Interview
with Stefan Rahm
(07/02/01) (source :
Victorychallenge)
Interview with Stefan Rahm, the
Team Victory Challenge Afterguard, currently at the
French training camp in Sète.
How is the training going?
“It is going in the right direction. We have been
training a lot with the Swiss team, Alinghi Challenge.
We have managed about four races a day against them,
three days a week. At first we were groping about
in the dark with certain things, but our understanding
is improving by the day, and it feels better and better.
We have been training especially on the pre-start,
the time just before the start, as well as doing speed
training.”
What has the weather been like?
The winds here are very light. Calm and quiet in the
morning, with better, stronger winds in the afternoon.
We would have liked to have had a little bit more
pressure in the sails, but there’s not much we can
do about it. For the rest it is warm and nice, the
sun is shining and we are enjoying ourselves.”
Do you have any time off?
“The past two and a half weeks have been really tough,
and so we’ve only had maybe one afternoon off in all
that time. Even if the weather is really bad, there
is always something to do on the boat, which we have
on land during the nights. We assemble at seven in
the morning to work out. At nine we gather on the
boat to put her to water. Between ten in the morning
and five in the afternoon we train flat out, after
which there are a few more hours of work on the boat
until the evening. Everyone is responsible for their
own area, and if necessary, adjustments are made.
The winch and the block are taken apart and we always
check all the rigging. The days are long and tough.”
New
boat building underway in Sweden
(06/27/01) (source :
Victorychallenge)
While the Victory Challenge crew
is training flat out with the Cristina at the French
seaside resort of Sète, another type of crew is lovingly
crafting the first of two Swedish built boats that
are needed in order to take part in the America’s
Cup challenge. She is being built at a wharf in Gothenburg,
Sweden, where New Zealand’s Chris Mellow is working
with the 20-strong international boat building team.
It is hot and sticky in the big hall where the unnamed
boat is being built. She will be named in October
when she is to be delivered. The hall buzzes with
the sound of people hammering, sawing, polishing,
and fine-tuning this latest addition to the Victory
Challenge fleet. Magnus Grävare, who coordinates the
builders and the designers, says they are on schedule,
having begun building a month ago, with the boat slowly
starting to take shape.
A team of around twenty people are involved in the
production of the boat. They are a gang of professional
boat builders working their way around the world like
a travelling circus, dedicated to just one thing;
boat building. “They work ten to twelve hours a day,
six days a week, five to six months of the year, the
rest of the time they take off”, explains Magnus.
“They come from New Zealand, Australia, England and
Sweden. Most of them live under spartan conditions,
and they do not enjoy any luxuries while they are
here. These boat builders live for their work, and
they are undoubtedly doing an excellent job. The entire
boat is handcrafted, from aft to stern. You won’t
find any large machines here, just screwdrivers, hammers
and handsaws.”
The Gothenburg wharf is responsible for crafting the
hull, deck, rudder and keel. The mast is made in New
Zealand, and the sail in the US. All America’s Cup
challengers have their sails manufactured in the same
factory. All teams try to make their boats from as
light a material as possible, to keep the weight down.
The hull is mounted on a frame made from Canadian
cedar. First it is covered with a thin layer of carbon
fibre, followed by a second layer of a strong paper-like
material (nomex/kevlar), followed by another layer
of carbon fibre.
The entire project is rated top secret, and the building
process is shrouded in secrecy. No outsiders are allowed
into the area, and there are strict controls governing
the drawings and the material. Some parts of the boat
were even covered for our visit, and we couldn’t take
pictures of just anything. The boat builders have
signed confidentiality agreements. “Suppose a competitor
would find out some details and develop something
similar, it could make the difference during a race”,
explains Magnus.
But all will be revealed in October when she is ready
for delivery. A few months later another boat building
project will take off, when the second of the two
boats that make up the Victory Challenge fleet will
go into production. It will be on one of these two
newly built boats that the Victory Challenge team
will make its bid for the America’s Cup 2003.
Interview
with Magnus Holmberg
(04/20/01) (source
: sailingworld.com)
Grand Prix Sailor caught up with
the 39-year-old Holmberg, who is currently training
with his America's Cup team in France.
First, the swedish helmsman said "We're building
two boats. The first one is just starting to be built
now. We'll start to build the other boat next winter.
The first boat is being built in Goteburg. German
Frers Jr. is our designer."
Second, he explained "(they) have the old NZL-38,
which is one of the boats they used in 1995. (They're)
staying in France this spring and this summer and
then we're shipping everything over to New Zealand.
Victory
Challenge to train in France (03/27/01) (source
: sail-online.com)
Rumours were circulating to the
effect that the Swedish Victory Challenge could carry
out next summer's training sessions in the island
of Elba with three other syndicates (Prada Challenge,
Mascalzone Latino and the Swiss Challenge).
Finally, Victory selects Sète (South of France)
for its 2001 summer training sailing facility as it
continues preparations to challenge for America's
Cup, scheduled to commence in October 2002 in Auckland,
NZ. The agreement came about 2 weeks approached the
city about bringing a crew to train in the '95 french
base (usued for San Diego by the France 2 and France
3, skipped by Marc Pajot).
Mobilization of the previous french sailing base,
wich must be rehabilited, is beginning and will operate
through summer 2001. Monday, for the first time, the
Swedish Team sailed its boat, the previous NZL 38
(rechristened "Cristina"), from the harbor
but must stopped after a tender failure.
The Team have just finished a first session sailing
in the Canary Islands and this summer, the Swedish
challenger programme could share the french waters
with the Swiss Challenge.
The
Victory Team testing programme (01/24/01) (source :
NZ
Herald)
As eight boats are on the Hauraki
Gulf this week, the Swedish Victory Challenge are
doing it differently, training in the Canary Islands
because their home waters are icy. They will spend
their summer on the Italian island of Elba - not far
from Italian syndicates Prada and Mascalzone Latino.
The Swedes intend to be in Auckland in September with
their boat the Cristina, formerly known as Black Magic
II, NZL38.
Jesper
Bank joins Victory Challenge (12/21/00) (source : Sports.com)
At a press conference in Copenhagen
today, the danish Jesper Bank announced that he has
signed with the Victory Challenge syndicate’s venture
towards the America’s Cup 2003. "He has shown great
strength—even when it looks like he’s on his way to
losing, he can turn it around and win," said Mats
Johansson, project manager and world-class Starboat
sailor.
"He does his best sailing when the going is rough.
It is privilege to have him among us." "What made
me change my mind and join Victory challenge is that
it’s not all about committing myself to sailing,"
said Bank. "I am also going to be part of the management
group for the Victory Challenge syndicate and will
be able to influence the design of the boat and the
recruits. It will be just as interesting for me if
I’m skipper, helmsman, or tactician."
"I wouldn’t have agreed to this either if it were
a financially uncertain project," said Bank. "The
financing has been secured very satisfactorily, in
a way almost no other syndicate can claim." Jesper
Bank is one of five Danish sailors who will be part
of the crew, which mainly consists of Swedish men,
with some sailors from Norway and Finland.
The other Danish sailors are Claus Olesen, 26, Kasper
Vang, 26, Kasper Harsberg, 27, all three grinders,
and Morten Halkier, 28, trimmer (who was World Champion
in match racing last year, as a hand on Jesper Bank’s
crew) .
Jesper Bank began his sailing career when he was 12
years old in an optimist dinghy. He was 23 when he
became the Danish national champion for the first
time, in an H-boat. Two years later, he started sailing
a Soling, the class he’s dedicated most of his career
to. In addition to two Olympic Gold medals, he has
six World Championships and two European Championships
in match racing, Dragon, H-boat and Soling.
Jesper Bank received a Bronze Medal at the Olympics
in Seoul in 1988 and took Denmark’s first Olympic
medal this year’s in Sydney (against Jochen Schuemann,
who took the Gold in 1976, 1988, and 1996).
Among the recruits is Magnus Holmberg, 39, who won
two of the tree latest World Cup competitions in match
racing in the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour.
Two others from his crew, Lars Linger, 39, and Stefan
Rahm, 33, have also joined Victory Challenge. Now
there are two skipper candidates in addition to Mats
Johansson himself: Jesper Bank and Magnus Holmberg.
Yesterday, Skippers from most of the
confirmed teams for the next America's Cup (Ed Baird,
Dean Barker, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts, Chris
Dickson, Peter Gilmour, Andy Green, Chris Larson &
James Spithill) attended a "State of the America's
Cup" press conference at the Royal Bermuda Yacht.
In a relaxed, hour-long genial exchange they traded
quips, revealed a few secrets and agreed that the
next America's Cup regatta would lift the stature
of the event to a new plateau.
Dennis Conner
told that he is close to completing an agreement
with the New Yorkers to sail under their banner at
the next challenge in New Zealand in 2003. Queried
if he would challenge next time from the New York
Yacht Club, Conner revealed that he wanted to represent
New York in Fremantle in 1987 and in Auckland last
year. "I've had two unsuccessful bids, you might say,
to represent the club," he said. "It would be a nice
dream for me to win the Cup and bring it back to New
York and the trophy room at the New York Yacht Club.
It would be nice closure. While it might be a dream,
I would relish the chance for it to be reality."
Briton Andy Green talked about his
plans for a British challenge, but admitted he needed
a major backer. Green said he and British sailors
had spent a great summer sailing that country's two
IACC boats in Cowes. "There was a lot of positive
feeling, but feeling unfortunately doesn't get you
to the America's Cup," he noted wryly. "The British
sailing team at the Olympics did an amazing job,"
he added. "They got three gold medals and two silvers.
I'm hoping that will encourage a few people with some
serious money to get involved."
Magnus Holmberg
from Sweden revealed that he had just signed up to
skipper Sweden's Victory Challenge (see article).
Holmberg said Argentinian designer German Frers who
helped start Italy's Prada Challenge last time would
design the Swedish boats.
Peter Holmberg, from the US Virgin
Islands, sat at the opposite end of the table from
Ed Baird, and like Baird, acknowledged he had no concrete
Cup plans.
Magnus
Holmberg joins Victory (10/25/00) (source : Sports.com)
Sweden's America's Cup challenge,
the Victory Challenge, have made a big credibility
gain with the signing of Magnus Holmberg and his entire
Stora Enso Match Racing Team.
Magnus Holmberg is a veteran of the international
match racing scene, has represented Sweden at the
Olympics three times and is currently third on the
Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour scoreboard (he
has won the Italy's Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini
and the Danish Open). He will personally bring a maturity
and depth of experience to the challenge that would
be hard to match, while his whole Stora Enso Team
will provide a very cohesive core to the crew.
Commenting on the signing, he said, "so far it is
me, Lars Linger and Stefan Rahm who have signed, Lars
is the trimmer, and Stefan is the tactician, so they
are very important people. Then we hope that Michel
and Daniel Bjorndal will be signing when we get back
home, so the full Stora Enso Team will be signing."
Though Magnus was involved in the Victory Challenge's
purchase of the former Team New Zealand boat NZL 38,
before joining the team he stood back and waited to
see how they shaped up. He explained, "Mats Johanssen
gave me a call and asked if I could go and inspect
the boat with Peter Gilmour. It was nice to see that
something was going on in Sweden, but I really wanted
to see what the project was like, and what the ideas
were behind the project, and to see that it was a
serious project, because I think that being involved
in the America's Cup could be anything from heaven
to hell, depending on the people you are working with.
"Now I'm pretty convinced that it is a long term stratergy,
not just one America's Cup, but trying to build some
knowledge in Scandinavia, which I think is the right
attitude."
The other coup for the Victory Challenge is the signing
of designer German Frers, who was part of the design
team for Prada Challenge in the last Cup, which won
the Louis Vuitton Cup, but was defeated by Team New
Zealand in the America's Cup. Frers, who is from Argentina
has a long and illustrious career in yacht design,
and was with the Il Moro di Venezia team that challenged
for the Cup in '92.
The Victory Challenge is planning to build two new
boats, one after the other, and will start training
in Auckland around October next year. Until then they
will be sailing NZL 38 in Gothenburg through to the
middle of November this year, then are planning to
take it to the Mediterranean from April next year.
Asked about whether they will be sailing against other
challengers in the Mediterranean, Magnus admitted,
"there are some discussions going on with other teams
about training together."
The initial sponsors are a range of very well-known
brands like Metro (a free daily newspaper entirely
financed by advertising), TV3 & Viasat Sport (Modern
Times Group MTG AB, a leading international media
group), Comviq & Tele2 (NetCom AB, a pan-European
telecommunications company), Everyday (pan-European
Internet portal), Moderna Fonder and Atlantica.
