Amateur finale in Valencia

This weekend will see the finallists from the BMW Sailing Cup go head to head in America's Cup waters

The grand world final of the BMW Sailing Cup sees amateur sailors from seven nations competing against each other from today Friday, 13 April until Sunday, 15 April. The crews, comprising the five winners of the national finals of their respective countries, will be confronting their rivals off Valencia. The boat used by the participants from Spain, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Austria, Malta and Denmark will be the Bénéteau First Class 7.5.

With the BMW Sailing Cup, BMW further extended its commitment to yachting. In professional sailing, the BMW ORACLE Racing team has made a name for itself in the America’s Cup. As BMW Sports Marketing Manager Ralf Hussmann says, “yachting is becoming increasingly popular. By introducing and hosting the BMW Sailing Cup, we intend to offer our BMW customers a new competitive platform. The BMW Sailing Cup is geared towards all amateur sailors who wish to pit their skills against those of other European sailing enthusiasts on the water."

The grand finale of the BMW Sailing Cup was preceded by qualifying regattas and the respective national finals. The latter were hosted alongside renowned international sailing events.

Following the regatta all participants will have the opportunity to witness the first regatta day of the Louis Vuitton Cup at the BMW ORACLE Racing team base and on a spectators’ boat on the race course.

Participants of the grand final of the BMW Sailing Cup:

Team Malta (David Franks, John Ripard, André Rossignaud, Peter Valentino´, David Anastasi)

Team Spain (Juan Company, Javier Jáudenes, Francisco Pomar, Bernat Vidiella, Juan Fullana)

Team UK (John Darby, Sian Evans, Mary Barratt, Andrew Baird, Amy Smith)

Team Austria (René Mangold, Christian Bayer, Helmut Driemer, Stefan Glanz, Maximilian Petutschnig)

Team Denmark (Jesper Bjørn Hansen, Martin Ørbæk Nielsen, George Bry, Peter Thagaard Olesen)

Team Germany (Steve Bärtle, Jörg Gruber, Patrick Heinrichs, Dirk Löwe, Jan Jelinek),

Team Italy (Paolo Brescia, Simona Crispo, Ariberto Strobino, GuiseppeTesonore, Dario Pagliani)