New Rep for +39

Yesterday the CC was notified by +39 that Paul Henderson (CAN) is no longer their Challenge Representative or a member of their team. Their general counsel, Stefano Feltrin (ITA), formerly the Alternate Rep, will now serve as Challenge Rep.

A revised CC Directory, as usual password-protected to preserve the privacy of contact information, is available here. It is also available by clicking on "CC Directory" in the right sidebar.

And while we are at it, the CC welcomed Victory Challenge's CEO, Johan Stenman (SWE), to our meeting yesterday. Johan filled in for their Challenge Rep, Bjorn Ohde (SWE), who was unable to attend the session given the short notice.



New +39 Challenge Rep, Stefano Feltrin (ITA). File photo by TFE.

Victory Challenge CEO Johan Stenman (SWE) at the CC meeting Saturday morning. TFE photo.

Red Bull: Party On!

Congrats to Sweden's Victory Challenge on the naming ceremony this evening for their new ACC yacht, SWE-96. As we type, we can hear the music going strong from across the Port America's Cup at the Victory Team Base. A large crowd has already gathered on the roof-top hospitality area, and a few moments ago the Red Bull aerobatic plane put on a spectacular display above (and, at times, just above) the waters of the PAC basin.

The Red Bull aerobatic plane in action over the PAC a few minutes ago. Photo courtesy of Michelle Tapper (NZL, BMW ORACLE Racing).

UPDATE 2330 Thursday: Victory's celebration was not your father's traditional AC christening party. Full story (and more pictures) on the popular Valencia Sailing website. Rock on!






FURTHER UPDATE 1145 Friday: Hurray! ACM actually published something on their site about all this. And a good story to boot. 'Bout time ACM paid more attention to the teams.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE 1320 Friday: AREVA's team photog, Franck Socha, captured (apparently from the roof of their base) the best shots of the aerobatic show that we have so far seen.

Victory Challenge Splashes* SWE-96

About noon yesterday, in the midst of the racing rules meeting, the two reps attending for Victory Challenge, skipper Magnus Holmberg (SWE) and tactician Stefan Rahm (SWE), politely excused themselves from the meeting table saying they had to go to their team base but would be back in a couple hours.

As they were leaving we asked if rumours that they were about to launch 96 for the first time were true, and, if so, weren't we all invited to the ceremony as well? Magnus grinned and said, "we'll be back after launch."

*In answer to several previous questions, "splashed" in AC parlance usually means putting the boat in the water -- "today we are going to splash the boat at 0900" -- not as in splashing it with champagne at a naming ceremony.



Congrats to Sweden's Victory Challenge who christened and then launched their new ACC yacht yesterday afternoon. That leaves China Team's CHN-95 and Alinghi's SUI-100 as the only new ACC yachts yet to be splashed -- in both senses of the word.

Red Bull in the Emirates

Why post this photo? Your Ed. just likes the shot. Hopefully Hugo Stenbeck's Victory Challenge is keeping a close eye on Alinghi during "winter training" in Dubai. And maybe this is a backdrop we will see more of in future AC racing? Photo courtesy of Victory Challenge (SWE).