VOR Remains Active with iShares Cup

The opening round of the inaugural iShares Cup, formerly the Volvo Extreme 40 series, started on Lake Starnberg, near Munich, this weekend with some notable names on the entry list. A total of six boats faced the starter for the first race. Jean-Christophe Mourniac, the 37-year-old French skipper of the Volvo Ocean Race Extreme 40, will be among a field of sailors from Volvo, America’s Cup, Olympic Games and solo offshore fame. Robert Greenhalgh and Justin Slattery, winners aboard ABN AMRO ONE in the 2005-06 Volvo, will join forces on Team Basilica along with Robert’s brother Peter. This is Team Basilica’s second year of Extreme 40 competition, having finished second overall in the 2005-06 Volvo Extreme 40 series. Dutch-born Carolijn Brouwer, 34, who completed two legs of the 2001-02 Volvo on the all-woman crew of Amer Sports Too, is skipper of Holmatro. She is joined by Dirk de Ridder, who was part of the Pirates of the Caribbean crew which finished second overall in the 2005-06 race. De Ridder is also Operations Director for the 2008-09 race entry Mean Machine. Fellow Whitbread/Volvo yatchsman Nick Moloney it taking a break from his regular sailing schedule to skipper the Offshore Challenges team. Moloney has circumnavigated the globe three times, the first during the Whitbread Round the World Race 1997-1998, the Jules Verne Record in 2002 and the 2004-2005 Vendée Globe. German Olympian Gunnar Struckman completes the lineup. Conrad Humphreys’ team BLUE will fly the flag for environmental causes throughout the series. Former Vendee sailor Humphreys has pulled together an impressive squad including Beijing 2008 Olympic 49er campaigner Paul Campbell-James who at only 24, is the youngest helmsman on the circuit. Campbell-James, will be accompanied by 49er crew Mark Asquith, Boat Captain Hugh Fletcher, bowman Nick Hutton and double International 14 World Champion Duncan McDonald, brother of Neal who skippered the Ericsson Racing Team in the last Volvo Ocean Race. Skipper and owner Erik Filso Pedersen has purchased the ex-Tommy Hilfiger (winning boat in 2005-06) and will compete as Team SLAM Denmark.