Rock stars descend on Palma

We assess the Who's Who competing at in the TP52s at Copa del Rey Camper Audi

With the America's Cup done and dusted in Valencia (on the water at least), a large number of over-qualified crew are kicking around, many of whom have now pitched up here in Palma for Breitling MedCup component of the Copa del Rey Audi Camper.

Peter de Ridder's 2006 winner Mean Machine team are still reeling from the shock of having to withdraw from the Volvo Ocean Race. However since the Cup they have been rejoined by Ray Davies and other Emirates Team New Zealanders such as Tony Rey, Stu Bettany and Jono Macbeth.


Ray Davies (left) examines crew weights with Tony Rey

Also from the Kiwi team, Ian Moore has resumed his duties as navigator on board Eamon Conneely's Patches, where skipper Ian Walker is attempting to keep the crew as consistent as possible this season. Emirates Team New Zealand's tactician Terry Hutchinson was racing with Windquest in Porto Portals but has now leapt on board the King of Spain's Bribon in place of Ross MacDonald. After this, Hutchinson told us, he plans to return to the States - briefly - before resuming his duties on board Jim Richardson's Barking Mad for the Farr 40 Worlds. Bribon have also roped in Desafio Espanol's American mainsheet trimmer Hartwell Jordan to perform the same duty on board.


Bouwe Bekking and Marcel van Trieste on board Bribon

Doug de Vos' Windquest have Emirates Team NZ mainsail trimmer Don Cowie in his familiar role on board, along with BMW Oracle Racing beefcake Brian MacInnes grinding while Geordie Shaver, one of the voices on America's Cup radio, will be keeping the crew on their toes with his famous one liners.

CxG Corporation Caixa Galicia, Vicente Tirado's series leader at present aboard their new B&C design have benefitted in the first two regattas of the season by having Ericsson skipper John Kostecki and Luna Rossa's Robert Hopkins calling the shots in the afterguard for helmsman Roberto Bermudez de Castro. The team are also using American 1987 Star World Champion Ed Adams as one of their coaches.

After a difficult Breitling Regatta in Porto Portals where he was disqualified from the coastal races, finishing the regatta a lowly 14th, Vasco Vascotto (left) is racing his new Mutua Madrilena with many of his same crew who sailed with him at Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team including Spanish navigator Nacho Postigo, also one of the Breitling MedCup's triumverate of organisers, tactician Michelle Paoletti, trimmers Cesare Bozetti and Maciel Cichetti and the front of the boat guys such as Cristian Griggio, Angelo Romanengo and bowman Matteo Auguadro, in the mix of Italian and Chilean crew on board.



A boat bristling with Cup stardom is the new Siemens (formerly Alexia) of Argentinian former IMS maxi boat owner Alberto Roemmers, where for this regatta they have shipped in none other than Paul Cayard (right) who is taking the place of Alinghi's Murray Jones in the tactician's role. Mike Mottl, Peter Gilmour's match racing crewman, also with United Internet Team Germany, is trimming, while former +39 crewmen Bruno Zirilli and Christian Sherrer are navigating and trimming respectively among the otherwise largely Argentinian crew.

The team on board the German yacht Platoon have also benefitted from the Cup closing down with the addition for this regatta of Alinghi helmsman and sailingmeister Jochen Schuemann (left), on board as helmsman. Also sailing on board are Desafio Espanol's John Cutler calling tactics and Team Shosholoza's Tim Kroger in the pit and the South African team's navigator Marc Lagesse.



Equally Torbjorn Torqnvist's Artemis has a whole roster of heavyweights starting with the man Russell Coutts (above). Navigating on board is Alinghi's Juan Vila, with Luna Rossa's Andrew 'Raw Meat' Taylor grinding, BMW Oracle Racing sailmaking supremo Ross Halcrow trimming alongside Emirates Team NZ's James Dagg and bowmen Jero Lomas and Dick Meacham.

John Cook's Cristabella is also big on Cup sailors. These include the younger McKee brother, Charlie (Luna Rossa - left) who is tactician, while Malta's finest Chris Dougall and 'big' George Skuodas were both with Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, Guy Salter and Matt Cornwell were both with the French Areva Challenge, and then there are several ex-GBR Challenge folks such as Chris Mason and Toby Iles, plus Volvo Ocean Race veteran and 49er world champion Chris Nicholson. They even have as their coach the legend Jim Saltonstall, this time trying to keep his grown-up 'ferrets' in order.

The biggest posse of former GBR Challenger crew is to be found on board Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm including Mo Gray, Jeremy Elliot, James Stagg, Guy Reid, Chris Main, Gerry Mitchell and Ado Stead (this time with Mascalzone Latino) plus Britain's top trimmer Andy Hemmings (Emirates Team NZ - left) and Team Shosholoza's Brett Jones and Victory Challenge/ABN AMRO Two navigator Simon Fisher. Former Amer Sport Too skipper Lisa McDonald is also on board leaving husband Neal to hold (literally) the baby.

Mean Machine's Italian sistership Anonimo Q8 have beefed up her crew too this season with Luna Rossa trimmer Manuel Modena and pitman Michele Cannoni and Desafio Espanol's Marco Constant. The new Glory team, of Seattle-based property developer John Buchan equally have former Team New Zealand helm Cameron Appleton calling tactics and now have former ABN AMRO One crewman Phil Harmer on mainsheet.


Cameron Appleton (left) with Stig Westergaard

Balearia have since the start of the season had Areva Challenge's former helmsman Thierry Peponnet on board as tactician. They have also picked up several Desafio Espanol crewman such as bowman Jaime Arbones, trimmer Victor Marino and grinder Jorge Ondo. Similarly the new Cam, Caja Mediterrineo has Desafio Espanol tactician Santiago Lopez-Vazquez and grinder Virgilio Torrecilla on board.

Among the smaller teams, Inaki Castaner's Ono have imported American Tony Rey into the tactician's spot, while the Nicolaev's Russian crew on Rusal-Synergy have gained serial round the world sailor Peter 'Spike' Doriean. The Austrian crew on Rainer Wilhelm's Brenta-designed C Quadant-Astro have added Danish round the world and Olympic sailor Stig Westergaard as their new helmsman, with Austrian cat sailor Andreas Hagara on tactics and +39's Karlo Kuret (Croatian Finn sailor) on mainsheet. Bigamist 6 and Tau Ceramica-Andalucia each have a Desafio Espanol grinder on board.

In short we reckon around one quarter of the crew here in Palma come from Cup teams.
Crew line-up for Copa del Rey

VALARS		ONO
Shevtsov Serguei	Skipper	Iñaki Castañer	Skipper
Baleew Valery	Trimmer	Tony Rey	Tactician
Rozhkov Vitaly	Mainsail Trimmer	Andres Ferrera	Navigator
Ponomarenko Alexei	Foredeck or Mast	Carlos Soria	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Podolsky Kirill	Pitman	Ricardo Bellod	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Orabinskiy Roman	Deck Hand	Alberto Vidosa	Grinder
Nazarenko Konstantin	Deck Hand	Angel Medina	Mainsail Trimmer
Kovalenko Nicolay	Mainsail Assistant	Oscar Bustos	Mainsail Grinder
Kotsiouba Serguei	Deck Hand	Jose Luis Domecq	Trimmer
Konstantinov Roman	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Gonzalo Perez de Guzman	Pitman
Khaletskiy Alexandre	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Robin Imaz	Trimmer
Gordeychuk Yriy	Grinder	Javier Moner	Bowman
		Mario Arias	Pit Assistant
Patches
Ian Walker	Skipper	BALEARIA
Tim Powell	Helmsman	Gonzalo Araujo	Skipper
Ian Moore	Navigator	Thierry Peponnet	Tactician
Sinead Conneely	Deck Hand	Alicia Ageno	Navigator
Simon Fry	Trimmer	Ramón Ojea	Trimmer
Ronan Grealish	Trimmer	Victor Marino	Trimmer
Lou Varney	Mainsail Trimmer	Rodrigo Sanz	Bowman
Jonathon Taylor	Foredeck or Mast	Ramón Lago	Trimmer
James Carroll	Mainsail Grinder	Pablo Iglesias	Mainsail Grinder
Ian Weighell	Grinder	Manuel Carrión	Trimmer
Guy Barron	Pitman	Jorge Ondo	Mainsail Grinder
Fredric Shanks	Bowman	Jaime Arbones	Bowman
Eduardo Van Hoogstraten	Pit Assistant	Iñigo Losada	Trimmer
Eamon Conneely	Mainsail Assistant	Ignacio Andrés Diammona	Grinder
Bernard Fitzpatrick	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Germán E. Panei	Trimmer
		David Madrazo	Trimmer
SIEMENS		Angel Prieto	Trimmer
Guillermo Parada	Skipper
Alberto Roemmers	Helmsman	PLATOON
Paul Cayard	Tactician	Harm Müller - Spreer	Skipper
Zirili Bruno	Navigator	Jochen Schümann	Helmsman
Christian Sherrer	Trimmer	John Cutler	Tactician
Gabriel Marino	Mainsail Assistant	Marc Lagesse	Navigator
Juan Pablo Cadario	Pitman	Jann Nehrgaard	Foredeck or Mast
Luis Fiorentino	Pitman	Rod Dawson	Mainsail Trimmer
Victor Torres	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Tim Kröger	Pitman
Torkel Borgstrom	Mainsail Trimmer	Pawel Bielecki	Grinder
Pedro Perello	Pit Assistant	Tom Baranowski	Trimmer
Michael Mottl	Trimmer	Matti Paschen	Trimmer
Matias Blanco	Grinder	Tom Swift	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Mariano Parada	Strategist	Simon Licht	Mainsail Grinder
Mariano Caputo	Bowman	Jacek  Wysocki	Bowman
		Liam Porter-Domizlaff	Pit Assistant
Cristabella
Christopher Nicholson	Helmsman	C-Quadrat - Aspecta ASTRO
Charles Mckee	Tactician	Franz Fellner	Trimmer
Nathaniel Ives	Navigator	Stig Westergaard	Helmsman
Murray Philip Goodsell	Deck hand	Andreas Hagara	Tactician
Christopher Dougall	Grinder	Christian Binder	Tactician
Brendan Darrer	Pit Assistant	Armin Raderbauer	Bowman
Grant Spanhake	Trimmer	Christian Bayer	Strategist
William Beavis	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Stefan Kölliker	Grinder
Toby Iles	Trimmer	Peter Klenner	Pitman
Matthew Cornwell	Bowman	Paul Anderson	Trimmer
Guy Salters	Pitman	Martin Glavasevich	Mid-Bow or Sewer
George Skuodas	Foredeck or Mast	Markus Schlesinger	Foredeck or Mast
Edward Turner	Mainsail Assistant	Mark Dieckmann	Grinder
Christopher Mason	Mainsail Trimmer	Klaus Lindinger	Pit Assistant
		Karlo Kuret	Mainsail Trimmer
Mutua Madrileña		Gerd Habermüller	Foredeck or Mast
Vasco Vascotto	Skipper	Paulo Joeirinho	Tender driver
Michelle Paoletti	Tactician
Nacho Postigo	Navigator	FRAM XVI
Maciel Cichetti	Trimmer	H.M. KING HARALD V	Skipper
Cristian Griggio	Pitman	Geir Dal Andersen	Helmsman
Cesare Bozetti	Trimmer	Kjell Arne Myrann	Navigator
Pablo Amunategui	Mainsail Trimmer	Hans Joergen Bauck Jr	Bowman
Giovanni Casinari	Mainsail Assistant	Tron Solli Saether	Grinder
Emilio Cousiño	Deck Hand	Erik Kongshaug	Grinder
Daniele De Luca	Mainsail Trimmer	Kjell Inge Heiberg	Mainsail Trimmer
Bernardo Matte	Foredeck or Mast	Andreas Gjul Dale	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Antonio Orlandi	Pit Assistant	Sjur Klafstad	Pitman
Angelo Romanengo	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Lars Erik Heibekk	Trimmer
Nicola Pilastro	Grinder	Anders Myhre	Mainsail Assistant
Matteo Auguadro	Bowman	Thomas Nilsson	Foredeck or Mast
		Rolf Holm	Mid-Bow or Sewer
		Boerre Hekkn Paulsen	Trimmer
Peter de Ridder	Helmsman	Einar Koefoed	Strategist
Ray Davies	Tactician
Jules Salter	Navigator	Bigamist 6
Tony Rae	Grinder	Afonso Domingos	Skipper
Tom Dodson	Strategist	Andrea Casale	Tactician
Stu Bettany	Bowman	João Reis	Navigator
Sander van Der Borch	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Elmano Costa	Pit Assistant
Liam Newman	Trimmer	Vicente Melo	Foredeck or Mast
Jono Macbeth	Grinder	Renato Conde	Mainsail Assistant
Jonathan Swain	Trimmer	Miguel Frade	Pitman
Jon Gundersen	Trimmer	Miguel Contreras	Trimmer
Joe Allen	Pit Assistant	Manuel Dantas	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Jeff Reynolds	Pitman	Luis Vasconcelos	Trimmer
Dirk de Ridder	Mainsail Trimmer	Luis Neves	Mainsail Trimmer
Chris Reid	Foredeck or Mast	Gilberto Conde	Bowman
		Francisco Caetano	Deck Hand
BRIBON		Federico Giovanelli	Grinder
S.M. Juan Carlos de Borbón	Skipper
Bouwe Bekking	Helmsman	CAM, Caja Mediterráneo
Terry Hutchinson	Tactician	S.A.R.D. Felipe de Borbón y Grecia	Skipper
Marcel Van Triest	Navigator	Fernando León	Helmsman
Antonio Cuervas	Grinder	Gonzalo Infante	Navigator
José Cusí Ferret	Boat Captain	Iñaki Martínez	Bowman
Fabrice Blondel	Foredeck or Mast	Virgilio Torrecilla	Grinder
Alberto Viejo	Pitman	Diego Torrado	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Romain Trouble	Bowman	Sandro Benigni	Trimmer
Pablo Braquehais	Pitman	Pablo Torrado	Bowman
Pablo Arrarte	Grinder	Luis Martínez	Mainsail Trimmer
Lars Borgström	Trimmer	Juan Luis Wood	Trimmer
Ignacio Triay	Trimmer	Jaume Anglada	Mainsail Grinder
Hartwell Jordan	Mainsail Trimmer	Jaime martínez	Pit Assistant
Gabriel de Llano	Grinder	Ignacio Alcina	Pit Assistant
		Francisco Sánchez-Luna	Trimmer
Glory		Alejandro Sánchez	Pitman
John Buchan	Helmsman
Cameron Appleton	Tactician	Stay Calm
Andrew Koch	Navigator	Stuart Robinson	Helmsman
Scott Kennedy	Pit Assistant	Adrian Stead	Tactician
Alex Simanis	Pitman	Simon Fisher	Navigator
Tyson Lamond	Bowman	Gerry Mitchel	Mainsail Trimmer
Stu McLachlan	Trimmer	Emma Robinson	Trimmer
Scott Smith	Trimmer	Brett Jones	Trimmer
Phil Harmer	Mainsail Trimmer	Chris Main	Strategist
Miguel Garcia	Foredeck or Mast	Garry Bainbridge	Mainsail Grinder
Kris Henderson	Trimmer	Andy Hemmings	Trimmer
Karl Funk	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Maria Bertrand	Deck Hand
Joshua Weinstein	Grinder	Mo Gray	Foredeck or Mast
Fritz Lanzinger	Strategist	Lisa McDonald	Pitman
Darrin Towe	Grinder	Jeremy Elliot	Bowman
		James Stagg	Pitman
CxG Corporación CaixaGalicia		Guy Reid	Grinder
Vicente Tirado	Skipper
Roberto Bermudez de castro	Skipper	Tau ceramica-Andalucia
John Kosteki	Tactician	Jose Maria Torcida	Skipper
Robert Hopkins	Navigator	Manuel Doreste	Tactician
Pedro Mas	Bowman	Javier Domínguez	Navigator
Nacho Braqueais	Mainsail Trimmer	Tunte Cantero	Trimmer
Juan Meseguer	Trimmer	Thomas Hazebroek	Pitman
Javier De la Plaza	Trimmer	Sergio Tena	Grinder
Jacobo Alvarez	Grinder	Rafael Marsans	Foredeck or Mast
Francisco Gonzalez	Pit Assistant	Rafael Díaz	Pit Assistant
Federico Armeñanzas	Mainsail Assistant	Piti Estebanez	Trimmer
David Pella	Pitman	Pedro Llamas	Mainsail Trimmer
Carlos Ruigomez	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Octavio Rodríguez	Trimmer
Carlos Martinez	Trimmer	Iñigo Etxaniz	Grinder
Arcadio Garcia-Tizon	Mainsail Grinder	Christofer Domínguez	Bowman
Antonio Piris	Trimmer	Arturo Reina	Deck Hand
		Alfonso García	Bowman
RUSAL - Synergy		Alberto Garcia	Strategist
Andrey Nikolaev	Helmsman
Alexey Nikolaev	Tactician	AIFOS
Francesco Mongelli	Navigator	Jaime Rodríguez Toubes	Skipper
Alexander Grudnin	Pit Assistant	Edward Owen	Tactician
Vladimir Senko	Trimmer	Oliver Góngora	Deck Hand
Uladzimir Siamenau	Mainsail Trimmer	Javier Cuevas	Deck Hand
Taras Trofimenko	Trimmer	Arturo Piñeiro	Deck Hand
Sergey Kucherenko	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Javier Arrizabalaga Ortiz	Trimmer
Peter Doriean	Strategist	Ignacio Iturrioz Eguinazu	Bowman
Pavel Mshenski	Bowman	David Castillo Mandado	Mainsail Grinder
Pavel Melnikov	Grinder	Andrés Espinosa	Deck Hand
Oleg Krivov	Trimmer	Rafael Manera Talavera	Pitman
Dzimtry Yarmolenka	Pitman	Pablo Ortega Hernández	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Andrey Kochnev	Deck Hand	Pablo Miguel Galán Rodríguez	Grinder
		Natalia Celia Díaz Rodríguez	Deck Hand
		Marcos Iglesias	Trimmer
Riccardo Simoneschi	Helmsman	Luis Cortina Victorero	Mid-Bow or Sewer
Matteo Ivaldi	Tactician	Juan Baro Martin	Deck Hand
Andrea Visintini	Navigator
Mark Reynolds	Strategist	Artemis
Iztok Knafelc	Grinder	Torbjorn Torqnvist	Skipper
Lorenzo Fantoni	Mainsail Assistant	Russell Coutts	Tactician
Alessandro Paoli	Trimmer	Juan Vila	Navigator
Michele Gnutti	Grinder	Jeremy Lomas	Bowman
Michele Cannoni	Pitman	Andrew Taylor	Grinder
Massimo Gherarducci	Pitman	Ed Smyth	Strategist
Mark Constant	Mainsail Trimmer	Gustaf Lidvall	Grinder
Marco Cornacchia	Bowman	James Baxter	Mainsail Trimmer
Marco Carpinello	Foredeck or Mast	James Dagg	Trimmer
Manuel Modena	Trimmer	Jared Henderson	Pitman
Lucia Giorgetti	Deck Hand	Roscoe Halcrow	Trimmer
Giuseppe Leonardi	Mid-Bow or Sewer	Richard Meachem	Foredeck or Mast
		Pieter Van Niewyazen	Grinder
		Max Sirena	Mid-Bow or Sewer