Alinghi to join World Match Racing Tour 2009

6:35 PM Tue 24 Feb 2009 GMT

Alinghi, Defender of the 33rd America's Cup, will lead an all-star cast of teams during this season's World Match Racing Tour.

'It will be great for us to get back on the World Tour and its top level match racing,' said Ed Baird, helmsman for Alinghi. Baird, three-time Match Racing World Champion, ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year and defending 32nd America's Cup helmsman, will lead Alinghi at most stops on the World Tour.

An interesting change to this year's World Tour has been the introduction of the 'Tour Card' which guarantees certain teams entry into all of the World Tour events based on their previous years performance. The six teams that qualified for World Tour cards this year include:

- Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar - 2 x defending ISAF Match Racing World Champion.

- S?bastien Col (FRA) French Team/K-Challenge - America's Cup helmsman and ISAF ranked number one match racer

- Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Team/Team French Spirit

- Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza

- Adam Minoprio (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand/Black Match Racing

- Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team

One remaining wildcard has yet to be allocated but there is strong interest from several teams. In addition to those above; a number of top teams are planning to compete on this year's World Tour including: Magnus Holmberg of Victory Challenge, three-time Olympic gold medalist Ben Ainslie and his TeamOrigin as well as Peter Gilmour who announced at the Monsoon Cup that Yanmar would be coming onboard as a new sponsor.

The new invite policy stems from a collaboration of input from competitors, events and the Tour. 'The policy helps in a number of ways,' commented Tour Director Craig Mitchell, 'Teams with a Tour Card get an automatic invite to the first 9 events'. This will help them with their own promotion and search for sponsors as they know for certain which events they will compete in. In previous years a team would find out if their invite had been accepted only a short time before the event, stopping them from any kind of long term planning. The event promoters also benefit from knowing who the majority of competitors will be at their event early on in the year. In terms of the overall championship there is now a clearly defined path laid down to show teams how they can get onto the World Tour and compete for the ISAF Match Racing World Championship.

2009 TOUR SCHEDULE

March 10 - 15, 2009 Marseille International Match Race Marseille, France
May 27 - June 1, 2009 Match Race Germany Langenargen, Germany
June 2 - 7, 2009 Korea Match Cup Gyeonggi, Korea
June 16 - 21, 2009 Portugal Match Cup Troia, Portugal
June 29 - July 5, 2009 Match Cup Sweden Marstrand, Sweden
September 1 - 6, 2009 St Moritz Match Race St Moritz, Switzerland
September 9 - 13, 2009 Danish Open Denmark
September 22 - 27, 2009 Brasil Sailing Cup Brazil
October 5 - 11, 2009 King Edward VII Gold Cup Hamilton, Bermuda
December 1 - 6, 2009 Monsoon Cup K.Terengganu, Malaysia

About the World Match Racing Tour:
. The World Match Racing Tour is the leading professional sailing series featuring 10 World Championship events across the globe
. The World Tour is sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with 'Special Event' status
. The World Tour awards over US$1.5million in prize money
. Points are awarded at each event culminating in the crowning of the 'ISAF Match Racing World Champion'
. Events utilise the same 'match race' format used in the America's Cup with racing taking place in identically supplied racing yachts which places a focus on team work and skill. Racing takes place close to the shore for the general public to follow the races from virtual 'on-the-water' stadiums.
. Media and television coverage reaches over 600 million households in excess of 90 countries around the world.
. World Match Racing Tour sponsors include Line 7, Pindar, Custom House, Travel Places, Wedgwood and Sail.TV

by World Match Racing Tour media

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Alinghi to join World Match Racing Tour 2009

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