Audi MedCup, Desafio si veste di Cristabella
Audi MedCupDesafio EspanolTP52Vela 28 Maggio 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=610,300,204,,left]Audi MedCup – Valencia – Come annunciato questa mattina, il TP52 di Desafio Espanol ha cambiato proprietario ed è finito nella mani di John Cook, armatore dei vari Cristabella.
Disegnato nel 2007 da Judel Vrolijk, sotto la guida del team spagnolo ha chiuso la passata edizione della MedCup al settimo posto ed ha ottenuto lo stesso risultato nella prima tappa di quest’anno, frazione che non ha visto al via l’equipaggio di Cook.
Il nuovo Cristabella debutterà nelle acque di Marsiglia: “Abbiamo del lavoro da fare per preparare la barca alle regate di Marsiglia – ha spiegato Brendan Darren, comandante di Cristabella – ma non vediamo l’ora di essere lì: da quando è iniziata la MedCup nel 2005 avevamo mancato solo 4 regate e ci è dispiaciuto non essere tra i protagonisti ad Alicante”.
Tante saranno le novità anche a bordo: il tattico sarà John Cutler, già a bordo di Desafio Espanol in Coppa America, mentre il timone andrà nelle mani di Ian Williams, numero uno al mondo nel match race.
AUDI MEDCUP, DESAFIO IS THE NEW CRISTABELLA
[Source Audi MedCup] The British team will race in the City of Marseille Trophy (June 9-14) with the 2008 TP52 of El Desafío.
Cristabella have recently secured the TP52 which was previously El Desafío which finished seventh on the 2008 Audi MedCup Circuit and raced her final regatta in Spanish colours at the 2009 City of Alicante Trophy, finishing seventh.
The new Cristabella is a 2007-8 Judel Vrolijk design built in Valencia by the Spanish America’s Cup Challenge.
The hull sister to Bribón is now being prepared to be raced in Marseille as Cristabella: “Now we have a bit on to be ready, to get the boat sorted and on our way to Marseille”, explains Brendan Darrer (IRL), Cristabella‘s boat captain. “Now we just want to get there and to enjoy our sailing again. It was very disappointing to miss out in Alicante. We have only missed four MedCup regattas since we started in 2005 so we really are looking forward to being back.”
Limited time means that the boat will be green and silver, with the sponsors’ logos removed. “It looks pretty good in green and silver,” Darrer notes. “I am not remotely superstitious and green, of course, is my national colour!”
The British team is happy about racing again with a Judel/Vrolijk design, as Barren highlights: “I’m really happy with the boat. The thing about the Judel Vrolijk boats is they are all so similar, just very small differences, and we are great believers in it being the way you sail them. We had already bought some new sails for this season and have some good, later ones from the ‘old boat’ so I feel we’ll be OK in that area to start with.”
Cristabella’s crew will include El Desafio‘s Olympic Finn bronze medal winning John Cutler (NZL). The Manchester, England born Kiwi sailed as tactician last year when the El Desafío team finished seventh overall, including a third overall in Cartagena, Murcia. World No 1 match racer Ian Williams (GBR) joins the crew, which is otherwise largely unchanged from the usual core including navigator Nat Ives (GBR) and owner/skipper John Cook (GBR).
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