RC44: Top-class Line-up for the Cagliari RC44 Cup

The second event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2009 will take place in Sardinia on April 22 - 26. Organised by Yacht Club Cagliari, the regatta will assemble nine top level teams on board strict one design RC 44s, including Team Austria who joins the circuit for the first time.


The RC 44 fleet will be looking for some more strong wind action in Cagliari. Image copyright Gilles Martin-Raget/RC44.

by Bernard Schopfer

The second event of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2009 will take place in two weeks in Cagliari (Sardinia, ITA). Nine teams including some of the world’s best sailors will be pitting their skills on the short & sharp race courses, competing for the match race title on Wednesday and Thursday before racing the fleet regatta from Friday to Sunday.

Winner of the match race event last year, BMW ORACLE Racing, will have team owner Larry Ellison back at the helm in Cagliari. The USA team will once again face strong opposition with match race world champion Sébastien Col (Ceeref) and Cameron Appleton (Team Aqua) – respectively winner and second of the season opener in Lanzarote last month.

Other teams will look for precious points on the Championship Tour, such as Team Sea Dubai, back in action for the first time this season with Marcus Wieser at the helm, or Maciej Nawrocki’s Team Organika with Karol Jablonski at the helm. Dean Barker (Artemis) or Philippe Presti (No Way Back), are other obvious candidates for victory in this very open contest.

The fleet regatta will also see a strong opposition and offer a bigger chance to the new teams to shine. After training over the winter on Lake Traunsee, René Mangold’s Team Austria will participate in its first official RC 44 regatta in Cagliari. As for team Puerto Calero, it will be keen to repeat – if not better - its excellent fifth spot from last month in Lanzarote, including two race victories.

The RC 44 fleet has been transported fast and safely from the Canaries Islands with the help of DHL, who announced recently that it will compensate the carbon footprint of the Championship Tour and offset the carbon dioxide emission from transportation through their Go Green program.

The Cagliari Cup is organised by Yacht Club Cagliari, with the support of the City of Cagliari.

The teams involved:
(Name of team, owner, pro sailor)

Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton
Team Ceeref, Igor Lah / Sébastien Col
Sea Dubai, DIMC, Markus Wieser
BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts
Team Organika, Maciej Nawrocki / Karol Jablonski
Puerto Calero Islas Canarias, José Juan Calero / Jose Maria Ponce
Artemis, Torbjorn Tornqvist / Dean Barker
No Way Back, Pieter Heerema / Philippe Presti
Team Austria, Christian Binder / René Mangold

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