The best sailors in the world are in Lanzarote for the premiere of the RC 44 Class World Tour. Puerto Calero closed the 2008 edition with the celebration of the Gold Cup and opens the 2009 edition with the RC 44 Cup Canary Islands Puerto Calero.
Big names from the America's Cup such as Russell Coutts, Dean Barker, Karol Jablonski, Sebastién Col or Cameron Appleton and Olympians such as Luis Doreste, Philippe Presti and Martin Kirketep, who participated in the presentation held this Tuesday at the Cetacean Museum of the Canary Islands, will sail in this class, which is undoubtedly the great future of sailing.
This is a competition where match race regattas coexist with two Round Robins - that is, everyone against everyone - and the last days with fleet regattas and an offshore race. In addition, in all the races each boat will have a guest who can experience the sensations of the competition at the highest level.
Spain will have two boats, the Islas Canarias Puerto Calero 1 with José Juan Calero and José María Ponce and the Islas Canarias Puerto Calero 2 with Carlos Morales and Luis Doreste. The other teams are BMW-Oracle (Larry Ellison/Russell Coutts), Team Aqua (Chris Bake/Cameron Appleton), Ceeref (Igor Lah/Sebastién Col), Team Organika (Maciej Nawrocki/Karol Jabonski), Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist/Dean Barker) and the debutant No Way Back (Pieter Heerema/Philippe Presti).
Continuing to grow
Daniel Calero, manager of Puerto Calero, is convinced that this class will continue to grow: "In this regatta we will have two boats, which are the basis of our regatta team, because Puerto Calero believes in this class and we think we have to bet on it." One of the great objectives is that "Spain has more teams in a competition that is very fun and even".
Luis Doreste, who will be the match race skipper in Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, explains that "Carlos Morales proposed this possibility to me and although I have been competing in the America's Cup as a tactician in recent years, I have not taken the helm in a match race for ten years. I am very excited because this is a very interesting class with a great level."
For his part, the manager of the RC 44 class, Bertrand Fravre, says he is "delighted both by the treatment received in Puerto Calero and by the wind and sea conditions, which are spectacular." Regarding the fact that Spain continues to grow in this class, he said that "we hope to have more requests from both boats and ports to accompany Puerto Calero on this circuit."
The regattas begin this Wednesday from 11.30 in the morning with the first of the two Round Robins and will end next Sunday. The coastal regatta will be held on Saturday.