iShares Cup : Lugano - Day 1 Highlights
Alinghi team capsizes at the first event of the IShares Cup in LUGANO - 30th of May 2008
By Francesa Lombardo
The first event of the iShares Cup, an international competition which sees up to 17 40 foot long catamarans disputing the title across five venues around Europe, has kicked off with a spectacular capsize of the Alinghi team’ s boat.
Lack of wind over the following two days, paced down the competition with some races cancelled.
Gilles Chiorri at OC Events reveals the four main points, which makes the iShares Cup so unique and spectacular.
1) All skippers are world champions, Olympic athletes and ocean racers:
“We wanted to make sure the competition was fought at the highest standards” explains Chiorri.
2) A fifth crew’s member on board:
“As a way of getting the public familiar with this type of race, every boat hosts a VIP person or a journalist on board during the competition. It only happens with the America’s Cup”
3) The event runs as close as possible to the coast:
“The races won’t take place further than 200 meters from the ground to facilitate the visibility"
4) Bringing the event inside the city with the opening and the closing event of the iShares cup on the lake of Lugano and on the canals of Amsterdam:
“It is a way to show that sailing isn’t necessarily something remote from city life"
The state of the art Extreme 40 catamaran was used for the very first time during the Vovlo Ocean Race in 2005.“ Made of carbon fibres, this type of boat is compared to F1 cars,” adds Chiorri “ The catamaran, extremely light and powerful, can be quite difficult to manage; it’s what makes the iShares Cup so spectacular and exciting"
With the Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson and her crew on JPMorgan Asset Management, which have secured the victory in Lugano, the iShares Cup is now heading for Hyères in South of France ( 13-15th of June).