Family Fun in Gandia

Shosholoza and Areva enjoyed some good intramural competition yesterday and today, and not just in ACC yachts.

Today, the they are down in Gandia, about 45 minutes south of Valencia, former home base for the Areva Challenge. On a sunny and warm day that felt like early summer, the Gandia games included match racing: shore crew vs. shore crew; afterguard vs. afterguard; marketing vs. marketing, etc. This was followed by a nice paella lunch in the old Areva Base tent. This afternoon's program included beach volleyball, a rowing contest and boule competition.

More of the good cheer, spirit and cooperation common among AC 32 Challengers.



Match racing in Gandia Harbor using local yachts.



Rowing competition featuring team members, families and families.



Boule getting organized on shore. One doubts the authors of the AC Deed of Gift ever imagined that, more than a century and half after the Cup was donated to NYYC, "friendly competition between foreign countries" would include a game of bowls on a beach in eastern Spain between teams from France and South Africa. ¡Viva la Cup!

Photos courtesy of Benedikt Horber (GER).

A Short History of Sailing

Our friend and Alinghi "external affairs"colleague, Hamish Ross, has a favorite (American) author named Bill Bryson. This we know because he has commended Bryson's books to your Ed., who has now read a number of them, including the renowned "A Short History of Nearly Everything" -- a good read for anyone of any age.

While I do not recall Bryson mentioning sailing at any length, let alone the America's Cup, recently we did come across this snippet on the Australian Olympic Committee site which lends the Cup, and our passionate pursuit of it, a Brysonian perspective:

Sailing has been used as a means of transport since ancient times. As a pastime, sailing gained considerable popularity in Holland about 400 years ago. Shortly after the restoration of the monarchy in the United Kingdom in 1660, King Charles II introduced sailing as a sport. He had seen the Dutch love of sailing during his travels in exile in Europe. The first yacht club in the world was formed in Cork, Ireland in 1720. International yachting began in 1851 when the schooner America, from the New York Yacht Club, defeated fifteen British yachts in a race around the Isle of Wight in what became the first race of the America’s Cup series.

It is yet another reminder that the Cup is about challenging, that it was first won by the Challenger, that it was won by the Challenger the last time the Cup was raced for in Europe, and of the privilege of having even a small part in the current edition of the world's oldest international sporting trophy.

¡Viva los desafiantes!

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.

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