Sailors sharpen skills in Euro match racing circuits

Many America's Cup sailors have fanned out across Europe to keep their skills sharp on the various match racing circuits that proliferate in the summer months on the continent.

Scanning down the entry list of some of these events, one could be led to believe that it is all about another Louis Vuitton Act, the America's Cup official website reported this week.

In a main commentary, americascup.com said that over the past week, Sweden's Victory Challenge skipper, Magnus Holmberg, followed up his strong performance at the Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts with second place at an event in Marstrand, Sweden.

Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker was snapping at his heels, with Alinghi's Peter Holmberg close behind. Several other entrants representing America's Cup teams were also participating.

The other country hosting a Louis Vuitton Act this year, Italy, was the scene of another racing event where Alinghi's Jochen Schuemann beat Luna Rossa's Francesco Bruni to win the event, with teams representing Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team and United Internet Team Germany rounding out the four-team event.

These match racing events provide great opportunities for the Cup teams to work on their match racing skills in shorter format racing.

Most events use boats in the eight to 12-metre range as opposed to the 24-metre America's Cup Class, so the boat handling skills are much different. However, the tactical situations are the same and the match racing circuit is crucial to the development of the afterguard. The teams benefit from short race courses, and plenty of starts, where tight tactical situations come up time and again.

Sailing enthusiasts expect to see more America's Cup sailors participating at events across Europe this month ahead of the Malmo-Skane Louis Vuitton Acts 6 & 7, which begin at the end of August.

Meanwhile, other teams continue training closer to home in Valencia, with Desafio Espanol 2007, Luna Rossa, Team Shosholoza, Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi all sailing or scheduled to sail these coming days.

French team K-Challenge, based in nearby Gandia, will be in Valencia for a few days over the next couple of weeks for practice matches against the Spanish and Mascalzone teams.