Ex Officio

[MR.CLEAN]

Another great season of Extreme 40 racing has gone by, though a nasty economy left OC Events with a seriously red balance sheet for the 2010 version of the award-winning series - the price that Mark Turner and Co. paid for ensuring the premier big cat racing circuit stays well-positioned as the world turns to multihulls with newly rosy AC-eyes. Since sponsors weren't knocking down the doors, Turner turned to potential investors, and insiders say that one of them is disgraced Swiss/Italian billionaire heir Ernesto Bertarelli. Whether Bertarelli has any part in OC Events purchasing the X40 molds and Class from its founders is unknown, as is his part - if any - in the OC/ThirdPole merger last week, but there's certainly some confirmation in this recent filing for the new Lausanne-based Extreme Sailing Series SA corporation. Note the makeup of the Board of Directors: Remi Duchemin (ThirdPole), Mark Turner (OC), and Alinghi head counsel Lucien Masmejan, Bertarelli's right hand man and the architect of Alinghi's legal strategy for the 33rd Cup - one of the biggest failures in sports law history. Take a look at this filing for more details on the capitalization of the new partnership... Bertarelli has been itching to get back into international multihull racing for some time, and the X40s could provide a way for him to do so without losing the face involved with going hat in hand to arch-enemy Coutts. Now that "The Precious" has been taken by a San Francisco Hobbit, will the Swiss Missle get back to racing fast boats with a smile on his face? Or is Bertarelli planning something more sinister? And what exactly is Bertarelli's new role in the XSS? We hope to have a clarification for you from team OC later today, it was a bit late for them to comment at press time.

What do you think he's up to?

 

[Houston]

I dunno, but Ex Officio boxer briefs are incredible.

 

[Stingray]

Dunno either, but I bet Mark T could explain it.

The buy-in could be related to just organizing the racing of D35's on the Med next year.

from The Independent

Offshore Challenges in talks with Bertarelli

Talks are underway between Britain's Mark Turner, boss of the Offshore Challenges company set up originally with Dame Ellen MacArthur, and Switzerland's former holder of the America's Cup, Ernesto Bertarelli, over co-operation between Turner's Extreme Sailing Series and the D35 catamaran series in which Bertarelli competes.

--

from Alinghi

http://www.alinghi.c...idContent=22669

The Decision 35 class attracts some of the greats of the multihull world and plans to export the fleet to the Mediterranean for 2011 have been met with enthusiasm. Next year's season will start in May on Lake Geneva with four weekends of racing that will include the classic Genève-Rolle-Genève and the Bol d'Or, then the fleet will move to a venue in the South of France (yet to be named) for two events in September.

--

from a release by WYRF posted at here

WYRF: Will the America's Cup new format have an impact on your Class and, if so, what will it be?

Mark Turner, Executive Chairman, OC ThirdPole: "An impact, of course, but I am not sure it will be a marked or long term one. Undoubtedly, the credibility of a multihull platform is enhanced by the decision on the format for AC34. To some agencies and brands, this will be positive. It will certainly lead to some sailors being occupied by the Cup, and equally lots of new blood wanting to widen their 'monohull only' CV's

However, beyond the sailing world, in reality, a good part of our audience doesn't know what the difference between multihull and monohull really means. 2011 will be the fifth year of the Extreme Sailing Series™. Each year we've grown and developed the event. We have a long term vision and are at the start of a new 5 year plan of expansion – with an eight event global circuit, spanning three continents, next year. The teams and the event have always been commercially funded, and this remains the case today. We need to look after all the stakeholders, providing them a stable and long term platform. What we must avoid is becoming in some way dependant on what the Cup does – it has its own set of rules and they change every few years.

The youth AC event is a good idea. The new small boat will be interesting to watch, in particular for us to see whether the wingsail works or not (from an event logistics and communication point of view). We see little if any conflict between what the AC teams will do 2011-2013, and the annual Extreme Sailing Series though. Annual budgets for an Extreme 40 team are less than 1% of a competitive Cup campaign.

We've had Cup teams dip into the Extreme Sailing Series, and whilst they can provide some small boosts on a PR front mainly, it would be a mistake for us to become dependent on these teams. We may well have a couple of them in 2011, and they are of course welcome, but we know they will probably not be with us in the years that follow. Our preliminary NOR for 2011 makes clear our desire to protect the interests of the teams that have been investing in the circuit already, and the Class rules for next year will also ensure that bigger budgets don't guarantee victory."

--

may be related:

OC Group merges with Third Pole

--

 

[Stingray]

The only way EB might control it is through somehow influencing this (bold mine)?

from here

http://www.challenge.../archives/11086

OC has also concluded this week the acquisition of the Extreme 40 Class, including the design and build rights from TornadoSport. TornadoSport, headed up by CEO Herbert Dercksen, created the game-changing concept in 2005 along with Mitch Booth and Daniel Koene when they launched the Extreme 40 catamaran that was designed by Yves Loday and built today by Marstrom Composites in Sweden. The acquisition will include management of the Class, technical support for the teams, and boat sales. As previously announced, the Extreme Sailing Series™ is committed to the Extreme 40 as the main act until at least January 2013, and will seek the input of current teams with regards to possible evolutions of the boat and rules for the 2011 season.

 

[Te Kooti]

Masmejean and Bertarelli are still mates?

After all that water under all those bridges !!

.

 

[MAHGUAH_SCALPS_PILGRIMS]

Another great season of Extreme 40 racing has gone by, though a nasty economy left OC Events with a seriously red balance sheet for the 2010 version of the award-winning series - the price that Mark Turner and Co. paid for ensuring the premier big cat racing circuit stays well-positioned as the world turns to multihulls with newly rosy AC-eyes. Since sponsors weren't knocking down the doors, Turner turned to potential investors, and insiders say that one of them is disgraced Swiss/Italian billionaire heir Ernesto Bertarelli. Whether Bertarelli has any part in OC Events purchasing the X40 molds and Class from its founders is unknown, as is his part - if any - in the OC/ThirdPole merger last week, but there's certainly some confirmation in this recent filing for the new Lausanne-based Extreme Sailing Series SA corporation. Note the makeup of the Board of Directors: Remi Duchemin (ThirdPole), Mark Turner (OC), and Alinghi head counsel Lucien Masmejan, Bertarelli's right hand man and the architect of Alinghi's legal strategy for the 33rd Cup - one of the biggest failures in sports law history. Take a look at this filing for more details on the capitalization of the new partnership... Bertarelli has been itching to get back into international multihull racing for some time, and the X40s could provide a way for him to do so without losing the face involved with going hat in hand to arch-enemy Coutts. Now that "The Precious" has been taken by a San Francisco Hobbit, will the Swiss Missle get back to racing fast boats with a smile on his face? Or is Bertarelli planning something more sinister? And what exactly is Bertarelli's new role in the XSS? We hope to have a clarification for you from team OC later today, it was a bit late for them to comment at press time.

What do you think he's up to?

ADMIRAL CLEAN

C RAYMOND

BONNEFOUS

ALL IN AC SCAM MANAGEMENT [ SEE DOCS BELOW ]

SOME OF THE USUAL SUSPECTS IN IT

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[winchfodder]

If OC events were struggling in 2010 to keep the EX40's going, then surely AC 45's five to six events in 2011 and onwards will make it even more diffucult for OC/Third Pole: top AC crews bailing out to the 45's, better off venues preferring to pay for the AC circus than the EX40's, etc.

Looks like the Third Pole might have invested in the proverbial 'pig in a poke', at least Ellen M and MT have managed to cash in.

 

[Xlot]

If OC events were struggling in 2010 to keep the EX40's going, then surely AC 45's five to six events in 2011 and onwards will make it even more diffucult for OC/Third Pole: top AC crews bailing out to the 45's, better off venues preferring to pay for the AC circus than the EX40's, etc.

Very well said - but conversely, "if OC events were struggling in 2010 to keep the EX40's going, then surely AC 45's five to six" participants - with 50% higher price tag and logistics that haven't been worked out (they most definitely could not race in Trapani, just to name a place I'm familiar with) will make no commercial sense.

That's the reason of my intense dislike of RC's machinations: faced with a market that's flimsy at best, instead of supporting the one existing, valiant enterprise his first objective is eradicating/supplanting it.

 

[Stingray]

If OC events were struggling in 2010 to keep the EX40's going, then surely AC 45's five to six events in 2011 and onwards will make it even more diffucult for OC/Third Pole: top AC crews bailing out to the 45's, better off venues preferring to pay for the AC circus than the EX40's, etc.

Very well said - but conversely, "if OC events were struggling in 2010 to keep the EX40's going, then surely AC 45's five to six" participants - with 50% higher price tag and logistics that haven't been worked out (they most definitely could not race in Trapani, just to name a place I'm familiar with) will make no commercial sense.

That's the reason of my intense dislike of RC's machinations: faced with a market that's flimsy at best, instead of supporting the one existing, valiant enterprise his first objective is eradicating/supplanting it.

The AC45's will be:

Used by a different set of teams - AC teams who will not be flimsy, in 2011 and beyond

Used also by their youth teams in 2012

Will have wings, making them a far closer match to the AC72; and will be more modern and brand new in general anyway

Perhaps most importantly for ACRM - the boats will be independent of anyone else affecting the use and availability of them. Seems a good idea to me to have the new AC45's, overall.

What Clean is suggesting above, about possible machinations by EB now that he suddenly has two close friends on the 4-person board with control of the X40 build and class, may be far-fetched wrt if that is EB's intention. But it is not far-fetched that OC is independent of the ACRM/ACEA and could change direction, or charge too much, or fold, or who-knows-what, for any number of reasons regardless; that's actually the flimsy part. It would be wrong to place AC teams in such a precarious situation.

The X40 series will hopefully be just fine and maybe EB can even help it stay healthy. But it is a different market just as Turner explains in the Q&A done by the WYRF. Most of those teams have no aspirations to the Big Time.

 

[pominfrance]

If OC events were struggling in 2010 to keep the EX40's going, then surely AC 45's five to six events in 2011 and onwards will make it even more diffucult for OC/Third Pole: top AC crews bailing out to the 45's, better off venues preferring to pay for the AC circus than the EX40's, etc.

Very well said - but conversely, "if OC events were struggling in 2010 to keep the EX40's going, then surely AC 45's five to six" participants - with 50% higher price tag and logistics that haven't been worked out (they most definitely could not race in Trapani, just to name a place I'm familiar with) will make no commercial sense.

That's the reason of my intense dislike of RC's machinations: faced with a market that's flimsy at best, instead of supporting the one existing, valiant enterprise his first objective is eradicating/supplanting it.

+1

 

[dogwatch]

That's the reason of my intense dislike of RC's machinations: faced with a market that's flimsy at best, instead of supporting the one existing, valiant enterprise his first objective is eradicating/supplanting it.

It's hardly an objective. At worst it's a side-effect. Actually I think the jury is still out on the effect on the X40s. On the whole I think it should benefit from increased interest in all things multi. The main risk would seem to me to be the "Olympic class" effect where a small number of much better funded competitors chase out the rest,

 

[Stingray]

That's the reason of my intense dislike of RC's machinations: faced with a market that's flimsy at best, instead of supporting the one existing, valiant enterprise his first objective is eradicating/supplanting it.

It's hardly an objective. At worst it's a side-effect. Actually I think the jury is still out on the effect on the X40s. On the whole I think it should benefit from increased interest in all things multi.

+1, looks like a side effect that is not malicious. BOR has bought and raced X40's too, added a lot of interest to the Cowes event one time.

The main risk would seem to me to be the "Olympic class" effect where a small number of much better funded competitors chase out the rest,

We saw that when Alinghi came in and completely dominated the 2008 series. A similar case can be made in the MedCup, where the withdrawal of ETNZ, TO, Artemis, TH's departure from QR is apparently increasing the interest by other teams.

Nobody has said yet what the AC move to mh's will do to the RC44 circuit. That could get interesting too, it being essentially RC's series.

edit: one possible implication of the D35/X40 organization synergy might be a move towards one boat or the other, eventually. Several people seem to race both already, it could make sense to expand one or the other.

 

[pogen]

I dunno, but Ex Officio boxer briefs are incredible.

Yes and very fast. Pricey but worth it. The electric blue color I favor is actually named 'Ocean'.

 

[Rennmaus]

[(...)

Nobody has said yet what the AC move to mh's will do to the RC44 circuit. That could get interesting too, it being essentially RC's series.

(...)

One of them, RC or Bertrand Favre, said that it won't have much effect on the RC44, because it caters for a different target group.

 

[Stingray]

[(...)

Nobody has said yet what the AC move to mh's will do to the RC44 circuit. That could get interesting too, it being essentially RC's series.

(...)

One of them, RC or Bertrand Favre, said that it won't have much effect on the RC44, because it caters for a different target group.

A big part of the attraction for the money-guys has to be the owner-driver racing.

I read someplace where there is a new American team joining in time for Miami. That could get interesting.. I wonder who it will be?

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Mark Turner, Executive Chairman OCThirdPole wrote to us a few minutes ago:

“As already communicated in September, OC Events, now part of the newly merged outdoor events business OC ThirdPole, secured funding to develop the award-winning Extreme Sailing Series™ event in 2011 and beyond. Part of that funding comes from a group of long term investors, which includes Ernesto Bertarelli. Extreme Sailing Series SA was created as the vehicle for this investment, with the event organisation remaining under the full independent management and control of me and my team.”

 

[Te Kooti]

Ernesto blew a head gasket when malcreants like Dalts started talking about using IACC boats in non America's Cup events.

As school principal, Bertarelli thought he was in the permission-giving business.

Warkworth is now in the process of churning out AC45s and, if as good as expected, will there be a worldwide interest in them?

So ... are we about to see the creation of a worldwide "AC45" class?

Or will they be restricted to the AC and "world series" (or whatever it is called) preceding it.

If Core are sending moulds to other builders, will there (and should there be) an epidemic of AC45s?

Stingray, if you buy one, I'll bring the coffee and donuts! (provided you let me steer!)

 

If the AC45 takes off it will surely have an impact on Extreme 40 business?

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[Jambalaya]

Mark and OC add a huge amount of experience and most importantly a very successful track record in creating events and managing top level sailors and programmes over a long period. Mark has also relocated to Switzerland for the lifestyle (Lausanne vs Cowes is about a 2 second decision). The AC45's are a totally different programme to X40's - I see no overlap. Likewise the D35's are taylored to the light air lake venues, I doubt you could race them in 20 konts as you can the X40's. What Mark can do, if asked, is assist the D35's but they seem to have a pretty good setup already. EB never left fast fun cat sailing, he's been doing that on the lake for years and he has continued.

 

[Manfred]

[

That's the reason of my intense dislike of RC's machinations: faced with a market that's flimsy at best, instead of supporting the one existing, valiant enterprise his first objective is eradicating/supplanting it.

Thanks!

+1