Minoprio gets a break

Young Kiwi World Match Racing Tour winner to helm BMW Oracle Racing RC44

The first regatta of the 2010 RC 44 Championship Tour will take place next week in the United Arab Emirates. Organised by Dubai International Marine Club, the Al Maktoum Sailing Trophy RC 44 will reassemble nine world class teams and sailors including Ray Davies, Terry Hutchinson, Cameron Appleton, Rod Davis and many more.

Unable to attend the event due to their America’s Cup post-victory commitments, Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison have decided to give the opportunity to an up and coming team to test its skills at the world’s top level. Thus Adam Minoprio and his Black Match Racing team - winners of the World Match Race Tour 2009 - have been chosen to sail on board BMW Oracle Racing for this event.
 
"The boys and I are really looking forward to sailing on an RC 44 yacht" commented Minoprio. "I have heard so many great things about the class, so it’s going to be really exciting to finally venture into the class with my core team from the match racing circuit. Even though it’s just for one regatta, we are still going to go out there to win. Sailing in the RC 44 class is an amazing opportunity for us as we will be racing some of the best teams in the world. We feel very fortunate to be given this opportunity from BMW Oracle and very humbled to be asked by Russell to take over and get them a good result while they are busy."

Minoprio will be steering BMW Oracle Racing during the match races on Monday and Tuesday, while will Mike Perris will be at the helm during the fleet regatta over Thursday  until Saturday. Other members of the team include David Swete (main), Collin Orsini (grinder), Tom Powrie and Lorenzo Deflice (trim) as well as Revelin Minihane (pit) and Nick Blackman (bow).

Russell Coutts says he will be back on his boat for the next regatta: “I will be re-joining the RC 44 circuit at the following event in Austria. After the demands of the AC, I am very much looking forward to it."
 
Other new faces in the circuit include Terry Hutchinson, who joins the RC 44 Class for the first time on board Artemis and Raimondo Tonelli, who will steer Team Sea Dubai in the fleet races.

Teams involved in the Al Maktoum Sailing Trophy RC 44:
 
Team No Way Back (Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies)
Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist / Terry Hutchinson)
Ceeref (Igor Lah / Rod Davis)
BMW Oracle Racing (Mike Perris / Adam Minoprio),
Team Aqua (Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton)
Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (Daniel Calero / José Maria Ponce)
Katusha (Paul Cayard)
Team Sea Dubai (Raimondo Tonelli / Markus Wieser)
Team Austria (René Mangold / Christian Binder)