BMWOR SAILING CUP 2005

Sunday dawned cool and grey here in Valencia, but that didn't stop our Cup team's marketing department from going sailing -- ostensibly racing -- using three Beneteau First 7.5's that belong to a corporate training outfit called Sailing Team.

Aside from myself, two other members of the department have some sailing experience. The rest are beginners. So it was a nice for them to get out in a boat and experience sailing and a bit of racing. No doubt we will do it again, and try to involve more non-sailing members of our team. And nice to get our partners out with us as well. Good times.



Helmsman of one boat was Benedict "Pope" Horber (GER, second from right), a fellow Gstaad YC member who is a new member of our marketing department. Forward of him is his girlfriend Susanne, then Alejandra Mato (ESP, another marketing department colleague) and her husband Alfredo. The gentleman aft in the red foulies is a Sailing Team coach/instructor.



Helmsman of the second boat was Thomas Fikentscher (GER, second from left), a sailor and boyhood friend of our marketing director Mirko Groeschner (GER, right foreground). Forward of Thomas is Mirko's partner, Stephanie. Behind Mirko is Thomas's parnter, Diane.



I helmed the third boat. Forward of me is Max "Hello" Hoellerl (AUT) who was a quick learner on main trim. Leslie was the headsail trimmer, and the lady sitting forward of Leslie is another member of our marketing team, Kerstin "Handstand" Schulz (GER) who was our grinder. "Handstand" is, pound-for-pound, probably the strongest person on our BMW ORACLE team. The nickname comes from her ability, especially after a little wine, to walk on her hands the length of a good-sized hotel bar -- especially when there are sailors present. Meg handled the mast and foredeck.



We started the first race in about 15 kts, and it breezed up to over 20 before the end of the short, two lap course. We got our kite up on the first run and had a blast.



Max is already looking like a pro on the mainsheet. Leslie has not forgotten how to trim a jib or kite, even though this was her first time handling a gennaker.



With a relatively experienced crew it was no surprise that we won the race by a fair margin. With increasing winds gusting into the high 20's, it seemed like the prudent thing to call it a day after one race. Meg pronounced the experience "very cool but also a bit cold."