Orm and Orn on the way to Dubai

by Bert Willborg/Victory Challenge on 19 Dec 2006 They are loaded onto an Antonov, the gigantic Russian transport plane. First Orm (SWE 73), then Orn (SWE 63). It is an impressive operation that is taking place at Valencia’s airport, as Victory Challenge transports its America’s Cup boats to Dubai for winter training.

Whilst the Antonov AH-124-100 that landed in Dubai yetserday was loaded with 100 tons of equipment, including two 20-ton bulbs, three full containers and a tender boat, less than 10 tons will be transported in the second Antonov plane.

But the boats are all the more difficult to transport. They are 24 metres long and 3.9 metres wide. The masts are even longer, 34 metres. Therefore they didn’t roll out from the base until tonight, for a late road transport so that the traffic in Valencia is disturbed as little as possible.

It is a chilly Valencia that Victory Challenge is leaving. Tonight the thermometer shows 12 degrees Celsius.

The masts have been lifted in first, through the loading ramp on the plane’s nose.

At exactly 2pm., when Spanish TV Canal Nou switches to live broadcasting from the airport, the juggernaut’s trailer with SWE 73 on is backed in through the rear ramp.

The Red Bull bow disappears into the Antonov, where the hull is attached to a gantry lift and moved deeper into the plane.

The gantry operator has a manoeuvre control about which he says with a smile: 'Ruski standard!'

The Antonov 124-100 was the world’s biggest plane on the model’s virgin flight in 1982. The plane, hired by Victory Challenge, is planned to leave Valencia early tomorrow morning, headed for Dubai. The first plane landed in the United Arab Emirates yesterday.

The task for those from Victory Challenge’s team who are already on site in Dubai is clear: they are to make ready the temporary base in Dubai and get the boats, when they arrive, ready to sail for winter training. Four months remain until the challengers’ series, the Louis Vuitton Cup, where the eleven challengers will decide who will be the Challenger that will meet the Defender, Alinghi, in the America’s Cup Match.

For Victory Challenge, the winter training in Dubai is an important part of the preparations for the final phase of the 32nd America’s Cup. Or, as Magnus Holmberg, skipper and helmsman, expressed it when announcing the Dubai operation last week:

'We have been given a unique opportunity to site our winter training there. Bearing in mind that the sailing conditions in Dubai are equivalent to Valencia in April and May, we calculate on having considerably more high quality training days on the water.

It is not only a unique opportunity; it is also a great challenge to transport the team, boats, containers and other equipment from Valencia to Dubai. Almost 70 people from Victory Challenge’s team will be there for the winter training in the United Arab Emirates. The historic weather data is unequivocal; in Valencia, an America’s Cup team can only count on a few training days on the water during the winter – whilst conditions in Dubai are equivalent to those in Valencia during spring and early summer.

'The two-boat training we have had in Valencia during the autumn has been very effective and we have achieved our goals. But according to plan the focus has been on developing the boat and less on racing and crew work,' says Magnus Holmberg.

This has included a lot of sail development and rigging tests etc, carried out in preparation for SWE 96, the new boat that is currently being completed at the shipyard at the Lindholmen Science Park in Göteborg.

'The first period following the launch of an America’s Cup boat is about structural testing and optimisation. It takes some time before you can sail it full out. It’s therefore impossible to say no when we have the opportunity to add so many days of pure sailing training,' says Magnus Holmberg.