Oracle BMW Racing buy training boats

More good news for the Swedish Match 40

America's Cup syndicate Oracle BMW Racing has purchased two of the specially developed Swedish Match 40 match racing yachts This follows Match Race Portugal's acquisition of six of these Pelle Petters0n designs that are built in Sweden by Maxi Yachts.

Oracle BMW Racing CEO Chris Dickson and his crew will be the first team to
use the new SM40s in their preparations for the Swedish Match Tour and in their training for the America's Cup. "The SM 40s will provide a good training platform for our race crew to hone their match racing skills," said Dickson. "We can train with the SM 40s for the many Swedish Match Tour events in Europe this year. The Tour events are part of our overall training for the America's Cup.

Maxi Yachts Managing Director Pehr Edström hopes that more teams and Swedish Match Tour events will purchase boats. "We are experiencing a solid and positive interest in our new yacht, from event organisers as well as from America's Cup teams, which makes this deal particularly satisfying. Given the addition of the recent deal with the Portugal Match Cup, I sense that we are gathering momentum in terms of sales. We are currently working on securing SM 40s for events on the 2005 Swedish Match Tour."

Launched last summer the new Swedish Match 40 is intended as a mass production boat that can be used not only by teams and events on the Swedish Match Tour, but America's Cups teams and yacht clubs and associations for match race training.

Oracle BMW Racing's boats have already been delivered to the Real Club Nautica de Valencia in Spain where the next America's Cup will be heldin 2007. However it will be some time before they go into the water. While their base in Valencia is under construction the team is practising out of their old base in New Zealand. The team will
start training in the SM40s during the Northern Hemisphere summer month