New CC Dox Password

Due to recent changes in Challenger personnel, the username and password to access protected CC documents here on the CCB has this morning been changed. The former username ("beat") and password ("alinghi") have been replaced.

CC Assistant Michael ten Bokum has been asked to email the new username and password to all Challenge Reps and Alts. Reminder that, as usual, they are case sensitive.

Happy Easter! (And, LOL, that's not the password.)

China Team's Big Day Out

First, best wishes to China Team and our other Asian friends, fans and Cup families on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. The Chinese year 4075, the Year of the Pig, begins today.

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard, and appreciate luxury. They are very loving and make loyal partners. (source: www.infoplease.com]

China Team's website carries this nice story about being far from their families and home for the New Year celebrations, and what they did to celebrate here in VLC last evening. In China and much of SE Asia, the celebrations last for a week or even two and is an annual gathering of the family clan.

Second, congrats to syndicate head Chaoyong Wang and all involved with China Team on the yesterday's first sail of their new ACC yacht CHN-95. There are a number of good photos and a video of yesterday's outing over on the excellent* Valencia Sailing website, which these days is almost always first to the web with AC team news and views.

*even if editor Pierre Orphanidis (GRE/FRA/ESP) has a soft spot in his heart for the "local" team and red moons.



Yesterday on, fittingly, the Lunar (Chinese) New Year's Eve, CHN-95 went for her first sail. She is the last of the new for AC 32 Challenger yachts to get splashed. Only Alinghi's SUI-100 has yet to hit the water, and that is expected to take place in the next couple of weeks. Photo courtesy Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing.

Challenging Crossword Puzzle

In case you have too much time on your hands during this holiday break (as obviously your Ed. does), we are proud to unveil the CCB's first-ever, interactive Crossword Puzzle. It's entitled, simply, "Challenging." Click here.

We will publish the name of the first person to send us a screen-capture of the puzzle completed correctly, and we have a suitable prize for you.

Come on, give it a try. Should not be that difficult for anyone who is a keen observer of the passing AC scene. I can hear Hamish Ross clicking away even now. ;)

The 2007 Challenge

Nice graphic today on the popular CupInfo site, which pretty well lays out what's ahead for the Challengers in '07. Courtesy of CupInfo's "Editor Bob."

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

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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....



;)

'Tis the Season

As our friends and families in the States get into the full swing of the year-end holidays with the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, this note in today's Valencia Life email newsletter about the same here in VLC:

CHRISTMAS IS HERE

The festive season that is Christmas appeared to be under way in Valencia yesterday after the El Corte Ingles Commercial Centres and the Colon Market turned on their special lights for this time of year. The one contrary element was the weather that saw temperatures rose to over twenty degrees in some parts of the city.

Happy Thanksgiving

On the eve of the USA's big November (and arguably most popular) holiday, and the four-day weekend that comes with it, best wishes to our American colleagues and friends for a Happy Turkey Day, and for successful shopping -- if not total avoidance of the malls -- on "Black Friday" and beyond this weekend.