Marazzi Sailing - the new Swiss TP52 for the Audi MedCup 2009. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann/Go4Image.
by Juerg Kaufmann
By participating in the 2009 TP52 Audi MedCup, Flavio Marazzi ventures to tackle the biggest Swiss sailing project since Alinghi. He is supported by the most successful Swiss Olympic sailor of the past years, the German sailing legend Jochen Schümann. The fist regatta will start on 12 May 2009.
During the past few years, the TP52 Audi MedCup has been developing to becoming the meeting point of the world’s best sailing professionals and is considered the Champions League of sailing.
In 2009, with the MarazziSailing team, a boat will be participating for the first time sailing under Swiss flag (Gstaad Yacht Club). Apart from helmsman and skipper Flavio Marazzi (31), two more Swiss are on board: Marazzi’s Starboat partner Enrico De Maria (31) and the experienced sailor Christian «Blumi» Scherrer (39).
The other team members are top sailors from 8 countries, led by the threefold Olympic winner and AC winner Jochen Schümann (54). A win-win situation with Flavio Marazzi’s talent and his urge to win teaming up with Jochen Schümann’s immense experience. The newly launched TP-52 campaign and the partnership with the sailing legend Schümann also serves the most successful Swiss Starboat sailor as an optimal preparation platform on his way to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
At the Audi MedCup, the sailing sport’s Champions League, MarazziSailing competes with the “Who is Who” of international professional sailors: among them, the threefold America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts (NZL), Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Dean Barker and last year’s Audi MedCup winner and TP52 World Champion Terry Hutchinson (USA/Quantum).
Last week, the boat was launched in Valencia (Spain) and six days of intense training followed. The yacht, hardly 16 metres long, was not built from scratch, but could be chartered with the sails from Artemis (4th place at the 2008 Audi MedCup) for the event in Alicante.
First Stage of the Audi MedCup Will Start on 12 May
Next week things will be getting serious for MarazziSailing: from 12 to 17 May, the first Audi MedCup regatta will be sailed in front of Alicante. The new Swiss TP52 project will be financed by private persons involved in the Gstaad Yacht Club. The team’s ambitious aim is to draw attention with a top placement in Alicante and to secure the future of this top-motivated Swiss professional sailing team with additional partners.
RIGHT TO PLAY, as a social partner of the MarazziSailing team, also participates. The international humanitarian organization makes use of game and sports programmes around the world to reinforce children suffering from war, poverty and illnesses, in order to promote their health and education and to improve their quality of life in a sustainable way. Flavio Marazzi, who has children, has been an ambassador of RIGHT TO PLAY for years already.
Audi MedCup
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