumed to be Alinghi's 2nd new boat, and is not expected to be splashed until March. Photos: © Frank Socha/Areva Challenge.

Nice Ink: China Aims for the Cup

Excellent AP wire story appearing in papers and on websites all over the world the last couple days....

China Aims to Make Run for America's Cup
By SCOTT NEUMAN Associated Press Writer
December 13, 2006, 3:42 PM CST

PHUKET, Thailand -- Standing astride the dual helms of the Jelik, Pierre Mas and skipper Frank Pong confer on how to squeeze out another quarter-knot of their 75-foot maxi yacht.

On this day, Mas is playing the role of tactician in the Andaman Sea, where Asia's fastest yachts compete in the Phuket King's Cup Regatta. In a few weeks, he'll be back at the wheel in the Mediterranean getting boat and crew ready for China's first try at sailing's most prestigious trophy, the America's Cup.

Despite its nearly 11,000 miles of coastline, China has virtually no tradition of big boat racing, making it necessary to recruit Olympic dinghy sailors and give them a quick course in crewing at the top international level. The 49-year-old Mas is a veteran of the last three French Cup challenges, as well as the arduous Whitbread Round the World Race. Putting together China Team's inaugural America's Cup effort, however, has presented its share of obstacles.

"We trained them on bigger boats in Hong Kong," Mas said. "We have tried the same thing in France, and we always have the same problem: These guys are used to sailing by themselves, not as part of a crew. You have to have timing, you have to have team spirit."

China Team, which represents the Qingdao International Yacht Club in the city that will host sailing events at the 2008 Olympics, has gotten a boost by allying itself with the experienced French syndicate Le Defi. The multinational effort has translated into a major issue on deck. In most America's Cup syndicates, English is the working language of the boat, but many of the China Team crew speak only Mandarin.

The solution? An interpreter. "Luckily, we have a guy from Singapore who speaks both English and Mandarin, and just happens to be a very good sailor," Mas said.

Full Story

And in Return?

From today's Valencia Life....

ALL THANKS TO THE CUP

Several sectors of Valencian Industry have estimated that the staging of the Americas Cup races in Valencia is having a much greater effect on the local economy than was first thought. Juan Carlos Gelabert, the head of the Valencian Hotel Industry stated that one out of every four Euros spent by tourists in Valencia is due to the Cup. This is also borne out by Luis Marti of the Valencian Hotel union who added that the Cup had forced several major hotel chains to speed up their implantation of five-star establishments in the City to accommodate the top end of the tourism market that the Americas Cup visitors would need. Mr. Marti also encouraged the Valencian authorities to try and ensure that similar projects of equal importance are staged in the City in order that the new range of five-star establishments do not see their investments ‘going downhill’. Eloy Dura of the Valencian Construction Industry Association stated that the TV transmission of the Americas Cup races ‘is the best advertisement in the world for Valencia. He also added that the technology brought to Valencia by the Americas Cup is proving to be highly beneficial not only to the City but to the autonomy as a whole. e also stated that the technology associoated with the event is proving very beneficial to the City as well as the Autonomy.

This has also been borne out by Jose Salinas, the head of the Valencian Convention Bureau, who stated that foreign tourists who come to Valencia generally spend on average about 2,445 Euros, whilst the average spending for a Spanish visitor is 1,700 Euros.

Leonard M. Greene

Leonard M. Greene, 88, an aviation-safety innovator who received patents for helping pilots avoid deadly wind hazards and who used his fortune to fund an economic policy think tank, a group that flies cancer patients to hospitals and ventures into America's Cup racing, died Nov. 30 at White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital Center. He had lung cancer.

An avid sailor, Mr. Greene became a technical adviser to several America's Cup races before buying two-time winner Courageous from Ted Turner in the early 1980s. Despite several of Mr. Greene's modifications to the keel, the boat's age remained a problem, and his team withdrew during the 1986 competition in Fremantle, Western Australia. Mr. Greene's syndicate represented the Yale Corinthian YC, and was one a record six challenges from the USA for the 1987 Cup.

Full story from the Washington Post