Mike Golding and Dee Caffari have announced that the two-boat testing that they had planned for mid-March has had to be postponed until the early summer.
Mike Golding and Dee Caffari have announced that the two-boat testing that they had planned for mid-March has had to be postponed until the early summer.
In the course of checks during the current post Transat Jacques Vabre and Transat Ecover BtoB refit period, the MGYR team discovered several full penetration cracks in Ecover 3's keel blade (the keel was full of water) as well as other significant keel blade defects, which it is felt have rendered the keel unsafe for further use.
"It is obviously extremely frustrating that we will now miss the first two boat testing period, but when one enters into a Technical Alliance like this, it is fully in the knowledge that there may be changes to the programme as the boats have different needs at different times. In all honesty, by moving the testing programme to later in the year, both teams will be better matched in terms of time on the water and the value of such an alliance will be even more relevant," commented Golding.
"Aviva will still go to Portugal as planned," added Caffari, "and we will be testing various new race sails that are currently being designed and built at North Sails as part of the Technical Alliance, and Mike is planning to join us for this to see how they perform."
For further information on Ecover 3's keel blade please log on to www.mikegolding.com/.
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For further information about Aviva Ocean Racing contact:
Caroline Ayling
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7202 2840
Mobile: +44 (0)7801 351950
E-mail: carolinea@karen-earl.co.uk
Kelly Russell
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7202 2862
Mobile: 07786 516570
E-mail: kellyr@karen-earl.co.uk
Notes to editors:
- Dee Caffari and Mike Golding established a Technical Alliance in March 2007. The alliance included sharing of data during the boat building process to produce two near identical boats, two-boat test sailing to help optimise the set up of each of the yachts and gain invaluable experience in extracting the best performance from these complex yachts.
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