27th July 2010. Valencia, Spain. The RC44 Valencia Cup starts this week and is being run from the 33rd Americas Cup base in the beautiful Spanish port, which is both impressive as much as it is enormous. The purpose built base mingles with astounding ease amongst the historical surroundings of the historical area, which is also host to the Formula One.
This is the fourth round of the RC44 Championship Tour and Sea Dubai Sailing Team has been invited to use the German Americas Cup base, which stands, at the other side of the bay to BMW Oracles base and the Press Centre. The facilities seem larger than life as the RC44 campaign is on a much smaller scale than that of an American Cup syndicate but the basics are similar and it’s an experience not to be missed. The team have completed five full days of training and it’s been a smooth operation in good conditions, which have allowed Sea Dubai to get used to the area and slip back into a well-coordinated team.
‘We’ve been practising on the water with No Way Back, concentrating on our starts for the match racing,’ said match race skipper Markus Wieser. ‘No Way Back is top of the leader board at the moment six points ahead of us and we’ve been winning about 50% of them, so we’re in good shape.’
The Sea Dubai RC44 is owned in a joint project between Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) and the office of Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Saeed Hareb, CEO, DIMC is in Valencia for the event. ‘I have witnessed a great improvement in the team over the last two years. The project is well organised and greatly supported by the class,’ Hareb commented. ‘The intention to have an ‘inside’ approach to the international sailing scene with this boat and class has paid dividends. It has highlighted Dubai around Europe and now with the move to the USA also on a global level. We are extremely happy to be hosting the Louis Vuitton Trophy in November this year and I feel that our involvement in this class has assisted to some extent in the process of securing this impressive regatta. The competitive nature of the sailing team has also served us well and I’m looking forward to supporting them here in Valencia.’ The Sea Dubai boat is also supported by Emirates Airline, Edox Swiss Watches and Marine Pool Clothing.
Racing gets underway today, Tuesday at 1pm local time with two days of match racing followed by a lay day and three days of fleet racing. The next round will be the first RC44 World Championship in Puerto Calero, Spain in October. Then the class will head to the USA for the Miami RC44 Cup in December.
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