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BT TEAM ELLEN UPDATE - JULY 2008
www.btteamellen.com @ Sun Jul 06 09:11:00 +0100 2008
In Brief:
- BT IMOCA 60 skipper Seb Josse qualifies for the solo Vendée Globe.
- BT Team Ellen preparing for the annual Skandia Cowes Week that will see Nick Moloney competing in the 3rd round of the European iShares Cup, Seb and Ellen competing in The Artemis Challenge, and Ellen gets the chance to drive the Extreme 40 in the class racing.
In Detail:
Seb Josse qualifies for the solo Vendée Globe:
Just over two months ago the BT IMOCA Open 60 was launched on the River Thames to the sounds of the ‘Sugababes’ and then not long after BT skipper, Seb Josse, was racing in The Artemis Transat – the oldest solo race race history from Plymouth to Boston. Seb was leading the 2,800 mile race when he was forced to retire following damage at the top of the mast that sent the mainsail crashing to the deck.
A disappointment for Seb but he was extremely happy with the boat’s performance, in particular with the Vendée Globe in mind, as at the time he had been leading the Vendée Globe pre-race favourites. Seb turned the boat around and headed back to Lorient in France and completed enough solo miles onboard the new BT IMOCA Open 60 to meet the qualification regulations for the Vendée Globe. Seb, who automatically qualified following his participation in the 2004 Vendée Globe, still had to qualify the new BT boat. This has now been officially confirmed by the Vendée Globe race organisers and BT becomes the 23rd official entry in the race, although the final entry numbers are expected to be close to 30.
BT IMOCA 60
© Thierry Martinez / Sea&Co / BT Team Ellen
Skandia Cowes Week and the iShares Cup:
The annual Skandia Cowes Week, the UK’s biggest sailing regatta, is always a high point of the year for BT Team Ellen who are also based in Cowes, home to Skandia Cowes Week. It is an opportunity to mix some great racing out on the water with entertaining BT Team Ellen partners and guests. And, for sure, it is one busy week for the team!
Nick Moloney skipper of the BT Extreme 40 will be competing in the third round of the iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series – a high-adrenalin mix of professional sailing on high-speed catamarans at five venues across Europe. The BT Extreme 40 crew enjoyed a podium finish at the first event in Switzerland and a hair-raising regatta in Hyères, France. BT are now 4th overall as they prepare for third round that will take place at the start of Skandia Cowes Week over 2nd – 4th August. A week of training with a coach should prepare them well for this regatta that will also see the America’s Cup teams of Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing meeting on the water for the first time since the last America’s Cup in 2007.
Ellen MacArthur then gets to take the helm from Tuesday, 3rd August as she will race the BT Extreme 40 in the daily race organised by the Skandia Cowes Week event organisers, Cowes Combined Clubs. In addition, Ellen will join Seb onboard the BT Open 60 in The Artemis Challenge race around the Isle of Wight. This 50-mile sprint around the island will see BT line up against the UK Open 60 contenders including Mike Golding (Ecover), Jonny Malbon (Artemis Ocean Racing), and Dee Caffari (Aviva). It is also for a great cause – the winning boat can donate £10,000 to a charity of their choice. Seb has nominated the Ellen MacArthur Trust and the French charity A chacun son Everest.
BT EXTREME 40
© Thierry Martinez / Sea&Co / BT Team Ellen
BT TEAM ELLEN: Nick Moloney, BT Extreme 40 skipper, Ellen MacArthur, Sebastien Josse, BT IMOCA 60 skipper
© Thierry Martinez / Sea&Co / BT Team Ellen
VENDEE GLOBE FAVOURITES TO COMPETE IN THE ARTEMIS CHALLENGE AT SKANDIA COWES WEEK
www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk @ Wed Jul 02 09:01:00 +0100 2008
Seb Josse (BT) and Mike Golding (ECOVER 3) join the charity sprint around the Isle of Wight
Sébastien Josse (FRA) and Mike Golding (GBR) today confirmed their participation in The Artemis Challenge at Skandia Cowes Week on August 5th. The entries of two of the favourites for the Vendée Globe further strengthens the IMOCA 60 fleet racing around the Isle of Wight for the £10,000 charity prize fund. The 50-mile sprint will be the final time the two rivals will be able to test boatspeed head-to-head against each other before the Everest of sailing starts in November.
BT and ECOVER 3 are currently racing against four British skippers, Dee Caffari (Aviva), Brian Thompson (Pindar), Jonny Malbon (Artemis Ocean Racing II) and Simon Clay (Artemis Ocean Racing I). This takes the fleet to 6 with further IMOCA entries expected in the coming weeks.
Seb Josse will be competing on the BT IMOCA 60, which was launched in 2007, as an integral part of the BT Team Ellen project headed up by Dame Ellen MacArthur. Josse undertook his first solo race onboard BT in The Artemis Transat in May and was leading the solo transatlantic race when he was sadly forced to retire. Nonetheless Josse was inspired by the boat’s performance against many of the leading IMOCA sailors and is now in the final phase of preparation for the solo Vendée Globe.
With a fast boat and a wealth of experience from the Figaro, Volvo Ocean Race and IMOCA circuits, Josse is tipped as a skipper to keep an eye on in November. He finished fifth in the 2004 edition of the race despite sailing an older generation boat (VMI) and hitting a growler in the Southern Ocean.
Speaking from the team’s base in Lorient, Josse commented, “We’ve had a good test run in The Artemis Transat and validated quite a bit on the boat. Since we’ve been back, we have been sailing and BT is now in the shed for some more improvements. We’ll be looking forward to compete against the British pack, especially the ones we haven’t competed against yet and all the while doing it for two great causes, the Ellen MacArthur Trust and the French charity A chacun son Everest. It should be fun and we’re looking forward to the race which is a great addition to Skandia Cowes Week allowing us to showcase the IMOCA class abroad.”
Mike Golding will be competing on ECOVER 3, one of the latest generation IMOCA Open 60s. Built in New Zealand, ECOVER 3 was launched in 2007 and competed in the Transat Jacques Vabre and Ecover B2B race. Some necessary changes to the keel bulb forced Golding out of The Artemis Transat in May, denying the experienced sailor the chance of defending his title in Boston.
ECOVER 3 is now fully ready for the Vendée Globe and The Artemis Challenge at Skandia Cowes Week will be a strong training opportunity in a busy summer for Golding. Mike is undoubtedly one of the most successful solo sailors in Britain and represents one of the best chances of a British skipper winning a singlehanded round the world race since Sir Robin Knox-Johnston won the legendary Golden Globe in 1969.
Golding famously finished third in the last Vendée Globe despite losing his keel off the coast of France. He has built up a wealth of experience within the IMOCA circuit and the pinnacle of sailing remains his number one priority. Mike will certainly fancy his chances of finishing first in Les Sables D’Olonne at the end of the Vendée Globe.
Speaking from the team’s base in Southampton, Golding commented, “It will be a great spectacle to see the Open 60’s racing around the Island as part of the Artemis Challenge, especially with the backdrop of Skandia Cowes Week. This will be one of the last times that we can race competitively against each other before the start of the Vendée in November, so it will be good to see how we all square up against each other.”
America's Cup challengers join the iShares fleet at Cowes - twice
www.isharescup.com @ Tue Jul 01 09:26:00 +0100 2008
BMW ORACLE Racing will join the iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week, with a two-boat Extreme 40 entry sailed by some of the world’s top sailors.
Legendary sailor Russell Coutts (NZL), will skipper one of the two Extreme 40s – Coutts is considered by many to be one of the greatest sailors of all time, having won an Olympic gold medal, three America’s Cups and multiple world championships. He will be joined by multihull expert Franck Cammas (FRA) in the afterguard, who has skippered the giant ‘Groupama’ trimarans to multiple ocean race victories and records.
On the second BMW ORACLE Racing boat James Spithill (AUS) will take the helm – the hugely talented match racer has a reputation for taking no prisoners at the starts so he’ll be one to watch on the 11-boat start lines in Cowes. Spithill will be joined by Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup-winning tactician John Kostecki (USA). The remaining four crew will be confirmed closer to the regatta, which takes place over August 2-4.
BMW ORACLE Racing have entered two teams in the iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week
© Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW ORACLE Racing
BMW ORACLE Racing, who are currently the challenger of record for the next America’s Cup, have been training hard in the Extreme 40s because the next edition of the famous match racing contest will take place in multihulls. BMW ORACLE Racing will challenge America’s Cup defenders Alinghi for the trophy, so the iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week in August will be the first occasion the two teams have locked horns on the water since the Louis Vuitton Act 13 in 2007.
The highly competitive iShares Cup arena is the ideal practice ground for the BMW ORACLE crew, who are currently building a new multihull for the next America’s Cup – the two Extreme 40s recently competed at a special “Just the Best” regatta in Italy (20-22 June) where Spithill and Coutts faced off in the cats, with Spithill’s team earning the regatta victory.
“We are putting more time into racing the Extreme 40s now, as well as match racing,” Coutts said. “Until the new boat arrives we will keep pushing our learning curve on multihulls as much as we can.”
But with nine other teams on the water in the iShares Cup racing in Cowes the America’s Cup crews can’t expect to have everything their own way. As Event Director Gilles Chiorri explained, “Since the beginning of the season the fleet has been improving in power – in Lugano we had nine boats, then in Hyères we had 11 and there was much more action on the water with all the teams pushing harder.
“Having such a race between BMW ORACLE Racing and Alinghi will be very interesting – Cowes is after all where the America’s Cup began – and we know they have some very good crew in Franck Cammas, James Spithill and Russell Coutts. It will be very exciting for us to have such a high profile team joining us in the iShares Cup, but I am sure the other teams will give them a good run for their money.”
Sir Keith Mills, Team Principal of TEAMORIGIN – the British America’s Cup challenger for the next multi-challenger America’s Cup – welcomed the announcement, saying: “I am really pleased to see BMW ORACLE Racing joining the iShares Cup circuit and back on the water racing against two other America’s Cup teams, Alinghi and TEAMORIGIN, as well as the other competitors, it is sure to add increased interest in the circuit from a media and spectator point of view.”
TEAMORIGIN skipper Rob Greenhalgh, who is currently leading the iShares Cup circuit overall, added: “The addition of BMW ORACLE Racing to the iShares Cup is great news. The circuit has been fantastic so far with some really top teams competing including two America’s Cup teams so adding one more is sure to enhance the racing and increase general interest further. They are sure to be a strong team and it will be good to race against them.”
The other teams lining up for the third event of the 2008 iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week are: BT, skippered by offshore record breaker Nick Moloney; Holmatro, helmed by cat specialist Andreas Hagara; iShares, skippered by Olympian Hugh Styles; double British gold medallist Shirley Roberston on JPMorgan Asset Management, who won the first event of the circuit in Lugano; the innovative Oman Sail, skippered by Pete Cumming as part of a unique project from the Sultanate of Oman; Team Aqua, helmed by Kiwi match racer Cameron Appleton; and Volvo Ocean Race, skippered by Extreme 40 class innovator Herbert Dercksen.
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