© Leon Popielarz

-Pantani's project is Toscana Challenge (11/02/03)
 (source : Toscana Challenge)

The Italian sports' daily "Gazzetta dello Sport" reported last week that a new Italian syndicate is borning and suggested that this new team has bought one of the 2002 Stars & Stripes and want to recruit Poland’s match racing ace Karol Jablonski as skipper.

More details have been released concerning the Team led by Gualtiero Pantani, an Italian businessman.

The syndicate, christened "Toscana Challenge", would sail under the the Yacht Club Livorno's burgee and would have recruited former Stars & Stripes tactician (and AmericaOne trimmer) Terry Hutchinson and Poland’s Karol Jablonski, who was hoping to put together a Polish campaign but commented on Thursday that this project would not now come to fruitition.


  Polska 1 without Karol Jablonski ? (07/30/03)
  (source : rumors)
Polish Polska 1 syndicate, the first to announce its intentions to challenge for the next America’s Cup, may have a big credibility loss as rumours are flying around that Karol Jablonski leaves the project.

Karol Jablonski is the current ISAF Match Racing World champion as well an accomplished offshore sailor. He has won some match-race event, the Admirals Cup, SORC, Commodores Cup, Copa del Rey and Kiel Week, and he counts world championship titles in the Mumm 36 and DN ice boat classes.

The new Polska1 skipper would be Wiktor Leszczynski.

- The first-ever Polish challenge in 2006 ? (10/30/01)
  (source : mkcafesailingteam.pl)
The first-ever Polish challenge, the Polska 1 Team, purchased ESP-05, one of the spanish challenger boat for the Louis Vuitton Cup 1992. The IACC, soon to be renamed "MK Cafe - POSTI", will be used as a training boat in Spain in preparation for America’s Cup 2006.

The Polish Challenge race crew for the America’s Cup includes Karol Jablonski, one of the best european Match Racer and a 100 % Polish crew (Jacek Wysocki, Marcin Kropidlowski, Jakub Friedenberger, Grzegorz Baranowski, Przemek Tarnacki, Arek Ornowski, Piotr Przybylski, Damian Lesniewski, Dominik Zycki, Marcin Jechorek, Grzegorz Sikorski, Mirek Rychcik, Igor Szrubkowski, Pawel Wlodarczyk, Pawel Górski, Rafal Szukiel, Pawel Bielecki, Piotr Rozalski, Andrzej Czapski, Arek Fedusi et Ryszard Szumowski).

Karol Jablonski said that the Cup budget is sufficient for two years and, during this time, all team will be working away from the base in Valencia (Spain).