The Malmo regattas cap a busy summer on all fronts of the BMW ORACLE Racing program. “On the design side, we completed five months of two-boat testing last month and now we are in an important phase of our design program,” said team CEO Chris Dickson. “On the sailing side, we have had some changes to the race crew while maintaining an intense competition schedule with three different teams in the week leading up to Malmo. The team is looking forward to the America’s Cup racing in Sweden and taking on this competitive fleet in Malmo.”

In Malmo, the racing afterguard includes Chris Dickson returning as
skipper and who will also take on the role of helmsman. Larry llison, Gavin Brady, Eric Doyle and Ian Burns will round out the afterguard. Brady will be tactician, Doyle will be strategist, and Burns will temporarily be in the navigator’s slot. American Peter Isler returns as navigator for the final Acts of the season in Trapani, Italy.

“The changes are all with an eye on the long-term goal of winning the America’s Cup in 2007,” Dickson said. “We are determined to improve our performance. Change can be positive and invigorating. The guys have been working hard and we are building a winning team spirit. We will be giving it our best shot to be on top of the leader board for Louis Vuitton Acts 6 and 7.

With four Acts to go in 2005, we still have the opportunity to finish the season where we want to be.” The team shipped its race yacht USA 76, support vessels and containers of gear, together with the race yachts of the 11 other competing America’s Cup teams, from Valencia to the Swedish port on the Baltic Sea. The gear was unloaded on Monday 15th August and by Friday 19th August, the race crew was
out practicing.

The America’s Cup fleet of 12 ACC yachts lined up bow-to-bow in the event boat park in Malmo is an impressive sight. “It’s fun for us to take the racing to a new audience in Sweden,” Dickson said. “The city of Malmo is giving us a warm welcome and the racing promises to be as exciting as ever.”

Racing in the Malmo-Skane Louis Vuitton Acts begins on Thursday 25th of August with the match races of Act 6, followed by a three day fleet racing series (Act 7) starting on the 2nd of September. The 2005 racing season for the 32nd America’s Cup concludes in Trapani, Sicily at the end of September.

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