Hello from Valencia, Spain. I have just finished racing in the Desafio Trophy here in Valencia. And I have to admit, it has been great getting back on these racing machines with a full professional crew. The event was the annual regatta for the CNEV here in Valencia and included four teams – Desafio of Spain, Team Origin of England, Alinghi of Switzerland, and Luna Rossa of Italy. I was driving Luna Rossa with a great team that included some members of their 2007 campaign and several of us from other teams.

The racing was fantastic, with a soft sea breeze developing each day, allowing us to have two races each day over the three day regatta. After a year of inaction in the Cup as it lingers in court, everybody seemed to enjoy a little Cup racing again. Alinghi with their 2007 Cup winner SUI 100 has not lost any of their brilliant speed, and was always able to work their way to the front of the pack and won the regatta easily. The racing was relatively tight with the remaining three, but we managed to put together a string of 2^nd’s to finish second, followed by Origin and then Desafio. We sailed really well for a new team and are quite happy with the result.

And there is some more of this friendly Cup racing ahead. Louis Vuitton and Team New Zealand will host the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland, New Zealand from January 24 – February 14. Twelve teams have entered, with four boats being provided by Team New Zealand and BMW Oracle. It should be some great racing in Auckland harbor and quite interesting with all teams on evenly matched boats.

Ciao,

peter