The World's Leading Regatta Circuit
The 2008 Audi MedCup Circuit is a sailing regatta circuit
featuring the TP52 Class of racing yacht. It consists of six regattas over the
course of five months in four different countries. They are all sailed in
Southern European waters, five in the Mediterranean and one in the Atlantic.
Whilst each of the six events can be considered individually
from a sporting point of view, winning the circuit requires the best score from
all events. To draw an analogy with another sport, another mechanical sport, the concept of
a circuit is the same as for the Formula 1 car racing circuit. Whereas it is
prestigious to win a regatta or an individual race, the real champion is the one
who is the best at the end of the season.
Yacht racing is a mechanical sport that has many
similarities to motor racing. The obvious ones are the team, the competition,
the equipment and the different race tracks. As in Formula 1 racing success
comes to the team with the right combination of preparation, speed, driving
skill, reliability and good tactics. The design and construction of a Formula 1
car is a complex subject. To the layman they all look the same, all have four
wheels, the engine at the back, wings at the front and back and the driver in
the middle. But to the connoisseur there are significant differences, no matter
how subtle, between the cars.
With the Audi MedCup circuit the class of boat used is the
TP52 and although they all look the same to the untrained eye, with one mast,
one keel and rudder, all the crew at the back and a cabin towards the front,
they are as subtly different from each other as the starting grid of a Formula
1 Grand Prix.
You can’t win with a slow boat but you wont necessarily win
with the fastest boat either. The combination of skill sets a team has plus the
reliability and speed of their boat are the chief ingredients of success.
The Audi MedCup Circuit represents the top of the sport
today and attracts the very best designers, sailors and technicians, and this
has inspired many owners to participate and to continue to participate along
the four year history of the Audi MedCup tour.
But it is not all about work. By definition, racing yachts
in Southern Europe all summer long means being in some of the most beautiful
sailing locations in the world. The Mediterranean has many ports capable of
staging prestigious competitions, and this allows the organisation to make a
varied and non-repetitive circuit every year.
Geographically Palma is in the centre of the circuit and
serves as a home base for many of the teams. It is also represents the half-way
stage in the circuit this year with the Breitling Regatta Calvia Coast at the
end of July. Before it are regattas in Alicante in May, Marseille in June,
Cagliari in early July. Following the Palma event there is a regatta in
Carthagena in late August and Portimao in Portugal in mid-September.
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