The outcome of RC 44 Championship Tour 2010 is more uncertain than ever, with five teams separated by six points after three events. Will the RC 44 Valencia Cup reshuffle the cards? The answer in a month.

The second half of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2010 will start in Valencia, Spain, on July 27. No less than eleven teams, including Vincenzo Onorato’s Mascalzone Latino and all the teams involved since the beginning of the season, will participate in the event.

The RC 44 Valencia Cup will be the fourth event of the Championship Tour 2010. It will most probably coincide with the return of summer sailing conditions following an interesting first three events this season. Indeed, the Tour started in February in Dubai in superb yet challenging conditions, with a lot of sand and dust in the air carried by a nearby storm; it carried on under the snow-capped mountains that surround the stunning Austrian Lake Traunsee, before last month’s strong breeze in Copenhagen.

The summer weather in Valencia should bring back the sun and the warmth, alongside the nice and stable sea breeze that traditionally blows in the Mediterranean during the summer. The regatta will begin on Tuesday July 27 with a match race event held over two days. The team owners will then take the helm on Thursday 29th for a fleet race practice day followed by three days of fleet regattas.

Valencia, the iconic sailing venue, home of the America’s Cup 2007 and 2010, is a great site for sailing in general and the Championship Tour in particular. The races will take place in front of Malvarrosa beach (weather permitting) whilst one of them, on Saturday, will finish inside the Dársena, next to the famous Veles e Vents building.

General Director of Consorcio Valencia 2007, Jorge Gisbert explains that “It is the first time ever that the Valencian waters will welcome the RC44 teams. We look forward to welcoming them for what we hope will become the first of many editions here, and to organise an event as successful as other events organised at the Marina Real Juan Carlos I, such as the America’s Cup or Formula 1. The Consorcio Valencia 2007 team is working hard to ensure all the elements of the event are set in place. We are grateful for the support of the Real Club Náutico de Valencia and the Spanish and the Valencian Sailing Federations.”

The RC 44 Championship Tour is one of the world’s top sailing events. With six regattas spread in the Middle-East, Europe and the United States, it involves up to twelve international teams that include last year’s winner Team No Way Back (Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies), Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist / Terry Hutchinson), CEEREF (Igor Lah / Rod Davis), BMW ORACLE Racing (Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts), Team Aqua (Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton), Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (José Juan and Daniel Calero / José Maria Ponce), Katusha (Guennadi Timtchenko / Paul Cayard), Team Sea Dubai (Harm Müller Spreer / Markus Wieser), RC 44 Challenge (James Spithill), Team Austria (René Mangold / Christian Binder) and Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato).

Photo Credit: Per Heegaard / RC 44 – BMW ORACLE Racing and Team Aqua, second and third of the provisional ranking.

RC 44 Championship Tour 2010, overall ranking after three events:

Tags on NauticNews.com: RC44
– PR –