K Challenge underway

The French team take to the water in San Francisco

From today the K-Challenge America's Cup team will be out sailing on the San Francisco Bay in an ACC boat - USA 49, the former AmericaOne from Paul Cayard’s 2000 campaign. This is the first official training session for the team in an America's Cup Class yacht and will last until 7 September.

K-Challenge say this is the next step in the evolution of their campaign now they have gathered their key players both on the sailing and design teams.

After the cancelling of the Golden Gate Cup by the organisers because of a last minute problem, the Oracle BMW Racing team has maintained the invitation for this non-official competition with two races per day on 5 and 6 Sept. The Alinghi team will also join this event.

One their first outing today there was a great surprise for the team. They had just started sailing upwind towards the famous Golden Gate Bridge when SUI 64, Alinghi’s America’s Cup winner came across the bay to sail alongside her.

Fabrice Blondel, who has sailed with French America’s Cup teams in 2000 and 2003, explains their objectives: "It's been nine months since the last time I sailed an IACC boat and it has been a long, hard wait to be here in San Francisco sailing these boats again.

"For me, it is the beginning of a great adventure, which will allow us to set up a large project to be able to compete with the best teams and to go far in the next Cup. Training with Oracle puts us at a really high level. It’s an honour to have been invited to be their sparring partner before their next match against Alinghi. This is a proof that K-Challenge has a real credibility.

"Our goals are of course limited, as sailing with a 2000 generation ACC boat won’t be that easy, and we know how fast USA 76 is. The targets for me will be to lead in the first cross on the upwind legs and to build a strong base for the sailing team. It will also be a way for all the team to get to know all the crew members and to create unity which will lead to a general trust in each other.

"I think that the America’s Cup will go through a huge upswing. The organiser wants to give it a more lively structure and make it last in the future. Creating a world circuit where everybody will be able to admire these fantastic boats will help set the course for the evolution of our sport."

The K-Challenge crew sailing in the San Francisco are:
BOW Jan Dekker
Upwind Trim John Ziskind
MIDBOW Romain Troublé
Downwind Trim Benoît Briand
MAST Fabrice Blondel
MAIN Hartwell Jordan
PIT Nic Clarke
Traveler Thierry Fouchier
Pit / runner Dawn Riley
HELM John Cutler
Grind Port Carl Barkow
Tactics Thierry Peponnet
GRIND STB Winston McFarland
Strategist / Runner Katie Pettibone/Dawn Riley
Main Grind Teva Plichart
Local Knowledge Sylvain Barrielle