The
Victory Team is complete (07/25/02) (Source
: Victory
Challenge)
Mats Johansson, Project Manager, skipper, and tactician/strategist,
is the last member of the crew to return to Auckland.
He stayed longer in Sweden to remain involved with and
close down Victory Challenge’s boatyard and design office
in Gothenburg.
Swedish America’s Cup challenge are now concentrated
in Auckland.
-Discreet
departure to Auckland for Orm (07/15/02) (Source
:
Victory Challenge)
On the way from Gothenburg to Auckland, Victory
Challenge’s second boat Orm (SWE 73). She left the boatyard
at dawn and was loaded aboard ship in Gothenburg harbour
soon afterwards. Everything was kept very discreet.
’We are hoping to be successful in getting Orm really,
really right. And we don’t want any attention or anyone
overlooking us’, says Mats Johansson, Project Manager
for Victory Challenge and still in Sweden precisely
for the secrecy-surrounded transport of Orm as well
as for freighting the Swedish America’s Cup challenge’s
new tenders.
Örn (SWE 63), Victory Challenge’s first boat built for
the America’s Cup that starts with the challenger series
Louis Vuitton Cup on 1 October, has been sailing in
Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf since mid-December last year.
Örn is recognized to be fast, especially when tacking.
But, in tank tests, Orm is even faster.
Because the boats are different, with Örn acting as
a development platform for the construction of Orm,
the whole process with the second boat has taken place
in an atmosphere of even greater secrecy that with the
first.
When Örn was ready – in October last year – she was
named before invited guests, along with journalists
and photographers, in the boatyard at Lindholmen in
Gothenburg.
This time, only a chosen few has been allowed in the
yard. There has been no naming ceremony. This will take
place as late at possible, in connection with the launch
at the Victory Challenge base in the America’s Cup village
in Auckland. This is expected to be in mid-to-late August.
-A
perfect day on Örn in the Hauraki Gulf (07/14/02) (Source
:
Victory Challenge)
It's cold but sunny and the wind conditions are
perfect in the Hauraki Gulf. It's also lonely. Only
one America's Cup boat can be seen despite there being
only 79 days left until the start of the world's most
prestigious regatta.
Örn (SWE 63) is back in the water with a, to say the
least, motivated crew eager to see how she works after
all the modifications that have been made since she
sailed last. "We have definitely taken another step
in the right direction. Örn is sailing very well,"
comments Jesper Bank, the day's helmsman, after the
session.
On the first two days, the team sailed on Cristina,
formerly the Black Magic boat NZL 38, built in 1994
for that year's Louis Vuitton Cup. Today they are
onboard Örn, built in 2001 for this year's challenge.
"Sailing with the new boat really boosts morale, you
can feel it onboard. It lifts all of us," says Jesper
Bank. It is no secret that the crew now only considers
sailing Cristina of interest if competing against
another boat. "Not on her own, then it has to be Örn,"
says Jesper Bank.
The main purpose of the first two training sessions
on Cristina was to get the crew back into big boat
sailing with a 16-man crew, having sailed smaller
boats on the match racing tour the last couple of
weeks or maybe not sailed at all more than for pleasure.
Far from all the sailors have returned from Sweden
yet. That's why the crew are not all in their usually
positions.
The weather requires several layers of clothes, the
thickest possible gloves, boots and hats. Although
far from below zero, ten degrees is fairly cold when
sailing, even when there isn't a cloud in the sky.
There's a wind of four to five metres per second when
training starts out in the Hauraki Gulf, which later
increases to six to eight metres per second.
There are only 79 days left to the Louis Vuitton Cup.
-Lars
Linger is back from injury (06/28/02) (Source
:
Victory Challenge)
Lars Linger is training match racing ahead of
the Swedish Match Cup. It will be his first sailing
competition for a very long time. He is now completely
recovered from the serious injury he suffered while
training on Örn in the Hauraki Gulf in the beginning
of May.
"It good to start sailing again", says Lars Linger,
genoa trimmer for the Swedish America's Cup challenge
and part of helmsman Magnus Holmberg's crew for the
final event in the Swedish Match Tour in Marstrand
next week.
The accident happened on May 7. An unloader came loose
on Örn (SWE 63), hitting him in the back causing fractures
but he was still lucky.
"I could be sitting in a wheelchair today, or even
worse", he says. If the unloader had hit two centimetres
more to the right, it would have fractured his spine.
The fractures he now received have healed. "I'm not
feeling any back problems now".
Lars Linger has been home in Sweden for rehab since
shortly after he left the Auckland hospital in mid-May.
He tested sailing again for the first time the Sunday
before the trip to Denmark.
After that, he gave the OK to his teammates. "But
my muscles were given a shock by the accident, so
I get tired when I sail. I've got a stiff neck too,
but it doesn't give me any problems. I feel really
charged."
This means that he is well prepared to return to Victory
Challenge and the final preparations ahead of the
America's Cup. Some of the crew will already be returning
to Auckland next week and the rest after the Marstrand
event.
-Victory
wins tighest match against Team NZ (05/22/02) (Source
:
Victory Challenge)
Victory Challenge just lost the start - but Örn's
renowned speed upwind, in combination with manoeuvres
and tactics, was enough to compensate.
The Swedish America's Cup challenge was then able to
take the lead in the tightest match so far against Team
New Zealand. Despite repeated attempts, the winning
boat from America's Cup 2000, NZL 60, never succeeded
in overtaking.
The first match of the training regatta between Team
New Zealand and Victory Challenge could get under way
today after being cancelled yesterday due to high winds.
At 10.40 this morning the wind speed had become a more
moderate 6-7 metres per second prior to start, increasing
during the match to 8-9 m/s and dropping again to 6-7
m/s by the finish.
Dean Barker was helm for Team New Zealand and Hamish
Pepper tactician. Corresponding positions for Victory
Challenge took Magnus Holmberg and Stefan Rahm. Johan
Barne was navigator and Mats Johansson strategist and
skipper.
Dean Barker and NZL 60 started the best and were leading
for the first 24 minutes of the upwind leg. But Magnus
Holmberg and Örn gradually reduced the gap. Each boat
had chosen their own side of the course and when they
met after going about for the first time, Team New Zealand
was still in the lead.
"They chose to maintain their lead and didn't go about
again, so we split up once more. We were in the lead
the next time we met", says Mats Johansson. A very marginal
lead, so small that for a while it looked as if it would
finish in a collision. But it was a lead they never
surrendered. Not during the rest of the upwind leg or
the run; not in the tacking duels on the last upwind
leg or the final straight run without a single gybe.
T he regatta against Team New Zealand will continue
tomorrow with Jesper Bank as helm, Mats Johansson tactician,
Johan Barne navigator and Henrik Blakskjaer strategist.
The rest of Victory Challenge will be returning to Sweden
on June 2. After some time off, promotion commitments
and the final phase of the building of their new boat
in Gothenburg, they will all be returning to Auckland
in the beginning of July for the final preparations
ahead of the America's Cup, starting with the Louis
Vuitton Cup on October 1.
