Dubai RC 44 Cup marks start of Championship Tour

by MaxComm Communication on 20 Feb 2008 The RC 44 Class is proud to launch its second season in Dubai (March 3-7) with the support of DHL as Official Logistics Partner. The event, that had to be moved from Abu Dhabi, will be organised by Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), the dynamic club from the United Arab Emirates.

The Dubai RC 44 Cup will start on Monday March 3 with the match racing event. The winner of the contest will be celebrated Tuesday night, before the owners take the helm for three days of fleet racing.

A coastal race - the DHL Trophy - will take the fleet into The Palm for an exciting discovery trip. The winner of this race will be awarded with the DHL Trophy, whilst the points of the regatta will be incorporated in the fleet race ranking.

The Dubai RC44 Cup will reassemble Chris Bake's Team Aqua (with pro sailor Cameron Appleton), Russell Coutts' Team Omega with Patrick De Barros helming the fleet races and Miroslav Reljanovic's Cro-A-Sail (who now sails with Morten Henrikson): the top three teams of the Championship Tour 2007.

Team Ceeref (Igor Lah / James Spithill) and Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano (Armando Giulietti and Sébastien Col ) will lead the opposition, whilst Sea Dubai, the local team from DIMC, will join the RC 44 fleet for the first time with Markus Wieser at the helm.


The teams involved:
(Name of team, owner, pro sailor)
Team Aqua, Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton
Team Ceeref, Igor Lah / James Spithill
Team Omega, Patrick de Barros / Russell Coutts
Cro-A-Sail, Miroslav Reljanovic / Morten Henrikson
Team Hiroshi - Città di Milano, Armando Giulietti / Sébastien Col
Sea Dubai, DIMC, Markus Wieser

The RC 44 is a light displacement, high performance One Design sailing boat. It was designed by three-time America's Cup winner Russell Coutts, together with Slovenian naval architect Andrej Justin. The RC 44 was created for top level racing in international regattas under strictly controlled Class Rules. The concept and the design features of the RC 44 are dedicated to the amateur helmsmen racing in fleet and match racing sailing events.

Website: www.rc44.com