'RC44 at the Malcesine Cup, Lake Garda'
Fabrizio Prandini
The RC 44's are at home on Lake Garda. Back in 2005, the first RC 44 was test-sailed here for the first time. The Class has been back in Malcesine every year since this initial trial, and will run its fourth annual event - the Malcesine Cup - on July 8-12.
'This is the most beautiful place I have ever sailed in', said an enthusiastic Larry Ellison last year after winning the match race event. 'The sailing is just fantastic and the venue is great.' Ellison will be back alongside Russell Coutts this year on board BMW ORACLE Racing. Currently third of the Championship Tour, the American Team will face a strong opposition with amongst others Chris Bake and Cameron Appleton (Team Aqua), the current leaders of the Tour, Dean Barker and Torbjorn Tornqvist, second overall and S?bastien Col and Igor Lah (Ceeref) in fourth.
Winner of the fleet regatta last month in Austria, Pieter Heerema's Team No Way Back - with Ray Davies calling the shots - will be keen to confirm this result. Also on an improving trend, Team Sea Dubai, Team Austria and Organika will do their best to reach the upper part of the ranking. As for Daniel Calero, on board Puerto Calero Islas Canarias, he will be keen to forget the counter performance from Lake Traunsee, where everything seemed to go wrong despite a very promising season beginning.
Altogether, ten teams will compete for the Malcesine Cup. Most of them are involved since the beginning of the season; they are joined for the first time by Frank Pong's Team Jelik, from Hong Kong, who has yet to announce the name of his pro-skipper.
Organised by Fraglia Vela di Malcesine, the RC 44 Malcesine Cup will begin on Wednesday July 8 with the match racing event. The fleet regatta will take place from Friday 10 till Sunday 12. The long distance regatta - the DHL Trophy - will count for double; it will allow all the participants to discover the beauties of Lake Garda.
The teams involved: (Name of team, owner, pro sailor)
Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton Team Ceeref, Igor Lah / S?bastien Col Sea Dubai, Yousef Lahej, DIMC / Markus Wieser BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki / Karol Jablonski Puerto Calero Islas Canarias, Daniel Calero / Jose Maria Ponce Artemis, Torbjorn Tornqvist / Dean Barker No Way Back, Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies Team Austria, Ren? Mangold / Christian Binder Team Jelik, Frank Pong / tbc
Sailing
