by Stephanie Nadin
ALL4ONE finished Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice Côte d'Azur with a promising 5th place for the French-German team that opened a new era in sports.
Even if this group had a tough start in the competition as it was launched only a few weeks before the first Louis Vuitton Trophy, ALL4ONE managed to count on the new team spirit that was created between its sailors as well as on their confirmed capabilities to finally unleash the power.
A team able to compete against the best
The French-German concept which is at the origin of ALL4ONE's birth become quickly real by gathering this team around strong values, confirming the importance of an innovative philosophy to build a strong team, able to compete against the bests.
ALL4ONE proved it by winning important matches against top competitors like Artemis or BMW Oracle Racing, but also against Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice's Italian winner Azzurra.
One of the greatest satisfactions for ALL4ONE came from the success of the complementarity between Helmsman Sebastien Col and Skipper-Strategist Jochen Schümann. Their respective experiences and the sharing of those have made it possible for the team to take another step at each match.
Jochen Schümann, Skipper and Sports Director: "We have seen a very exciting Louis Vuitton Trophy, and Nice has shown best possible November weather with lots of very tight races. ALL4ONE has proven its potential with a steep learning curve, finishing 5th. Due to high failure rate in earlier round, we missed to qualify for semi finals, which was our goal. In final knock-out races, we finally defeated such strong teams as BMW Oracle Racing and Artemis.
"Seb Col gained during rounds a good boat feeling to apply his best Match Racing skills, executed by all 17 crew on board. Still we have identified a lot of details for improving. We are at very beginning to form our team and decision culture on board while racing and ashore. ALL4ONE do have the right people to continue with same crew, as soon as for upcoming Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland in March 2010."
Preparing the future starting with the 2010 season
ALL4ONE will carry on working for the future with the same group, and looking at the short term the team will first prepare the next Louis Vuitton Trophy (which will take place in Auckland, New Zealand, in March 2010). The team will train in Valencia, Spain, as soon as next February.
The other great satisfaction for the ALL4ONE crew members is that their ACC boat, FRA93 (which was one of the event's boats as a pair with GBR75 - ex Alinghi), has been sailed by the best teams. The boat made a good performance after having been matched with GBR75 for the regatta. This validated the good work that the young team K-Challenge achieved during the 32nd America's Cup in 2007.
Louis Vuitton Trophy: a successful concept of event
The Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice Côte d'Azur was a great success, despite the short timings for the organization of this first event.
ALL4ONE has played a key role to take the teams part of the World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA) and the event's boats to France.
After this first event, 4 other regattas are already expecting to welcome the competitors in 2010, starting as soon as March 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand.
The success factors of the Nice event will be used again, especially through the free live racing follow up on www.louisvuittontrophy.com, thanks to an accessible and commented mix of videos and 3D live racing through Virtual Eye.
The public is able to discover all the bits and pieces of high level match racing, which is one of the major strengths of the Louis Vuitton Trophy.
The event organisation will be reinforced again in order to improve a concept which kept its promises: tight and open racing (all the teams have won or lost, free access for the public to the official village and the web site, worldwide media exposure beyond the countries represented, reasonable budgets for the competitors).
Stephane Kandler, ALL4ONE's CEO concludes: "I believe that we can be proud to have convinced WSTA to come to Nice for the first Louis Vuitton Trophy, as well as of the results that the ALL4ONE crew achieved, showing the team could compete against the bests. The victory of Italian team Azzurra against Emirates Team New Zealand which was the favorite, is a proof that this event's concept "opens" the game and provides each participant with equal chances.
"This event stands for an ideal platform to create a top level and long lasting team for a reasonable cost for sponsors, especially with a view to preparing a competitive team for the America's Cup. We would like to particularly thank Geodis, Saint-Honore, Canal+, adidas, Chateau Tourril, which have been the first companies to trust us despite the fact that we are new. We are preparing ourselves looking forward to the next event in Auckland, with our target being to reach the top 4."
ALL4ONE
Louis Vuitton Trophy
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